How to choose roses and keep them disease-free. And NO chemicals involved

An update

I’m back I’m back I’m back! Back from Chelsea, back from Italy, and back from the first holiday I’ve taken OFF OFF in the last five years. And Substack, I’ve missed you.

I missed my garden too - who on earth leaves a rose garden in the UK in early June? Well, me for starters. The roses were all here waiting to greet me, but at the same time I felt so guilty that I hadn’t been there for their first appearance. I felt like I’d missed my children’s assembly.

If you’ve been a member of The Gardening Mind for a while, you might remember this post about a new rose combination and how to keep pests away.

An update: so far, there have been NO APHIDS on the roses in this new planting area.

I know it’s early days in the grand scheme of things, but six months is enough for any pest to find its way there, so something is working. The colours are working together as I’d hoped, and the roses are doing well:

Let’s look at the different varieties I’ve used here - you can absolutely do this at home in a sunny spot: