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A friend in alkaline clay got rid of her Leda .. didn't do too well. How is Leda for you? How's the scent on that one? Thanks.
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The scent is very good and the plant grows well. Every year there are tall growths and I peg them down and the rose responds well to this flowering all along their lenght. This year we had some sharp frosts at the end of April. Some roses flowered poorly or not at all. The first flowers to open on 'Leda' were a very pink colour and deformed, this continued for about a fortnight then the proper colour and shape appeared.
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Thanks for the info. I always like "button-hole" rose. With your poetic & honest writing, you are most suited to write the descriptions for Austin catalog. The description of roses in Austin catalog is long-winded & vague.
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I was only given the rose by a friend because years ago I was the gardener at Charleston, Vanessa Bell's country home. Other peoples' choice of plants for what they think I'd like (or is appropriate for my garden) is the bane of my life! I'm too green fingered to get away with saying "I tried but it died".... A good cold winter conviently kills much unwanted stuff off, Lol.
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So many Austin roses are similar to each other, I am surprised enough adjectives exist to distinguish and separate them.
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Yes, my zone 5a winter kills wimpy own-root roses that aren't suitable for my sticky & heavy clay. One time I bought Queen of Sweden just because Austin Catalog stated that it's almost thornless with a long essay of how charming this deep-cup blooms are. When I grew that, I was disappointed that Q. of Sweden had large thorns, but further apart, with hybrid-tea growth straight up & taller than me. Since it's a deep-cup, it was stingy unless we got tons of rain, and the blooms were small & boring. The leaves were very disease resistant, never see blackspot nor mildew and it survived many winters. I got bored and gave it to a friend, she was disappointed at how small & scentless the blooms were.
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Hello Straw,
Do you know the book, Tender Roses for Tough Climates by Douglas Green? It has all sorts of helpful ideas for growing roses in cold areas.
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Yes, I read that book in 2011. I also read David Austin's book (mostly to promote his roses). The book that I really like is by Field Roebuck (Texas rosarian), that had fantastic pictures, plus how to make your own potting soil.
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I was a student with the R.H.S. over thirty years ago, when we worked on the glasshouse department we made tons of compost, loam based as it was then, John Innes No1, 2, 3, and occasionally 4 for the red Delphiniums.
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My compost pile is mostly veggies & fruits peels. Lots of earthworms, like 10 per scoop. I put earthworms in my pots to make soil fluffy. I grew blue Delphiniums one year .. that need daily watering, then it died through a hot & dry summer. I might try that again since I succeeded in making my clay loamy through acidic grass-clippings.
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I think Delphs might prefer alkali conditions. There are many old roses that cottage people used to easily grow that we struggle with today. My theory is that because there was no rubbish collection service that everything from the house (food waste, the earth closet, a lot of ash from fires, bones, hair finger nails - everything!), went back into the ground. They used to keep chicken and perhaps a pig and the dung from these would further enrich the soil. That is why soil in these dwellings is often very dark and crumbly after centuries of a wide variety of organic matter, often very different to the indigenous soil. Maybe that is why roses seem to grow so well in graveyards?
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Andrew: You are right about Delphinium prefer alkaline, but loamy & moist soil. Local HomeDepot sells blue Delph. in indoor pots (moist & fluffy potting soil) and there were tons of bloom, plus they watered with our alkaline-tap-water (pH over 8). Earthworms love organic matter. Here's my ranking of earthworms as to organic matter: 1) kitchen scraps 2) grass-clippings 3) chicken manure 4) leaves 5) wet alkaline clay 6) horse manure. But there's zero earthworms under BAGGED cow-manure (thanks to the nasty chemical quick lime added to deodorize & kill weeds). There's zero earthworm where I added BAGGED coarse sand (earthworms don't like the sharp edge of sand).
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The soil needs an holistic approach and to be regarded as an entire living organism. All areas need improvement, airation, organic content, mycorrhiza and soil fauna. When they are all attended to, one should grow good plants.
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