On Fri, 11 Jul 2003 11:36:21 +1000, "Kirra"
wrote:


Ouch! Maybe you need to put stakes and ropes around it to ensure that it
does not get mowed next time

Done. But the mowing (which also took out a mini of great sentimental
value, nameless as it was) is a good argument for Cass' habit (if I
recall correctly) of keeping these baby ownroots in pots until they
reach a reasonable or at least reasonably visible size. Or it may be
an argument for doing own's own mowing, but that's just silly. g



We can get potted roses all year round.


Oooo. Imagine me looking at you with the slitty green eyes of envy.
Hiss! On the other hand, if I could get potted roses year round I'd be
even more broke than I stay now.


[...]

As I said winters are very mild here. It's early July (mid winter) and I am
wearing jeans and a shirt with just a woolen coat for going outside in the
mornings. I probably won't even wear the coat at lunch time when I go
outside. The coldest minimum temperature last year was 4C (39F) and probably
the same this year so we do not even get below freezing. A 'cold' winter's
day in Brisbane is around 15C (59F)- you might need a scarf as well as a
jacket. Our forcast for today is 12-23C (53-72F) and is typical of a warmer
winter's day. I live close to the coast but further inland they do get below
freezing with some frosts.

Sounds like rose growing heaven to me, at least from the standpoint of
winter kill. Tell me, do your roses go dormant at all? If not, when do
you prune? And have you heard that roses there have a shorter
lifespan? I have heard somewhere that in places where they do not go
dormant they do not last as long. Not sure it is true and very sure I
don't understand it.




Until I was 17 I had never seen snow. I still have not seen fresh snow
because I saw my only snow in our alpine region during late spring. Even our
'alpine' region is zone 7 and is over a thousand kilometres from where I
live. I keep saying some time I am going to take a holiday in winter and
learn to ski!

Snow here is a big holiday! We stay in and take off work and drink hot
chocolate. Up in New York and similar colder places, when it snows and
the snow accumulates they set their jaws and yank out the heavy
machinery and salt trucks and such, and proceed on their way. They are
very proud of this. I personally like staying home and drinking hot
choc!




When will it be safe to put your RT in the ground? We can compare notes on
grafted/own root, US southeast, Australia/?


Since our winter here is probably warmer than your spring I can plant all
throughout winter. Our first bare root roses turn up at the end of autumn
and are on sale until the end of winter. Once it gets to spring I think it
is too hot to plant bare roots.

We might be able to compare notes on heat-loving roses, then. Our
summers start at the end of may and go through September, stay
85-110F. Some of my roses just shut down, and if they bloom at all the
blooms are small and sad. I need fragrance, though. Seems like many of
the ones that like heat are not fragrant.




Besides minis, patio roses and some young
cuttings, I do not have any roses on their own roots. All the roses I have
seen on sale in my area are grafted - not counting minis and patio roses.
There is a mail order nursery from Victoria that does do own roots but even
then, it is only a small selection and they seem to be OGR rather than HTs
or Austins.

Sounds like you like the modern roses, as I do--although not
exclusively. I like a few OGRs I have seen, but very few I have grown.
It's all a matter of personal preference.




I think both pale and vibrant roses have a place in my garden I like the
subtelty of the pale flowers but then again it is the vibrant ones that
catch your eye and make you go back for a second look. I like all the photos
that I have seen of Crepuscule's canes covered in orangey/apricoty, floppy
flowers.

Yeah, me too. It photographs great!



Sorry, this ended up much longer than I originally anticipated. Also I tried
my best on the rough conversions from C to F but realise they will be a
little out.

Kirra, just the fact that you made the effort puts me--and most
Americans--to shame. We were supposed to start learning metric and
celsius 20 years ago, but not many but scientists even tried.


Speaking of conversions, I wanted to try out the baking soda and oil spray
but could only find recipees for gallon not litres. I checked a conversion
page and it said that to times it by 3. I couldn't work out why it was
recommending using 3 tablespoons of bi-carb to a litre of water! It just
seemed to much so I went for Daniel's milk spray. Thankfully I did because I
just found out that it was saying times a litre by three to get a gallon - I
was supposed to divide the recipe by 3 to get a litre! My roses would have
cooked for sure.

For the future--check out the International rose-growing sections of
Garden Web--I think there is one for Australians. You can ask
questions there of others who may face the same puzzles.




Kirra
Brisbane, Australia
zone 10