Bare root roses - it's the most wonderful time of the year
Bare root roses - it's the most wonderful time of the year
Easy rose planting and some planting design ideas. Plus: Michaelmas daisies, the small garden design series, and some Substack highlights
It’s HERE! It’s finally HERE!
Yes, it’s bare root rose planting time, the time when we can start to drool over the images of rosy gorgeousness that are appearing everywhere AND pop things into our online shopping baskets at the same time. Everything’s coming up roses in my imagination as the roses start to appear in all the catalogues, and the catalogues start to offer discounts. Nature couldn’t have timed it better: just as the first frosts start to nip, the potential gorgeousness of next year’s roses makes everything better.
Have you signed up to The Gardening Mind yet? Free subscribers will be able to preview the first few items here, and paid subscribers will be able to see the full article every week, including: the to-do list, solutions to your gardening challenges, the small garden design course, planting ideas, gardeners’ question times, and more. Paid subscribers will also have exclusive access to the weekly Show Us Your Plots which is our regular get-together on the Chat, where we share ideas and solve problems throughout the week. A subscription works out at £1.30 per week if you sign up for the yearly plan - see it as a garden investment, as you’ll have loads of ideas by the end of each read. Plus, prices are going up soon so if you subscribe now, you’ll get the same annual price for a lifetime.
The next instalment will be in your inbox on Wednesday.
As the temperatures drop, I’m feeling it’s time we envelop ourselves with what’s going to make us feel good next year. So wrap up, cosy up, and dive into those plant catalogues so full of promise
Diary date for our paid subscribers’ Zoom get-together is next Sunday 20th October at 6.30pm. The Small Garden Design Course will start then - and it’ll also be your chance to ask any questions you have about finding your way around Substack and The Gardening Mind
Come and join in the weekly ‘Show Us Your Plots’ where we all share photos of green spaces wherever we may be - on Sunday morning you’ll see a post on the Chat which starts ‘It’s Sunday 13th October and it’s time to Show Us Your Plots!’
I’ll be running the Small Garden Design Course again this autumn for paid subscribers, so whether you’re new here or whether you’d like to have another go, or whether you’re simply interested in dipping in and out, come and join us. We start on Sunday.
The aim of this course is to equip you with the confidence to design your own garden, wherever it may be. Even if the space feels small or impossible, we’ll figure out a solution. You might have followed this course previously, or you might be completely new to it: all-comers of every level are welcome. It’ll consist of posts, optional assignments, and Zoom chats. You can be as private as you like as you follow this course - I won’t make you share anything or speak if you don’t want to. It’s all on your terms.
If you’re already a paid subscriber, you’ll automatically be part of this so you don’t have to click anything.
Readers who have followed along before, either actively or just out of interest, will confirm that you can also dip in and out of the course as you like - it’s as relaxed as you want it be.
Although I say ‘small’, this course is relevant for any-sized garden. You may have a tiny garden you want to design, or you may have a smaller space within a bigger garden, that needs dealing with. Whatever the size of your outside space, it doesn’t matter - I assure you that you can do something with it and it’ll make your life better. It really will.
No previous skills are required, just an interest in the idea that you can design your own garden!
So how does it work?
This course is for paid subscribers, so if you’re not a paid subscriber yet and you’d like to join in, please subscribe now:
The course will be accompanied by Zoom gatherings, which will be recorded so that you can follow along in your own time.
SMALL GARDEN DESIGN ZOOM:
This Small Garden Design course will kick off on Sunday 20th October at 6.30pm UK time - I’ll send the invitation out nearer the time. The Zoom will be recorded so that you can catch up in your own time.
I’ve planned the course to last around 3-4 months, so we’ll be rounding up towards the end of February. Posts will all live in the new Section which you might have spotted: this means that you can find the relevant posts easily and that you can switch email notifications on/off:
What will the course require from you?
This is SO simple:
A space you’d like to use as your subject
A dedicated notebook - yay, a chance to use that notebook! And/or an A4 ringbinder to keep your loose sheets in
Some tracing paper, pens and pencils. Any tracing paper is fine.
A scale rule possibly - but not essential
Some sort of cheap masking tape can come in handy when you’re using tracing paper
That’s it.
As I say, it might be that you’re simply an interested onlooker - a garden enthusiast or a design student - in which case, just bring yourself.
Each week, we’ll cover one topic and there will be an optional assignment for you to work on as part of your garden project.
Week 1: Introduction to Small Garden Design
In this session, there’ll be:
an overview of key concepts in small garden design
an introduction to the design process
functionality and aesthetics - what these are and how each plays a part
I’m really hoping you’ll be joining us on this - it’s fun!
As the temperatures drop, I’m feeling it’s time we envelop ourselves with what’s going to make us feel good next year. So wrap up, cosy up, and dive into those plant catalogues so full of promise.
We’ll be taking a look at the potential of bare root roses, and why we can be getting on with planting them now - and by the way, planting them is easy
I’ve put together a couple of easy planting design recipes for a pollinator’s border and a late summer border
We’ll also be taking a look at Michaelmas and its daisies
Also, I’ve got some of my Substack Rich Pickings to tickle your fancy
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ONE SMALL THING BEFORE YOU GET TO THE GARDEN STUFF?
Would you mind hitting the ❤️ button at the top left or bottom left of this newsletter if you enjoy being here? It means more to me than you might imagine.
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Roses are invaluable in a mixed border - you may already have got the message that I love using them in pretty much every garden I create. Roses bring height, form, structure, and, most importantly, they bring romance and magic: the sheer beauty and presence of their blooms is so striking that their charm stays in the memory long after their blooms have faded and gone. This is why they work so well within a mixed planting – the different shapes, textures and colours of a carefully-selected range of companion plants serve as a complement to the rose’s glory, creating different atmospheres and effects depending on the plants you choose.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year - and I don’t mean Christmas
You can plant roses at any time of year, but between October and April is best for the plants to get established. Order them now, and get them in - just avoid doing it when the ground is frozen or waterlogged. Planting them couldn’t be easier:
Pop the rooted ends in a bucket of water for a couple of hours
Dig a hole around 40cm x 40cm and add some well-rotted manure1, breaking up the soil at the bottom of the hole so it’s easier for the roots to find their way down into the ground
Take the roses out of the water and sprinkle some mycorrhizal fungi on the roots - I have absolutely no idea whether this works or not but it certainly doesn’t do any harm, and I feel that at least I’m doing my very best to give the plants the best start in life
Place the roses in the hole, and make sure the bottom of the rose stems - which is ABOVE where the knobbly union where the stems meet the roots - is about 5cm BELOW the soil surface. This part is key - one’s natural instinct is to plant the knobbly bit below the soil and to leave the green stems totally clear. NO.
Plant roses ABOVE the knobbly bit Backfill with the soil, stand on the soil to make sure it’s firm, and water the plant in.
Which roses to choose, and what to plant with them
The world is your absolute oyster here - I’m convinced there’s a rose for every situation and for every person, even for people who think they don’t like roses. I’ve converted a few people along the way and if you’re still unconvinced, over the next few weeks, I’m making it my mission to bring you over to the rose side.
It was probably one of the most exciting moments ever when David Austin Roses asked me to create some recipes for mixed plantings for them. The idea was to really show off the colours and form of the rose by bringing together a variety of planting companions to suit different purposes. Today I’ve got a couple of extra ones for you to browse through - I’m so hoping that at least one of them will seduce you….
A Pollinators’ Paradise
The open-flowered, nectar-rich rose varieties are invaluable when it comes to selecting plants to attract wildlife. These flowers are easily accessible to insects, and many will also go on to produce hips in the autumn, a nutritious meal for several species of bird as food sources start to become scarce.
In this cheerful tutti-frutti coloured recipe, the semi-double, open blooms of Rosa ‘The Lark Ascending’ are just part of a wildlife-friendly buffet table, a range of flower shapes offering easy access to different insects. Butterflies adore the small tubular flowers, whilst umbellifers offer up nectar without any effort on the part of hoverflies and beetles, and large cushions of pollen are beloved of solitary bees.
A true feast as well as a completely uplifting sight for we humans to enjoy: