This excerpt from The Poppy was written by 'our rosy friend' Leonie for the October 2013 issue. Leonie talks about perennials of interest in her garden as well as a continuing section which details details varieties of heritage and old roses, to help the cottage gardener choose and nurture roses, with confidence.
Time and time again when rose growing is discussed, the dreaded words 'black spot' are mentioned. Gardeners are told that spraying with fungicides will be necessary to control this disease in Queensland. My answer is to grow roses more suited to our climate. The heritage and old-fashioned roses, consisting of the Tea roses, China roses, Musk roses, Noisette roses and the Polyantha roses have proven to be much more tolerant of our high humidity. I doubt that there is a 'Poppy' member who does not know of the Tea rose, 'Duchesse de Brabant'. Sometimes known as 'The Montville Rose', it is an amazing performer in southeast Queensland. What is sometimes not recognised is that it has many sisters, brothers and cousins in the Tea rose family who also perform extremely well in our climate, without the need or chemical sprays. The other old-fashioned roses such as China roses, (not as tall as Tea roses), Musk roses (sometimes bush or climbers, not too thorny), Noisettes (climbers) and the Polyantha roses, (generally lower growers and great for borders), also are fabulously healthy, vigorous and 'black-spot free' in our gardens.
Two perennial nicotianas have been showing off shamelessly in my garden recently. One is Nicotiana mutabilis who grows over all trying to get in its way. It has huge leaves and after laying down a good store of leaves, it bears 1.2m stems of the the most delicate tiny pink flowers which shade light to dark pink, (hence mutabilis) which means 'tending to change'. The flowers pick well, are really pretty and keep well in water. Provided you can give this plant space, it will delight you as well. It flowers for months and does not seem to be bothered by heat or dryness, as it can get quite dry beneath the large leaves.
The other nicotiana, maybe alata, is similar to the perfumed white variety which opens its starry white flowers at four o'clock! This one however, is open for most of the day, sometimes having a little siesta on a hot day. It is also quite a vigorous plant, spreading wherever it pleases with underground roots. However, the starry purple flowers, one metre high, are just gorgeous. I have it planted in a few situations, but the place I love it most is where it encircles a tall, pale pink Tea rose 'Madame de Tartas' and it peeps out all round her skirts. It is a real picture.
Polyantha roses: 'Suitor' was bred in Australia by Alister Clark, 1942.This low-growing, vigorous rose, bears lovely large sprays of mid-pink, double flowers which fade to lighter pink, giving a brocade effect. It is a tough little rose, very suitable for edging as it flowers continuously. It can spread to 1m wide and is half a metre in height. 'Tarrawarra', was introduced by John Nieuwesteeg in Australia, in 1991. This was a seedling found in his nursery and one which he felt deserve propagating. It is another low-growing rose to .75m, bearing upright, small sprays of semi-double, creamy white little roses. In a group planting, it would be useful as a low hedge, as again it is one which flowers continuously.
Time and time again when rose growing is discussed, the dreaded words 'black spot' are mentioned. Gardeners are told that spraying with fungicides will be necessary to control this disease in Queensland. My answer is to grow roses more suited to our climate. The heritage and old-fashioned roses, consisting of the Tea roses, China roses, Musk roses, Noisette roses and the Polyantha roses have proven to be much more tolerant of our high humidity. I doubt that there is a 'Poppy' member who does not know of the Tea rose, 'Duchesse de Brabant'. Sometimes known as 'The Montville Rose', it is an amazing performer in southeast Queensland. What is sometimes not recognised is that it has many sisters, brothers and cousins in the Tea rose family who also perform extremely well in our climate, without the need or chemical sprays. The other old-fashioned roses such as China roses, (not as tall as Tea roses), Musk roses (sometimes bush or climbers, not too thorny), Noisettes (climbers) and the Polyantha roses, (generally lower growers and great for borders), also are fabulously healthy, vigorous and 'black-spot free' in our gardens.
Two perennial nicotianas have been showing off shamelessly in my garden recently. One is Nicotiana mutabilis who grows over all trying to get in its way. It has huge leaves and after laying down a good store of leaves, it bears 1.2m stems of the the most delicate tiny pink flowers which shade light to dark pink, (hence mutabilis) which means 'tending to change'. The flowers pick well, are really pretty and keep well in water. Provided you can give this plant space, it will delight you as well. It flowers for months and does not seem to be bothered by heat or dryness, as it can get quite dry beneath the large leaves.
The other nicotiana, maybe alata, is similar to the perfumed white variety which opens its starry white flowers at four o'clock! This one however, is open for most of the day, sometimes having a little siesta on a hot day. It is also quite a vigorous plant, spreading wherever it pleases with underground roots. However, the starry purple flowers, one metre high, are just gorgeous. I have it planted in a few situations, but the place I love it most is where it encircles a tall, pale pink Tea rose 'Madame de Tartas' and it peeps out all round her skirts. It is a real picture.
Polyantha roses: 'Suitor' was bred in Australia by Alister Clark, 1942.This low-growing, vigorous rose, bears lovely large sprays of mid-pink, double flowers which fade to lighter pink, giving a brocade effect. It is a tough little rose, very suitable for edging as it flowers continuously. It can spread to 1m wide and is half a metre in height. 'Tarrawarra', was introduced by John Nieuwesteeg in Australia, in 1991. This was a seedling found in his nursery and one which he felt deserve propagating. It is another low-growing rose to .75m, bearing upright, small sprays of semi-double, creamy white little roses. In a group planting, it would be useful as a low hedge, as again it is one which flowers continuously.
