Blooming Roses, Just In Time For The Easter Bunny.

Andrea's Summer pruning her roses this weekend
Here’s how to get your roses blooming again before this guy arrives!

Fun fact, did you know your roses will be blooming again 42 days after you have given them a trim?

Let me start by saying I would never profess to being an expert rosarian, but I do love roses and have been admiring and growing them in Perth for years. I have had very good success selecting just the right ones and caring for them for my clients as well.

I am just like everyone else in the garden, sometimes I have great success and other times not so much. Here’s what has worked for me.

Now the worst of our Summer heat is over – and let’s face it, this year has been horrible (all that dry heat backed up by a hefty dose of humidity). It is time to give my roses a bit of a trim. This “Summer Prune” will be more than just deadheading which I usually do to encourage more blooms when the flowers are spent.

In Perth, I am now having better success by doing the big traditional rose prune at the end of August and even sometimes mid September, rather than July. This results in a fabulous Spring flush of big healthy rose blooms. I love that time of the year. I am rewarded for my efforts. I give them plenty of Mature Compost, say 4 hands full per rose and a regular application of fertiliser that is low in Nitrogen and higher in Potassium. In addition, I give them Seasol and Powerfeed every 2-3 weeks. This regime keeps the soil healthy and the plants love it. That’s my Spring and it is really gorgeous in my garden.

The Summer months are very harsh on plants here at my place and the roses tend to spot flower only, despite my best efforts. Sometimes just when they are about to bloom we will have a 40 degree day and they will literally shrivel up in an hour or two. I am learning to live with that. I enjoy them for the day they bloom and then deadhead them about day 3 and just focus on keeping the plants alive with water, Seasol and Powerfeed, https://www.seasol.com.au/ as well as a wettting agent, like Grosorb.

It is 42 days and counting to the Easter long weekend, which is about the right number of days from trimming the roses to blooming again. So, can you guess what I am doing this weekend?

Easter is a big deal at our place. I think it is by far my favourite holiday in the calendar.

My Easter table…alfresco dining in Perth is always our Easter tradition

We actually have more days off with all of the Public Holidays at Easter-time than we traditionally do at Christmas. At Christmas, in the middle of Summer, we race around the shops, trying to find the perfect gifts for everyone and prepare the perfect meal all at once, as well as catching up with friends and family. It is mayhem.

Easter takes on a much more relaxed feel and the weather is so much kinder on people and plants! It is a lovely time for entertaining with friends and family. My garden takes on a softer feel, the sun is not as brutal, the mornings are cooler and the days are still spectacular.

Gifts are kept to a minimum too with a few chocolate eggs and yes, there will be cake, but it’s really about the decoration of the home and garden that I get a kick out of.

This is David Austin ‘Jubilee Celebration’ in my garden last Easter

In preparation for Easter, I will be giving my roses a good trim this weekend, I will be “Summer pruning” my roses. “Summer pruning” describes going just a bit lower than you would normally deadhead.

The shrubs will be reduced back under the next union from where I have deadheaded through the Summer months.

If there are any plants with defoliated leaves, which can happen in the Summer, I will not be cut back those too hard.

I will be adding Mature Compost https://www.swanvalleylandscapesupplies.com.au/ around the base of each plant, and I will be giving them some fertiliser. I will make sure that they are getting plenty of water as we still have not had any rain.

I will check on the lupin straw mulch and top it up, where required and offer a wetting agent like Grosorb, https://www.baileysfertiliser.com.au/products/category/wetting-agents/ Grosorb before the mulch goes on top.

Some of my containers need a little work too. They are looking a bit sad after Summer and I will re-visit them with some fresh plants. Who needs an excuse to go plant shopping? Not me.

A little preparation now and around Easter many of my roses will be flowering their heads off again. I can’t wait. They will flower all the way through to June and even into July.

This weekend, will you be Summer Pruning to enjoy blooming roses soon? You know that I will be, and of course, if you need some advice contact me here.

These roses are ready for their Summer Prune

The 2025 Garden Colour of the Year is a stunner

A teal front door complements a small house with white roses, using garden colour of the year for gardens

Each year a Colour of the Year is announced for gardens.

The Colour of the Year for gardens influences plants that are grown by the wholesale growers and sold in garden centres. Most of the garden decor that you buy will also have a touch of this colour.

I will admit that when I heard about the Garden Colour of the Year for 2025 a huge smile beamed across my face.

This colour makes me incredibly happy. It reminds me of the colour of the waters around Broome, Western Australia and that’s just another great reason to absolutely love it!

Drum roll please, the Garden Colour of the Year for 2025 is TEAL.

Teal is a beautiful light green shade of blue that accents so well anywhere, but especially in the garden. Think big bold containers set into a garden bed, surrounded by grey foliage plants and you are right on the money. You might even decide to paint a door like the one below.

Offering the idea of calm crystal blue water without even having to lift a hose, Teal is a magical addition to any garden.

Imagine, looking out into the garden and being reminded of a trip to a Tiffany jewellery store and those pretty blue boxes tucked into their exclusive paper bags. You might work with me on this. Have you ever met anyone who received a gift in one of those boxes who did not squeal with anticipation of what might be in the bag?

It is the colour. I am sure of it. Now, with some carefully placed containers in shades of teal in your garden, you will feel like you’re receiving a gift from Tiffany everyday.

I had a dear friend who had an elegant ring that she always wore on her pinky finger, it was rose gold with teal coloured stones and I loved that ring. I think that when I see the colour teal it makes me think of my friend, Jennifer, and how she held her pinky up when she drank from a wine glass with that pretty ring perched on it.

Does colour spark emotion for you? Do certain colours make you happy in your garden? Do they remind you of an old friend?

This year consider combining the Colour of The Year for Gardens with The Pantone Colour of The Year for 2025, which is a little controversial for some, a shade of brown called Mocha Mousse. Don’t let the naysayers fool you, Mocha Mousse is a rich and velvety soft shade that looks stunning with Teal.

https://www.pantone.com/color-of-the-year/2025?srsltid=AfmBOoqKODe4wqiSnQaG5CMYW2Q1qw3iOJtc2O5L-QvmH94vjVldKk8q

Here are some Teal coloured drought tolerant plants I am adding to my garden designs in 2025.

Festuca glauca blue fescue grass

Agave attenuata

Myosotis Forget-me-nots

Senecio Blue Chalk Sticks

Brunnera macrophylla Jack Frost (shade)

Paint some existing containers or old garden furniture, Teal

Paint is so inexpensive and a great way to change out your colours in the garden.

Dulux offer two beautiful shades called Teal Essence and the other is Lagoona Teal A302

https://www.dulux.com.au/specifier/colour/s30/teal-essence/?srsltid=AfmBOoo3_XkDqEKzbr912Xnt4E_y4qRywBOyOzn5pZL05YvG1603BGed https://www.dulux.co.nz/specifier/colour/s30/lagoona-teal/

These colours are super pretty and brighten up any boring containers that might otherwise be destined for the verge pick up and the hard rubbish collection. This is a quick and easy Summer Saturday afternoon project. You will love the results.

Mocha Mousse inspired plants for your teal-coloured containers include:
Carex (Spiller) and Cordyline (Thriller) add foliage colour along with stunning foliage with Heuchera (Filler) and Australian natives like Banksia blechnifolia. How about brown foliage succulents like Sempivervivum ‘Chocolate Kiss’. These plants all look amazing in any teal coloured container.

If you need some more colour advice, get in touch here.

The easiest option is to add some Teal or Mocha Mousse coloured cushions to your outdoor setting. Consider teal in the garden this year. If you combine it with Mocha Mousse in your planting combinations, even in a small vignette within your garden…you will be stylishly unstoppable.

Glazed Teal Containers, which one will feature in your garden this year?

Why not paint some old furniture?

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