'Tarrawarra'

'Tarrawarra' is a delight - a 'poly' of unknown breeding, raised & introduced by Victorian nurseryman John Nieuwesteeg in the early 90's.

Its foliage is healthy & dense and the rose is generous with its repeat flushes. I love the soft salmon pink tones of the buds, and its light sweet fragrance.

This is a low maintenance rose, which is just as well, as it is just a tad prickly - fortunately though light deadheading, and taking to it with the shears occasionally to shape it up, seems to suit it well. The photo below was taken mid autumn, April 2007 for memory, when it was a bit overdue for a tidy up. Typically it could probably be kept to 1m x 1m.

Rain and little jenny wrens.....

Finally some rain, not as much as some in the central west have received, but what a blessing, 15mls today - fortunately it came down gently and the possible thunderstorms and flash flooding predicted this morning didn't eventuate. It is our first rain since February 12 and while most of February was unseasonally mild, March could only be described as a 'mongrel month', mid to high 30's nearly every day....

Souvenir de St Anne's enjoying the rain

About six or eight wrens have finally arrived in the garden - hopefully to stay, my fingers are crossed that they like the range of facilities on offer. It is a challenge for small birds to venture to new gardens in broadacre farming districts like this, as they have to traverse open territory without the benefit of safe travel corridors.

In spite of planting 'bed and breakfast' plants, from day one, it was only last April, nearly 4 years on, that my first pair of honey eaters arrived - presumably from my nearest neighbours garden, nearly a kilometre away. My neighbours have a wonderful bird community, however I gather it took some years for the small birds to establish there.

But now it seems that the jenny wrens have bravely made the move too. I think they've been here nearly 10 days, and have explored pretty much every leaflet and petal in the garden. They move so quickly that I haven't had a chance to photograph them, but as they relax that should be easier.

I'd almost forgotten what delightfully distinctive voices they have, quite the little chatterboxes, so it is very easy to know where they are in the garden at any given time.....

and now it's time for Minky and I to have our late afternoon game of soccer in 'her paddock' - it won't actually be muddy, but it will be nice not to be kicking up dust at every move.

'Mrs Arthur Robert Waddell'

'Mrs AR Waddell' offers a delightful range of hues, lighter tones are more predominant in the warm to hot months, with deeper colours emerging in autumn and going into winter.

An early Hybrid Tea, she was very popular in the early 20th century; possibly she fell out of favour with the release of huge numbers of the stiff, straight necked roses; many suited more for the vase than garden ornamentation.

In the 1990's she re-emerged in Australia, under the study name of "The Molesworth Tea", (the district where she was first 're-discovered'). It is only recently that we can say with relative certainty that they are one in the same.

Here, she has proved to be one of the most sought after roses in the nursery; her performance, fragrance & colours enchant most who meet her.




'Mrs AR Waddell' was bred in France by Joseph Pernet-Ducher and introduced in 1908. Her parentage is not recorded, however it is interesting to note that she is the pollen parent of 'Albertine'. (a pity perhaps that the progeny didn't inherit more of her mannerly behaviour)

one of my plants, 2nd week of March 2008 (during a horrible heat wave), planted mid-year 2005.

It's all in the blood - The Charm of Heritage Roses

The Charm of Heritage Roses (downloadable 433KB file) was one of five feature articles in the 2007/08 edition of 'Australia's Open Gardens', the annual guide of Australia's Open Garden Scheme, listing gardens open each year under their auspices. 2007/08 marked the 20th anniversary of this not-for-profit Scheme.

While the words were mine, most of the photographs were kindly provided by Diana Fickling, Julie Lack, Pat Toolan and Billy West.

Additionally, it was generous of Noelene Drage, Diana Fickling, Susan Irvine, Penny McKinlay and David Ruston, each from different states, to nominate their favourite Heritage Roses for inclusion in the article. Susan Irvine also nominated her top ten Alister Clark roses.

possible Alister Clark rose?

I've just added these 2 pictures on 12 March, we've now had a week of very hot weather, and yesterday afternoon brought disgusting hot winds. These are faces she's showing me just before midday today - a tough rose ..... also the blooms are reminiscent of what my memory tells me I first saw in April 2005, however I'm not sure if the camera has captured the difference that I can see compared to the 2 photos immediately below, that were taken 2 days ago.....


I saw the parent plant in an restored old garden in April 2005, one of two early roses there not yet identified. On first sight, I thought it might be the 'shrub' form of Lorraine Lee, as opposed to the familiar climbing or bush forms. I believe there are a few isolated examples of the shrub form both in Australia & the US.

That thought has gone as I watch my young plant grow, now in the ground for 11 months. Nevertheless it does 'feel' like an AC large shrub rose with gigantea ancestry. Bloom colour & form are similar to many of his roses - such as a strong fairly hard pink it showed last spring.

These photos were taken this week; the first two were taken 2 days after the mid pink bloom photo. These colours are new to me, & show a more significant variability than I was expecting - hopefully a potential identification characteristic.

The overall plant growth & structure at this early stage also remind me of young plants of Mrs Fred Danks & Lady Mann, and the hips are akin to the pear shape of Daydream (& a few others). Very few prickles to be found. Fragrance is light & variable...

the charm of singles

Left click on pictures to enlarge them , then use your back button to return to this page

two faces of 'Mermaid'

Rosa fedtschenkoana - I nickname her "Olga's rose"- simpler, the rose is formally named in honour of Olga Fedtschenkoana, another nurseryman calls her "fetcha koala" - and if you've ever been scratched by a koala you'd know why! Wait til I post some photos of fascinating prickles....

Rosa glauca, aka R. rubrifolia

Rosa virginiana

Rosa roxburghii normalis

'Beauty of Glenhurst', a seedling of 'Old Blush' bred by Dr Brian Morley, a former Director of Mount Lofty Botanic Gardens, South Australia

Rosa willmottiae

'Mrs Oakley Fisher'

'Rugspin' with sometimes almost single friend 'Bishop Darlington'

Mulch, mulch and more mulch . . .

surely cat's ability to either announce their presence, or to disappear quietly into the background to near invisibility is one of their charms - Harebell on mouse patrol on the lucerne stockpile

Ease of application is one important reason for lucerne hay being my preferred general purpose mulch. I can load 2 bales on a nursery trolley and wheel them around easily, each trolley load typically will cover 4-6 square metres - depending on how much I need to 'top up' existing mulch.

However the drought over the last several years has meant that it is not always available and I've needed to use aged bedding from pig sheds. Now this is absolutely wonderful stuff, however the time and effort involved in spreading it is significantly greater than lucerne.

A wheelbarrow load capacity only takes about 1.5-2 sq metres of bed coverage - so it involves many hours more walking, as well as the initial pitchforking into the barrow.

However its lifespan is probably a little longer than lucerne hay, one of its saving graces.

Both these forms of mulch offer excellent nutrient value to the soil as they break down, I stopped using wood based mulches about 20 years ago, and avoid straw too, magpies delight in messing it up and it offers no nutrient value whatsoever. My preference is to focus on feeding the soil, not the plant, and so these mulches are a major source of food for the roses, via the soil.

"Pig Poo Hill" just the spot for games & gentle 'hill training' for four month old Minky (June 2007).

In all seriousness, if you don't already mulch, please try it -your plants and soil will be so much happier and you will make significant water savings.

It is important to wait until the ground has a good moisture level before applying mulch (pre planting) and if that means waiting for rain, so be it. I've sometimes waited months for sufficient rain before preparing a garden bed, then I let it settle and wait for the earthworms to start their work - again that can take weeks or months, depending on the inital soil condition.

I like to mulch to a depth of at least 4 inches, to ensure adequate moisture preservation, supress weeds, reduce soil temperature variability and provide sufficient material to encourage earthworms to the surface to begin their crucial work of soil improvement & aeration.

Earthworms, like most plant roots, appreciate cool comfortable temperatures (particularly in summer) in their living quarters. Try putting a thermometer into soil unprotected by mulch, and compare it with the temperature of soil protected by a nice blanket. The difference is quite striking.

the first year

The bushfires in the Hawkesbury (2hrs NW of Sydney) on Christmas Night 2001 were the straw that broke the camels back; maintaining my home & young nursery in a rainshadow area with poor soil had been hard enough - so a 6 month search led me here, historically one of the most drought proof, prime agricultural districts in New South Wales. The house arrived in 2 parts by truck from Wagga in December 2002 & we arrived January 29, 2003.
(we = Jane & 2 dogs, 3 cats, 2 ponies, 1 cow & hundreds of pots).


The drought was really biting, hardly a weed in sight. The front verandah, facing east, was the only source of shade (from late afternoon) so it was initially 'home' for the pots. I'd bought old carpet with me to use as a base and rigged up some shade for the tiny number of real shade lovers who'd come for the ride (not many of them left now).


Mid April, & my first houseguests, for one night, arrived about 4 hours after the driveway & carpark gravel base was spread....


Waiting for decent rain before mulching, the ph was verylow (4 - 4.5) so I'd already generously limed the beds...


Look at those beautiful emerald green paths! Actually it is my 'bonsai canola', ie capeweed prior to flowering - we've found ourselves in a weed heaven, but never mind the garden has started and the plants are happy. It is just so good to be gardening again, the construction phase was fun, but, the novelty of laying 5,000 bricks for edging diminished part way through the exercise...


the site of the 'Tea Row' hedge (above at 6 months of age, 31 December 2003) was a result of the bobcat operators work! After digging & refilling the absorption trench, he spread a 30m x 2m wide layer of red clay subsoil (about 6" deep) in a line about 1.5 metres beyond the trench - a section of this 'red line' is visible on the right hand side of the first pictured in this series.

Iwas less than impressed when I first saw this eyesore - in such barren emptiness it seemed imposing & was at an angle that contradicted some of my early garden layout ideas. Apparently it was built to prevent damage to the trench during heavy rainstorms, but given my plans for the 'yard' that wasn't likely (early lesson: think about what a bobcat operator will do with surplus subsoil).

I didn't want to leave it as a 'lawn area', and rather than spread or remove the soil, chose to work with it, and that is how the 'Tea Row' was born - just the right width and not a bad length either...

"The Tea Rose Book"

This special book has had a relatively long gestation period, and is the result of the combined dedication of six women in Western Australia over several years.

The authors visited many countries; meeting people, exploring gardens (public & private), libraries, archives, nurseries and more in their quest to write this story of The Teas - past, present and future.

The time, energy and passion involved, together with the level of their historical research is probably unmatched, and yet at the same time they are practical gardeners who have grown many of the roses in their own situations.

TEA ROSES Old Roses for Warm Gardens will be available in Spring.