Paul N

help with garden shed and bbq area

Ian

A 6ft x 4ft shed is no good to man nor beast. A couple of bicycles and it'll be full up. Both my sheds were given to me freely and needed some new timber let in to make them usable. New roofing felt and glass made them fine and are still used every day over the last ten years. The smaller of the two sheds is on brick base with concrete foundations. The jumbo shed, because the ground slopes, is on a hefty timber base of 8" x 2" timber framework concreted into the ground. There's no easy way to mount sheds as the base must be firm, solid and flat. If you cut corners now, you'll only have the problem of doing it again properly in the future.

And as for GAS barbecues.......

Can you help me identify this flowering shrub?

Sorry Sarah, I mis-read your post and thought you meant that unless you pruned you WOULD not get any flowers. Silly me. 

New roses for old

'Tender' not 'tending' (doh).

New roses for old

'Masquerade'? It certainly looks like it. I'd take a couple of flowers and visit your local nursery or garden centre and compare them.

I'm not immune to making mistakes though. Last year I found my 'Zepherine Drouhin' growing through a thicket of jasmine and honeysuckle and although it was September I went against all advice and my better judgement, dug her up and transplanted her. The single long branch was about 8ft long. In spite of all the water and care in the world, she progressively passed away. Stupid impatience on my part and the first transplanted rose I'd lost in years. 'Albertine' now in her third position is growing exceedingly well with lots of flowers and buds. I cannot say no to orphans either. My son had a standard Rosa glauca growing within inches of his back door, and the tending hands of his children, and he implored me to take it away. It's now doing nicely at the bottom of the garden.

BTW 'neutrician' should read 'nutrients'. Sunday was a looooong day

New roses for old

Right, ideally roses should have about six hours of light to thrive although of course some will tolerate shade better than others. But these are in the minority. Today I was in a pub garden in Twickenham (Father;s Day you see) and saw a nice white rose (perhaps 'Iceberg') in bloom but in the shade of a massive tree. The tree not only shades your old roses but deprives them of water and neutrician. 

What would I do? Well for me all old roses are worth saving no matter how decrepid they are. Why not wait until October/November when they start to become dormant, then dig each one up with the largest ball of soil you can manage (OK, rose roots aren't a tightly bunched mass and most soil will fall away), and move them to another part of the garden. Reduce height to one third, water well and regularly, and feed. Take a cutting or two as well and fingers crossed, in the spring, you may well see new signs of life from the parent plant or the cuttings.

New roses for old

I should have added that very occasionally they will wilther away and no effort would save them. Roses particularly dislike sandy soil for instance. So the time comes when they may need grubbing up and replacing with a new rose. Roses also dislike being planted in the same spot as an old rose so either dig a big hole and replace the soil with fresh stuff taken from elsewhere in the garden or sink a cardboard box in the ground and fill this with fresh soil. Cuttings? I find those of mine taken on October work best. 9" tall and placed in a tall flower pot in a 50/50 mixture of GP compost and vermiculite. Allow a full twelve months to produce a good root system then pot on into individual pots. 18 months to two years and they are ready to grow into the ground.

New roses for old

Dear me, I've seen some bad advice before but.......A few years ago I was in Tombstone, Arizona, where I saw the World's Largest Rose. It was massive and 150yrs old. The World's oldest Rose Bush is at least 1,500yrs old and grows alongside Hildesheim Cathedral. My own garden has 73 roses and I expect them all to outlive me. Provided the soil is good and well composted, the bushes are correctly pruned, fed and watered, they can and will live for years. When we moved here eighteen years ago, we inherited some very old and gnarly roses. With proper treatment all have responded with fresh healthy growth and flowers.

Can you help me identify this flowering shrub?

No you don't. Our Philadephus 'Virginal' has never been pruned in fifteen years and flowers every year. However as she's got very leggy, I shall prune after she finishes flowering this year. Prune down to one third of it's height, then prune to the ground one third of the remaining stems. You only lose next years flowers if you prune them at the wrong time ie next spring.

does anyone know what this is?

No it's not, it's a Dracunculus vulgaris.

GW Presenters

Good grief, I'd hoped that this subject which had been well and truly done to death in the previous forum, could be laid to rest. The entire subject is doing my head in.

Carol Klein's Glebe Cottage

Himalayan Balsam

Giverny in September

Chelsea Flower Show

Robinia pseudoacacia 'Frisia' problems

Globe Artichoke

Keukenhof

Britain's Oldest Rose Bush