... surely much more pleasing than grasses?
Anyway, it’s timely to consider .. how do you water your garden? Do you race around in your two hours of permissible watering time and give a dribble to everything? That’s what they show on the television … a lady with a bucket hand-splashing water on the plants! Surely we’re all more intelligent so here’s a tip ...
Zone your garden and absolutely deep soak one area in the permitted watering time and then don’t go back into that zone for another month or more. Veggie gardens might be treated differently, however, you can over-water the veggies and this can reduce or ruin their harvest potential. It’s very important to know your soil moisture requirements and this can be easily established by pulling back the mulch to check how moist the soil is. Of course, the use of mulch is paramount in retaining soil moisture, microbial activity, temperature and naturally, worms will thrive in mulched soil!!! NEVER OVER-WATER ROSES .. YOU WILL KILL THEM!!!
IN READINESS FOR SPRING … If you haven’t already pruned, now would be a great time to get the job done! Once the roses are pruned, give them a good quality (preferably organic!) fertilizer, spray them with the NATRAKELP Liquid Seaweed, to which is added the ECO-OIL Botanical Insecticide and ECO-ROSE Fungicide. We recommend that this be the start of your ongoing maintenance program – spray at least monthly and feed every 8 weeks for maximum performance from your roses! Mulch the garden as required. Within six weeks they’ll be flowering .. unbelievable really!
THE FUTURE OF ‘THE ROSE RAMBLER’ … This edition will be posted to 6,000 rose lovers and in line with all our environmental and sustainable policies, we have now decided to reduce our ‘footprint’ and post only two newsletters each year. In order to keep you updated on all the events at the nursery, we will upgrade the newsletter MONTHLY via our website : www.silkiegardens.com.au and if you would like to have this automatically sent to you, please advise by email: silkiegardens@bigpond.com Maybe you don’t want the mailed version of “The Rose Rambler” at all and we would be pleased to receive your advice regarding this also… apparently, it takes 15 grams of wood and 2 litres of water to make one sheet of paper!
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I WOULD RATHER HAVE ONE ROSE AND A KIND WORD FROM A FRIEND WHILE I’M HERE ..
THAN A WHOLE TRUCK LOAD WHEN I’M GONE !!
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A GROUP OF KIDS WAS ASKED: WHAT IS SUSTAINABILITY?
7 YEAR OLD NATHAN RESPONDS:
“IT’S ALL ABOUT ENOUGH, FOR ALL, FOREVER”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU THAT… Silkie Gardens Rose Nursery has been a registered Sustainable Garden Centre for three years??? We think it is very important and want you to know how you benefit!
All our activities and products used in the management of the Nursery are assessed by an independent advisor as to their environmental impact. The activities and products are given a rating as being ‘Low’, ‘Medium’ or ‘High’ Impact and we’re pleased to tell you that at Silkie Gardens Rose Nursery, the vast majority of products have a ‘Low’ Impact assessment and that means they do not kill frogs, beneficial insects like ladybirds and extremely importantly, they’re not toxic to humans and we all benefit!!!
We’re very proud of the fact that you can employ our rose management program while your kids are playing in the yard around you and you don’t need to be masked and covered from head to foot with protective clothing whilst spraying your roses or vegetables and fruit trees! This is the result of extensive research and development which has been undertaken during our 25 years of rose growing and it was a natural progression for the Silkie Gardens Rose Nursery to be registered as a Sustainable Garden Centre… you benefit!
Interestingly too, all the products we use and recommend are Australian Developed and Made …YES!!!
Along with the products used in our rose management program, at Silkie Gardens Rose Nursery, you will also find the following:
Rich River Lucerne Mulch – ideal mulch to feed the soil and plants as it breaks down while preserving soil moisture – place the milled lucerne around the base of the roses then mulch over the top with your less expensive mulch material. Rich River Lucerne Mulch is wonderful around veggie garden seedlings!
Rose Marvel – an organic soil improver which vitalizes the soil and combats black spot in roses.
Beat-A-Weed – a natural weedicide which is very effective when sprayed in full-sun conditions … actually smells like salt & vinegar!
Organic Potting Mix & Superior Organic Compost – when using potting mix, always buy the best quality and your plants will thrive!
Bokashi Composting Bucket – an extremely convenient and effective compost bin IN YOUR KITCHEN! There is no smell from all your vegetable, meat, fish, dairy and citrus scraps and when the bucket is full (about every four weeks!) you dig a hole in the garden and add all the nutrients from your waste as a valuable compost to the soil! We have reduced the garbage at the Silkie Gardens Rose Nursery & Café by ONE-THIRD!
Aerobin – a great outdoor composting system for all garden waste – again, no smell because of the unique design of the unit and it will allow you to make your own compost very simply!
Tri-Nature - This incredible range of cleaning products is used exclusively in our Café – all the harmful chemicals are GONE! If you or members of your family suffer from allergies or you are sensitive about chemical use in your home, these products will amaze you with their effectiveness and cost efficiency! There is also a nutritional and skin/body care range of products … speaking of which, if you are interested and would like to experience more of these products, come along to Silkie Gardens Rose Café for …
PAMPER NIGHTS
MONDAY, 8TH, 15TH, 22ND, & 29TH SEPTEMBER, 2008
7.30PM – 9.00PM
Enjoy “The Best Coffee In Town” while being pampered by KYPHI Skin/Body
FREE .. FOOT/HAND SPA & MASSAGE
Experience the luxurious KYPHI Skin on your face!
BOOKING ESSENTIAL - $20.00 BOOKING FEE REFUNDABLE AT ATTENDANCE
PHONE: 5782 1990 EMAIL: silkiegardens@bigpond.com
THE NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK … Every year there is a stream of new release roses and here at Silkie Gardens Rose Nursery, we’ve been cautious to recommend them until we’ve planted them in our own gardens or seen them in our growers’ fields to assess their performance … pretty pictures in catalogues and magazines as well as descriptions on plant labels often don’t tell the full story! When we ‘talk up’ a rose, we are doing so from our own experience because, as you know, we fully guarantee all the roses purchased from Silkie Gardens!!!
The Delbard roses are a series of relatively new roses very worthy of ‘talking up’ … even in the pots, these roses are proving to be exceedingly disease resistant and enormously free flowering! Once planted in the gardens, they’ve been amazing performers and I would highly recommend any of the following varieties:
Grimaldi – Years ago, if anybody had said that I would eventually like striped roses, I would have vehemently insisted there was never a likelihood of that happening … this rose changed all that!!! The flowers are like a host of butterflies on a bush that is soooo healthy and extremely free flowering – to top all that off, pop a stem in a vase and it looks stunning for at least 10 days. The colour is stripes of dark salmon, pale pink and cream all swirled and luscious … never mind that there’s little perfume to speak of!
A group planting of say, three Grimaldi, planted 75cms apart would create a massive display 3 metres around and 1.5metres tall – a truly awesome spectacle which will flower for nine months or more!
Grand Siecle - (The Great Century) A medal winner at the Bagatelle Flower Show is an indication of how lovely a bouquet of these flowers in a vase will be! Large, open flowers bathed in the palest of pinks belie the hardy, healthy and free flowering habit of this exquisite rose … glorious fragrance!
Maurice Utrillo - One of the Delbard Painters Collection – today there is a faded flower on the standard planted on the front nature strip!!! Stunning bright red and … wait for it …. vibrant slashes of creamy yellow and white! This rose is exceedingly free flowering with an enchanting fragrance and is an absolute sight to behold .. if you thought you would never like a ‘striped’ rose, this one would have a chance at changing your mind!!
Of course, there are more, each one more seductive than the one you thought you might like and our grower has the SA agency to grow these magnificent roses so if a variety is sold out this season, place an order for next Winter … every garden deserves at least a few Delbard roses!!! There are also a few climbers in the collection!
“WALK & TALK” IN THE GARDEN WITH DIANA … On the FIRST SUNDAY of OCTOBER, NOVEMBER & DECEMBER you can join me on a garden walk when I’ll share some of the finer points of rose gardening, including rose pruning, mulching, weed management, etc. etc. etc. with you. The walk will start at 10.00am and usually takes about one hour – please bring your kids along with you!!! If you need a flower or a rose problem identified, bring plant material with you … this can be a great learning curve for all of us! These sessions are a FREE service to you from Silkie Gardens Rose Nursery but we would appreciate you booking – just telephone 1800 821 990.
CELEBRATING SPRING … It’s such an exciting time of year and to make it even more exciting for you, we invite you to present this issue of “The Rose Rambler” to …
BUY 1LTR NATRAKELP LIQUID SEAWEED
BUY ANOTHER 1LTR @ 1/2 PRICE .. SAVE $9.75
We know that NATRAKELP Liquid Seaweed is the finest quality liquid seaweed you can buy – ask us why when you come in to purchase your next bottle!
IN CLOSING … It’s been great sharing with you .. may your roses do all the wonderful things you expect this season .. may you enjoy good health, happiness and all the loveliness having roses blooming in your garden offers!!! See you at the Silkie Gardens Rose Nursery & Café real soon ….
Diana, Graham & all at Silkie Gardens Rose Nursery & Café!
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