July is rose pruning month if you live in a frost-free garden.
It’s best to wait until frosts have finished before pruning roses because new shoots will be frosted and the rose plant will suffer. Take a small container of Dettol and a cloth to clean secateurs between roses.
Time to prune roses if you are in a frost-free area
Use a wire brush to remove any rose scale and then spray with Eco oil. Once roses are all pruned you can spray them with Lime Sulphur to control insects
(eggs) and disease (spores). Prune hybrid tea roses hard, back to 30cm above ground and follow with a dose of seaweed solution. Feed your roses when
the new growth appears.
Peony planting time
We are trialling peonies in our Sydney garden in conjunction with Van Diemens Quality Bulbs in Tasmania; we planted three varieties last winter. Sydney
is too warm for peonies to flower well. Peonies prefer a really cold winter to initiate their spring flowers. So keen are we to grow (and flower) peonies
that we are giving each one cold treatment to initiate flowering; placing ice blocks around them for 10 consecutive nights in July! There is still
time to plant peonies. Check out https://www.vdqbulbs.com.au/
Ice treatment one-year old peony.
Peony Redford Park, Bowral
Potted bulbs
Watch closely as your hyacinths push their new flower spikes out of the soil. Some buds have been eaten! Possum? Rat? We are covering the pots with wire
mesh at night. Water emerging bulbs (hyacinths, ranunculus, daffodils, anemone) with Phostrogen or Thrive to encourage bigger blooms.
Emerging hyacinths
Sydney-siders can visit Eryldene in Gordon, the famous camellia garden of Professor Waterhouse, which is opening two weekends each month in July, August
and September. Pre-booking is advised; check details on the website https://www.eryldene.org.au/