The Pruning of Roses … in the rain of course! on the last day of January, 2018 and, suddenly, there was a garden-full of cars bringing visitors through a wet and cold Norman day to John and Janet’s house. A goodly crowd of members had braved the weather to come to learn about pruning roses from David.
Soon we were all settled in the conservatory, listening to a talk from David, clearly an expert, a rose grower for some 30 years, who used to have well over a hundred roses in a garden in the UK.
He quickly had his audience very impressed and keen to hear his every nugget of info. Within minutes, questions came from all corners of the room and it was clear that a lot of hints and tips were being hoisted in by the wide-eyed students and clear, too, that David is going to spend 2018 having his sleeve tugged by his new rose-growing friends!
He spent time carefully defining bushes, shrubs, climbers etc for us (plus brief histories of roses as a whole) which led to queries and advice about the seasons when different types of rose plants should be pruned as well as the thorny (!)
question of where the best plants can be bought.
Soon it was time to go outside, to examine roses and learn more of the practical part of pruning, so, of course, it started to rain. But we budding (!!) rose-growers of Normandy were not to be put off and we gathered round each rose example to hear and see as David quickly and easily gave each the beginnings of the treatment it should have and explained why.
The whole get-together was a great success, and sent us all off keen to do better by our roses ….but not before we had all enjoyed a most welcome feast of sausage and bacon sandwiches to fend off the weather! (Thank you for your hospitality
and superb grub to round off the outing, John and Janet)
We all thank David for his informative session, which he has kindly followed up with notes which broaden the information he gave and add much more.
Write up and photo’s courtesy of members
