April 24 Combined - Flipbook - Page 15
Community update Hayling Herald
Hayling Island Horticultural Society:
Fascinating talk on caring for roses
By Liese Holden, Hayling Island
Horticultural Society
IF there was to be one plant you
should have in your garden it
should be a rose.
They come in wide variety of shapes
and sizes – from a small patio rose to
a vigorous climber. They offer beautiful flowers from May until the last
frost.
Elizabeth Sawday from Apuldram
Roses came to speak to the society
about how to grow roses and gave
simple and straightforward advice
on how to produce the best possible
plants and blooms. This will be very
helpful if you are thinking of entering
a rose or two in our Summer Show.
If you have never ventured to do so
before, there is a novice class for first
time entries. In some classes you just
need a single bloom.
Roses are greedy and thirsty plants
and need good nutrition and plenty
of water. A feed of blood, fish and
bone and a good mulch is best overwinter and then a special rose feed
in April and after the first flowering.
They also need pruning to keep the
plants healthy and we should not be
afraid to cut them back, as it is not
possible to kill off a rose by pruning.
The old adage is to prune to knee
height in autumn and to ankle height
in spring.
Now is the time to get out into your
garden to hard prune your roses, except for your ramblers which should
be pruned in autumn as they flower
on the previous season’s growth.
If in doubt about the type of rose
you have it is a safe bet to prune back
by up to a half of their growth at this
time.
With climbing roses try to train
them horizontally and then new
growth will sprout vertically and will
produce an abundance of flowers.
One overlooked category of roses
are ground cover roses which are
very hardy and robust – one excellent
variety is ‘Flower Carpet Pink’.
Elizabeth was keen to advocate the
purchase of bare root roses in autumn
rather than more established roses
available from spring.
Full details on the talk can be found
on our website with information on
year round rose care.
Please start thinking about your
entries for our Summer Show. It
has classes, not just for flowers and
vegetables, but cookery, handicrafts,
photography, floral art and of course
classes for our budding junior horticulturalists. It is fun to enter and you
can win prizes.
We have a special class this year for
a flowerpot person – those of us who
can remember the TV show Bill and
Ben The Flowerpot Men will know
what to do.
Other dates for your diary are
outings to Hever Castle on Thursday, May 23rd and Hampton Court
Flower Show on Thursday, July 4th.
Full details can be obtained from Kim
Gardner on outings@hihs.org.uk.
We are also holding a Softwood
Cutting Propagation Workshop on
Thurs 25 th April at 2pm – places are
limited so to book email admin@
hihs.org.uk
n Don’t forget the Community Fair
and Summer Show on Saturday, June
22nd at Hayling College.
As well as the horticultural show,
stalls, performance groups, crafts and
activities, there will be refreshments,
a plant stall and much more.
Visit hihs.org.uk
Hayling
Hot tubs + Pools
We are a friendly, family run business that has lived on the
Island for over 50 years, with over 10 years of experience
servicing and installing hot tubs and pools across
Hampshire and West Sussex.
Services:
(07596) 097605
haylinghottubsandpools@gmail.com
www.haylinghottubsandpools.co.uk
No job is too small
whatever your needs, give us a call FOR A FREE QUOTE
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