CUT ROSES FOR EASTER

I confess to being a fair-weather gardener and until it gets a bit warmer, my garden will be left to cope alone. Indoors I have some young Tumbling Tom tomatoes growing away until it is warm enough to put them outdoors. I also have some pelargonium cuttings which I took a week ago and look very promising with no sign of wilting or dying.

David Austin rose, Wild Eve, growing in my garden 2011

Flowers are in abundance in the shops right now and my favourites, roses, getting cheaper. Yesterday I treated myself to two bunches of creamy white roses which are a lot less fattening to look at than Easter eggs are to eat. Come summer, or sooner, I hope to be able to bring in roses from the garden. The varieties I grow, the David Austin roses (Wild Eve, William Morris, Generous Gardener, and Princess Alexander of Kent) are all far more fragrant than any I have ever bought which have been raised in hothouses. I also grow Hybrid Teas and Floribunas: Troika, Aloha, Arthur Bell, and Iceberg, as well as the climbers: New Dawn, Compassion and Iceberg.

I always make sure that my flowers have no leaves below waterline and I always cut off at least 1 inch of stem before arranging, cutting at an angle. I keep the water topped up, change it regularly if it has no special powder or liquid added to it, and I cut the stems a little each time. With woody stems, like roses and chrysanthemums, I split the stem at the bottom too to aid the stem drawing up water. I understand it is the bacteria that gets from the water into the stem that clogs up the stems and deprives the flowers of water, making them wilt and die. At least, my flowers usually last a couple of weeks.

Here are a few of the cut roses I have bought in supermarkets and garden centres in the past and the cream ones I bought yesterday...