At last my roses are flowering again.
Normally I get several flushes of bloom during summer but this year not so, it was too hot, too dry or both and after I’d pruned them in early December, they sulked until about a fortnight ago.
I missed them, not so much in the garden – all I really ask in summer is shade and the sound of water – but indoors, they’re such brilliant cut flowers.
There’s a memorable description of roses as such in Daphne du Maurier’s novel Rebecca, in which she cleverly seduces her reader into siding with a second wife who discovers her adored husband had murdered his first.
Early in the later relationship he reminisces about his legendary home, Manderley, and remarks that roses are one of the few flowers that look better picked than growing, having a depth of colour and scent they don’t possess in the open.
I also think they’re easier to arrange, since you can hardly go wrong with a bunch of roses rammed into a silver jug (plate is fine, you don’t need Great Aunt Mabel’s solid sterling hall-marked Georgian wine cooler).
Planning before picking makes a big difference to the result.
Start with thick, tough gloves.
Purpose made, extra-long gauntlets that protect your delicate bare arms are good (around $14) but there’s nothing wrong with plain leather gardening gloves, from about $4 from a gardening chain store.
Another essential is a florist’s prickle stripper (also around $4), a claw shaped tool that you clamp just below the flower and pull down the stem with a vigorous swipe to remove prickles and leaves.
This handy gadget is easy to use because roses have prickles rather than thorns and, believe it or not, technically there’s a difference.
A true thorn like a hawthorn spike is embedded into the heart of a woody stem and is almost impossible to remove, but a prickle emerges from the stem’s outer layers, and comes away readily.
The sharper your secateurs, the easier your task.
I also carry a half full bucket of water so I can drop roses straight into it after I’ve de-prickled them.
The Efficient Gardener cuts her rose stems again by another centimetre or two, under water, after she’s lugged the bucket into the laundry.
Apparently this stops air bubbles blocking the water intake channels within the stem and ensures a longer shelf life.
The final key to success is to cut roses at dawn, in late bud, outer petals open, inner ones still furled.
If you cut them when they’re fully open they won’t last more than five minutes.
PICK THE RIGHT ROSE
When selecting roses for the garden with picking in mind, hybrid teas are best as they repeat flower (well, in a normal summer), usually with nice long stems.
Peachy pink Chicago Peace, crimson Josephine Bruce and golden amber Just Joey are beautiful and reliable.
I also love striped roses like pink and cream Cabana, or red and yellow Acadabra.
But there are thousands of others.
Nurseries carry bare rooted stock from late May or early June.
