Early Spring Teas

It's a monster though, Gary. I struck my three plants from cuttings to grow them as stand-alone garden specimens, but I think I will be shovelling two of them because they get so big and one will provide all the grafting material I will ever need

Speaking of monsters, I was outside earlier doing my nightly walk amoungst the flowers (helps relieve the stress) and our "Parks Yellow " (not) that is climbing up a tree out the back has a flower that looks to be at least 10 metres from the ground. I am going to measure it on the weekend to see how high it actually is.

Gary are you sure that was the correct translation

Right - I have got about 900 rose varieties, a great start to Spring for the new 200 roughly of those 900, I have got all the 200 tall poles in and tidied the climbers and ramblers up, just have to get my ride ons fixed and I will be coasting for next twenty years adding roses and prerianls etc. to my garden and enjoying them.
Wrong - There is now a office 6.5 kms up the road for the Cobbora coal mine ( one of the places they bought out ) And I have recently found out about Infra sound and what it does to you. So it is not just coal dust and pollutting of the water ways and rain water tanks, as well as the birds and the animals. I don't know how they can justify doing this to the people that are left living near coal mines, or coal gas seams, no matter how many other people in the state or the world want power. They have to buy me out, I am not going to risk my family's and my health. Which they have done to the people around Wollar.
Simon, I have heard your State gets 80 % of its electicity from Hydro power. Is that true ? I will be coming to Tasmania but I have got to wait till my older girls are off to University and that will be 6 years. In about a year and a half I will have to find somewhere else to live closer to Mudgee, I am not going to stay here once they start blasting.
I shouldn't have bought more roses but I am totally addicted and I thought if they start the mine at the other end of the road I could maybe stay on here a bit longer but they are putting four smaller pits in now instead of one big one and surpose to be down sizing to 20 million ton instead of 30 million ton. We had a neighbourhood meeting about the mine a few weeks ago. We have seen it written that there is Black Jack coal 5 kms from here so we reckon one of the pits will be there. As well as the lower grade coal in the other pits.
So this Spring, and hopefully the next, will be precious to me.

Oh dear Karen that is bad news.
Do you think they will buy you out ?

Carole

The "tronc here" bit is quite obvious. I just filled in the other bits when I looked at the photos.

Interesting that the nusery speiclaises in Teas, Chinas and Noisettes all grown on their own roots.

Hey I am sorry, I totally missed the second page here, I sometimes or nearly always do that, I surpose I was so keen to have a winge. While I was doing that the photos finally came up that I haven't seen before, just the first lot and Simon's photo, the others are missing which is always disappointing. After Christmas I will up our internet package.
Great photos, Balinbear ! Gee you have alot of Teas ! I was thinking about how Teas would grow in Tasmania and how they mighn't do that well. But my friend Lynette, who has the garden that has been in the Open garden scheme and who had some houses that they rented out in Tasmania, told me they will do better there than here, depending where I go in Tasmania. So thats good news.
Carol, they better buy me out or else they have stolen my right to have my home, by making it not possible to live here because I am scared for my children's health, and my own. It is not right to give some people 1.6 million when it was worth only 600 thousand some weeks earlier, and all the other 300 kms square they bought and not compensate the neighbours left. They also own the property 2 kms up the road they say is for the water pipe line from the Cudgeegong river and a property up the back some distance for the gas pipe line that will be come from Narrabri and down through here to Wellington.
How much distance from a coal mine or a power plant before it stops being a danger to a persons health ?
Or do I just say, I had a property and a home for a while but it doesn't belong to me anymore because I don't want to risk living there. One coal miner told me the mine won't come this far and if they do they will mine undernealth us and I won't even know they are there. Since then I have heard about Infra soundand how it hurts your body too. That is whether it is 5 kms from me or 1 km under me. I know there is alot of people going through this with coal mines or Coal Gas Seams now. If the Goverment wants to recklessly go the way it is, they can pay me out so I can go live somewhere more sensible.

Not wanting to get on my soapbox and I know this is not a political board but it is wrong for compensation only to be paid to those whose land is taken. It is an unfortunate result of bad legistlation prepared by the States to cover their backsides.

Thanks Balinbear for your surport.
You sure realise what you have when you find out you are going to loose it.

WOW Karen! Here I was thinking things were settling down for you. I'm sorry to hear that things are again in chaos.

Regarding the Teas in Tasmania.... it's a mixed bag Some do really well and others not so much. It also depends on the year. We had a cold winter this time but we seem to have warmed up quite quickly. The Teas I have look really good on the whole. Marie Van Houte has been quite badly frost damaged and is struggling to recover. One I think is Madame Joseph Schwartz kept its leaves all winter and even had a scattered bloom throughout the coldest months. It looks good now and is about to break into its first major flush for the season. So.. it's a matter of try it and see. Some will do well... others not so well... all will grow really slow and take forever to build up (except climbing Devoniensis which has put on nealry 2ft of growth since putting it in the ground mid-winter this year). Most other roses do well down here but black spot pressure is intense in the north, NW and west coast (which gets about 3m of rainfall each year). The east coast is in a rain shadow and it is very much dryer and hotter there (in the summer) than here so I'm guessing the fungal pressure would be lower there. Most floribunda, HT and DA roses do poorly here because of their fungal issues though I am slowly discovering floribunda that are actually healthy here thanks to Damian's insistance that some are descent . Hybrid musks, Noisettes, polyantha, rugosa, China... pretty much all the rest... do really well. We get enough chill hours for the gallica and damask (etc) roses but Laevigata and bracteata don't do overly well here. Gigantea seems to grow very much more strongly here.

About our power... the hydro and wind power produced down here is cleaner but... and this is a massive BUT... it's really expensive. Our last power bill was $1035 for the quarter!!!! I nearly died when I saw it and we used less power this time than we did the same time last year. So we are being fleeced down here and there is only one provider!

Bringing all your roses down here is very much an option... and if you are not leaving for another 6 years that gives you time to propagate the ones you want to keep and keep them in pots for the trip down. If you time to come down during winter it will be much easier and cheaper. They will need to be treated but I reckon you could get a bulk discount for that many roses. When selecting the ones you want to bring... if in doubt... bring it! Once you are here buying roses in is a lengthy and costly exercise due to the quarantine issues here.

I hope things do sort themselves out soon for you. You certainly deserve it! Sounds like you could use some low-stress Tasmanian therapy!

$1035 a quarter. No wonder we (on the mainland) need a carbon tax. Obviously we need it so we don't feel so inferior with our low power bills.

I'm making a wind turbine of my own to fix the problem too!

Simon that is massive. Do you have elec heating, elec dryer, elec water pumps and are you powering your nieghbours house.

Everyone we spoke to also got enormous bills... I think my fish tanks use a lot of power as they are all heated... need to cut them back

Would that kill the poor fish though ?

I have moved fish around so I have fewer tanks... all still heated

Good I was a bit worried there.

Thanks Simon for all that very good information. When I was visiting Tasmania I really did start thinking I should move back to Tasmania, but then I thought how can I leave my garden I have created. Then I started to see how the coal mine was going to effect us, and that is one thing that has kept me from this forum, researching the effect of coal mines ( as well as Garden Web and queing for the computer and by the time you get on you are too tired anyway and go off to bed instead )
I reckon I will just dig all my roses up ( well will see what happens when I try to dig them up ). Some I will get cutting plants from and rooted bits as well. The trouble is, unless they buy me out before they start, I would have to come back here with a mask to stop breathing in the coal dust while I dig the roses out, because it would take me a while. Its no good taking them to anywhere temporarily in that time, I won't start another garden till I am in Tasmania. The roses will have to live on here with out me. I will just concetrate on my Kelpies till we move to Tasmania, after we move from here.
I don't know if it is going to work. It might be easier to just buy the roses again out of the money I hopefully eventually get, they will have to compensate me for the loss of my garden.
And you are right there are lots of things that hapen in life that try to stop the making and enjoying of a garden.

Simon wrote: I'm making a wind turbine of my own to fix the problem too!

Do you get enough sun for solar power

sometimes...

Its not exactly early sping anymore but the photos are a few weeks old.

Parkes Yellow Not somewhat up the tree
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The Camelia Arch (well it will be one day)with Souv Mme Leonie Vernott on the trellis, Nancy Hayward on the shelter and Marie Van Houtte behind.
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Rev d'Or on the pergola we built last year
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White Mamon Cochet about to take over the garden. It has spread out from its pergola and running 4-5 metres (both ways) along the trellis beside the pergola
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Mrs Graham Hart (the photos do not give it justice)
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Pink Mamon Cochet climbing on its new pergola (roses planted last summer)
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Nur Mahál
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Don't they know you can't grow roses north of Brisbane?

Do you have any close-up pics of "Lorna Doone"?

Utterly magnificent. Gawd I wish I had that amount of space.

Wonderful pics of fantastic roses.

Larry