"Hello Mr Yorkie Thank you for your email, After taking into consideration of the position and the growing habit, The Pilgrim would be the best suited yellow rose to a north facing wall rather than the Graham Thomas, however this is down to which rose you prefer. If the blooms do droop slightly, this is down to the age of the plant - all roses will take a few seasons to reach their mature shape and size. Large-flowered varieties in particular tend to get better and better over their first two or three years as the stems become thicker, providing greater support for their heavy blooms. Prune them back in winter by no more than a half, as this is important in enabling the stems to thicken. Feeding twice each year with a slow-release, organically-based fertilizer will also help to strengthen the stems. Kind regards James David Austin Roses" Really helpful eh... Now I need to find a couple of matching Clematis. ..... and ideas anyone.... to go with a yellow rose?
Not very helpful Yorkie. Have you tried his website also Peter Beale's site and send off for their catalogues which are usually packed with info. As for Clematis, we always refer to Taylors catalogue as it tells you what aspect its good for. Website seems useful too: http://www.taylorsclematis.co.uk/ We grow clematis through our climbing roses and one that is good for us is Star of India, Nellie Moser is quite robust too and seems to enjoy being with roses (keep on top of it though). Avoid clematis that grow like mad and smother the rose, nightmare rescuing the rose. Also some do not like the competition with the rose and are feeble. Try and get clematis that flower at different times and at different time to the roses. Clematis usually take a few years to get going so be patient, even if you buy one in full bloom - it's been forced to do this and we find that they take a year to recover.
Here we are spring has sprung..... The dark depths of winter are over and are we going to be free of frosts in the next few weeks... I have been busy ( well half-busy) lawn cutting and scarifying today... so much moss If I keep scarifying I will have no lawn next. Going to have to patch a bit where the builder destroyed an area of grass... and am thinking of laying some turf if only because the area is heavily used and seed will take months to set. For areas where I plan to reseed seems the advice is to wait a month. The annual fight against the celandine is on.... and I have weeded half the front garden of most of it.... but of course it is coming back Not sure how far I will get out back. All new planting doing well so far David Austin Pilgrim is budding alongside the following clematis from Taylors: Kingfisher Macropetala Snowbird Jackmanii Superba and some winter jasmine I also am hoping a passion flower may be hardy enough to survive. I have newly planted David Austin The poet's wife out front in two beds and a rambler, Goldfinch, to hopefully add some colour to a boundary hedge. We also have a bed with 3 Happy Retirement roses just planted ... a gift from my mum. So lots to do and lots to tend too. Cant even think of the garden at the vineyard just yet.... So happy gardening to my fellow potters.....
Super gardening day here, warm and sunny. Six hours of bending over weeding and pruning and the hamstrings are complaining. Because it has been such a mild winter many plants are well ahead of where they should be, yet others seem late. Very confusing!
The recent dry spell has enabled us to tidy up from the wet winter and get the climbing roses pruned, they have had a good trim and look very skimpy but they will just go mad again. Things are starting to show but the cool conditions have not brought things on early here. Been sowing some seeds and potting on but nothing tender will go out until June. Happy gardening all.
Really frustrating... the piece of lawn that I need to reseed/returf is currently under water as all the water runs to there in the rain... and this is after we have had the new land drain
Just nipped into the shed Leo Some strawberries forming but we are two weeks away. Gooseberries nowhere near ready All the new roses I planted are doing well plus the clematis.
Ah - you saved me from searching for it. Our runner beans have reached the top of thepoles and have been pinched out - tons of flowers and quite a few beans forming - had to spray against blackfly yesterday Strawberry picking every day - the ones the woodliceand slugs don't find first. Raspberries too and we picked our entire crop of black, white and red currants - filled a large teacup
And nothing here yet either - no blackcurrants, raspberries, peas or beans & probably all at least a month away. The only thing growing appears to be my old fuschia - in order to mow this morning I had to give it a drastic haircut. After pruning it back to around four feet tall in spring, it's now around nine feet tall, a mass of flowers - and making a lie of the claim that bees are dying out...
Fuschias are so good at bouncing back eh.. I guess because most garden fuschia are native plants which grow profusely in the wild.... We have one too which I cannibalised to make a path through and it has very kindly just grown again to the right of the path and is now full of flowers
Our garden is trying to recover from where some builders putting up an extension decided they could dump concrete sand gravel boards and everything else they felt like despite us asking them to be careful. But that is a whole other story.
Resting half way through trimming the beech hedge. Jack's beanstalk has nothing on it at the moment. At least having to recharge the hedge trimmer battery gives me an excuse for a long tea break!
We took out a load of dead and dying conifers and replaced with a fence - gained about six feet of garden along the length of it - where my raspberries are now planted
We trimmed right down a leylandii hedge to put a shed against it.. and now seems to have died..... a good thing methinks ... as I really don't like the stuff.
