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ENDING the rules in the garden can be a risky business . . . but you may be lucky and get away with it.
I’m hoping luck stays on my side after I performed the unthinkable and replanted a rose bush in mid-June.
The variety – a lovely fragrant, crimson 1952-bred golden oldie called Madame Louis Laperrière – was among the front runners to bloom in my garden this summer, but then it began to sulk, look a little sickly and produced no further buds.
The reason – it was becoming swamped and shaded by a genista, or broom, on one side, and by the tall hybrid tea rose Especially for You on the other.
My fault entirely for siting it where it was and not thinking ahead!
So this week I took the bull by the thorns, dug it up and rehomed it 4ft away where it will enjoy full sun for several hours daily and have room to expand.
At least that’s my fervent hope. Because the soil was dry, much of it was crumbly, so exposing the rose’s roots during its upheaval couldn’t have been avoided. And that, of course, will have further reduced the plant’s chances of a full recovery.
Remaining in optimistic mode, I placed it carefully in its new hole which was laced with stable manure and some gritty compost and duly filled it in.
So far so good! The fresh new shoot which bore a bud initially drooped a little but has now revived, no doubt thanks to three or four copious waterings and a few trugfuls of hope.
Here’s hoping Madame Louis lives to bloom another day.
Staying conveniently with roses, I’ve been sent details of new shrubs marketed by international seed and plant empire Thompson & Morgan.
Among the 2024 debutantes is Scentifall Yellow, a hardy shrub rose specially bred for containers and baskets.
T & M hail the rose’s “wonderful citrus fragrance and trailing habit.” The recommendation is to grow it in patio pots, hanging baskets or at the front of the border.
The pretty lemon-yellow, sometimes near-white, fully double blooms repeat-flower throughout the summer, it’s got high disease-resistance and forms mounds of small, dark green leaves.
And, maybe best of all, this petite charmer, with a height and spread of 24in, is thornless or near-thornless which is good news when it’s time to prune or water and you forget the gloves.
Just enough space to reveal another of T & M’s newbie shrubs – the world’s first patio buddleia with normal size flowers but on plants half the size.
► Top – Golden oldie Madame Louis Laperriere before its transplant; centre – new rose Scentifall Yellow; above – buzzing with colour from the new buddleia Buzz Collection.
Always remember to feed and water container-grown buddleias regularly, whereas those planted directly into the border will demand only occasional attention.
Buddleia Buzz Collection consists of Buzz Indigo in deep blue, Buzz Ivory with white flowers and Buzz Lavender in violet-lavender, all three with orange eyes.
In spring prune plants back to a permanent low framework of three or four buds from the base. Deadhead faded blooms to prolong bloom production.
Graham's Garden Buddies 