Reliable Roses Trip/ muscovyduckling

I thought I would start this thread prior to Zoe getting back from there. Hopefully she will come home armed with the info she required. Plus more info for the forum.

Sadly not! It was absolutely bucketing down here on Saturday so I didn't go for fear of drowning! We'll all have to wait another week I'm afraid.

Reliable Roses sells a rose named China Sunrise that is the highest achieving Australian bred rose to come out of the National Trial Grounds having won Silver Medal. At this stage I am trialling it and am pleased with the results to date.

could prove interesting, Doug

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Interesting it is by Laurie Newman

It was bred by Laurie Newman.

Award: Silver Medal; Best Australian-Bred Rose
Name: China Sunrise
Type: hybrid tea rose
Habit: tangerine flowers that form tight buds and open to a rich orange-pink
Breeder: Laurie Newman, Silvan Vic
Exhibitor: Laurie Newman, Silvan Vic

Who/what took out the gold?

Zoe, Did you get to Reliable R over the weekend  

Again, no! I had to do some greyhound rescue volunteer stuff at late notice. I'm definitely going on Saturday though!

I went to Reliable Roses today. My head is still spinning. My god, Jean has everything there, just going wild in the garden (4 acres), so you really get to see what everything looks like when it's properly established. It's amazing. She showed me all these species roses with multicoloured stems, and a big row of Albas ( best foliage ever! Everyone should have Albas! ) and rugosas which have awesome foliage as well and smell awesome. And tea roses with all the purple new growth.

And she told me how to look after them (in her words, if you get old fashioned roses you never spray them, and don't go near them with fertiliser for a year and after that only once a year if you get around to it. they are tough old things, they will survive). And she showed me how to prune them and deadhead them and plant them and train them. And I smelled them all, and then I got overwhelmed and couldn't choose.

So I have come home with only two roses today - a rambler called New Dawn to have a go at eating my big huge water tank. And I also got one called Kathleen Harrop which is a pale version of Zephirine Drouhin I think, just because it smells darn amazing. It won't flower as much as New Dawn and it might get a bit of black spot apparently, but i thought i might just pop it in on the other side of the tank and see what happens.

I will have to have a think about what to put alongside the house and the fence. Jean doesn't have a lot of stuff in pots, so she said when I decide I will just have to call or email, and if she doesn't have it she will propagate it for me for next bare root season.

I didn't even get any pictures (I know, boo hiss), but I will go back there no doubt and remember to get some. But I did remember to ask about yellows for you David, she says there are only about a dozen decent yellows out there and she only grows one, I think she called it Papillon but when I wrote it down I have spelled it a bit wrong, so it might not be...

Standouts for me were the Albas and rugosas, The Fairy, Felicia, Madame Hardy, and Apricot Nectar. Plus there were a bunch of really old varieties named after this or that old French guy, they were all quite flattish and smelled awesome and had little green eyes in the middle, but I didn't write down all their names.

 

I know how you feel!
Glad you had a great day.

 

                 
In other words Zoe, you had a great day. Can you tell me/us your thoughts about Jean"s knowledge.
So how many are on the wish list, which variety do I love, albas, damasks, species, or what ?

Wow, that sounds like an amazing day! I'm really jealous, it's so great to be able to see the roses as mature bushes. I am just too good at choosing some beautiful flower out of a catalogue and discovering it grows bigger than my house!
I have kathleen Harrop and she is lovely, very smelly and no thorns.

Sounds like a wonderful day Zoe. Hopefully your tanks will soon be covered by a sea of blooms. Doesn't it make a difference when you can actually see the plants growing and looking their best? Just makes the decisions harder to make though

I absolutely need to do a road trip to these southern rose venues. Thank you for the heads up. Maybe I will be able to go this time next year when I will be needing an especially big spend up after eldest wild rose has finished yr 12

Definitely do it Hariet Rose, there are heaps of great nurseries down this way. I haven't done the rounds of the Vic rose nurseries but we have some excellent conifer, rhododendron/azalea and deciduous tree nurseries just up the road from where I live that I visit often.

Roseman, Je an knows a whole heap about rose care and propagation and she said she is always happy to give advice if you ring her up and/or email pics. She also knows who has what, so if you're looking for something that she doesn't have she can tell you where to find it. She knows a whole lot about the old fashioned roses and their histories, and she is passionate about saving old and rare varieties. Also she works a day job in the city, so she is very understanding of gardeners that don't have a lot of time etc. and can advise about the best varieties for time-poor (see: lazy) gardeners in regards to disease resistance, pruning requirements etc. This is particularly helpful for me as I only live 20 mins away and have similar conditions for rose growing.

Plus, for those who are interested, she also does a lot of flower arranging and had heaps of tips for which varieties flower into winter, which have nice coloured stems for floral structure arrangements, which last as cut flowers etc etc. She also judges and competes at some rose shows so she knows a lot about competitions, and which varieties do well in that arena.

For me, I really liked the hybrid musks and bourbons the best of all. In general, I discovered that I prefer roses with lots of smaller flowers in big old trusses than plants with large flowers on a single stem, but I suspect that if you plant the two together the combination would look amazing. I definitely want at least one alba somewhere very visible for the beautiful foliage, and I've still got the hots for Monsieur Tillier, but I think I will mostly go for climbing/ rambling/ arching plants rather than shrubs because the shape appeals to me, and looks more relaxed and naturalistic (my garden is VERY relaxed... Ahem... Did anyone say 'weeds'?).

I hope that answers the questions!

I'm soooo jealous Zoe!  I must get off my backside and drive up there!!  Have spoken to Jean on the phone a few times and you are quite right, she is an amazing lady with so much knowledge and ill talk to you in "your" language!! 

Very good info there Zoe , i love hybrid teas and know absolutely zilch about these type of roses except what i've read via the websites on offer ,but i'd love to try a few of them . What was the difference between tea roses and hybrid musks and bourbons that you could see , thanks ....

And I'm really curious about the hybrid musks. Have never seen one in real life, but the lit on them is quite inspiring. Did Jean happen to have any special oens you like?

Is Laurie still involved with the nursery, or is he doing more far-ranging work these days?

I'm not sure what Laurie is doing I'm afraid, I only spoke to Jean.

Ummm hybrid musks.. I was curious about them because some folks in the (very shady) neighbourhood here grow them with real success. I've seen Ballerina and Cornelia a few streets over blooming their little heads off. Jean had a lovely lax arching shrub of Felicia, it smelled amazing. I like a lot of them, especially Penelope. I think Pax might be a hybrid musk too.

Now I'm obviously no expert, but the difference I noticed between teas and bourbons Compared to HT's was that the teas and bourbons had flatter blooms whereas the HTs had higher pointed blooms. Some of the teas had high centred blooms too, but they didn't hold their shape like the HTs do, the older blooms went all soft and billowy, if that makes sense? Also the bourbons produced blooms all along their canes, but the teas and HTs just had one bloom at the end of a long stem. And the bourbons and teas were more lax that the HTs, it seemed like a lot of them could even be trained as short climbers, but the HTs were more bushy/shrubby.

I'm sure all you rose experts are having a right old laugh at my laymans descriptions here, haha.

I'm no expert Muscovy , just a back yard gardener , sounds pretty good to me lol !!

That is the way roses should be explained Zoe, in laymen's terms. Without any marketing hype.   

Jean just called, she has Alba semi plena for me! *does a little excited dance*