Just about every lavender rose seems to have a fragrance, and if you grow your roses for their fragrance in additon to their beauty, as I do, you’ll want to make sure that one of the following rose plants finds a place in your garden.

Leading the field is one of my very favourites, Blue Moon. Not only is the colour of this rose bush enchanting but the fragrance is exceptional. It’s a hybrid tea rose that grows 135 cm (4ft 1/2ft) tall, with large, full petalled blooms that last well. It is no wonder it’s been one of the most commercially successful lavender roses. Read more »

It’s such a pleasure to get together with a group of people who share the same passion as you do. Joining a rose society gives you an opportunity to connect with likeminded folk who share your satisfaction of growing roses and who enjoy exchanging various tips and ideas.

Your partner or family members may not share your enthusiasm for rose gardening and it’s good to be able to talk with others who “get it” – the joy and pleasure you experience while pottering in and around your garden. Read more »

Picture this: You enjoy growing roses and one of your beautiful rose plants is starting to turn up its heels. The leaves have been yellowing and falling and the shoots are starting to die off.

You don’t know what could be the problem. You give it a good watering every few days, but it doesn’t seem to be helping – in fact the rose plant just keeps looking worse.

It is often at this stage that you think maybe it needs some fertilizer. So you go get some rose food and spread that generously around the base of the plant. STOP. This is the worst thing you could do for it.

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