
WINTER NEWSLETTER
JUNE 2023

Celebrating 60 years with Open Days in June and July
You are invited to attend our special Open Days to celebrate Knight’s Roses’ 60 years of operation! Visit the home of Knight’s Roses at 44 Jack Cooper Drive, Evanston (near Gawler) on Saturday, 17th June and Saturday, 29th July from 10am to 2pm. Buy top quality roses, get expert rose growing advice from the Rose Society of South Australia, and see the FELCO stand for your precision gardening tools.
The Roseworthy CFS will also be in attendance, and Knight’s Roses will be donating 100% of all the sales of the Firestar Rose on the day to the CFS Foundation!
Knight’s are one of the largest rose producers in Australia offering a comprehensive range of climbers, standards and bush roses, in fact hundreds of rose varieties available. Whether you are starting a new rose garden or renovating an old one – you are sure to find some perfect roses.
Shop Online - Order Your Roses Now

Choose from our extensive collection of top-quality roses, bare rooted bagged roses and potted roses available, including many popular varieties and new releases. Visit our website www.knightsroses.com.au or phone 1300 1ROSES or (08) 8523 1311. Place your order now for delivery Australia-wide from June to August, 2023.
Rose Pruning Demonstrations
Learn from the Experts
Free Rose Pruning Demonstrations are being run by experienced rose pruners from the Rose Society of South Australia. These are “hands on” workshops so bring your gloves and secateurs and train with the help of experts.
CARRICK HILL – 46 Carrick Hill Drive, Springfield, Sunday 18th June from 1:30pm to 3pm.
ADELAIDE – International Rose Garden, Adelaide Botanic Gardens, Sunday, 25th June from 12:30pm to 3pm. Free parking is available along Hackney Road.
EVANSTON (Gawler) – ‘Roses in the Heartland’ Rose Society Branch on Sunday 9th July from 1pm to 3pm at 3 Para Rd, Evanston. Enquiries: http://sarose.org.au
Roses Respond Well to Pruning Advice & Tips
July is the month when most roses are pruned. There are a few exceptions, including certain old-fashioned roses and some weeping standards, which should be pruned after they flower in spring.
For all other roses, mid-winter is the best time to remove dead, old diseased wood, shorten healthy canes to promote vigorous new growth and train your roses to be a manageable size and shape and encourage flowering. It’s Important to rejuvenate the plant ready for spring growth. An annual cut-back ensure an attractive and productive plant, year after year. However, trying to resuscitate an older plant that has been neglected or a poor performer for many years is a loosing game – best to remove it and replace it.
Pruning is not difficult with the right equipment, You need good bi-pass secateurs like Felco, good loppers and a pruning saw. Wear all leather gloves, preferable gauntlets. A pruning saw is ideal for cuts over 2.5cm and removing old canes. Make sure your tools are sharp.

Felco’s instructions for sharpening, lubricating and adjusting blades are on their website https://felco.com/en_au/services/maintenance
When you prune a bush rose, don’t bother looking at the top – this will be removed. Focus on the bottom half of the plant. Ideally, you want to retain strong, healthy, young canes and remove all dead and damaged wood and twiggy growth. If sufficient new canes have grown from the base (water shoots), then you can remove old canes by sawing them off flush at the base. Look at the bottom of the plant and remove any ‘suckers’ those shoots coming from below the bud union.
Also remove canes crossing over into the centre of the plant. Ultimately, you want the rose bush to resemble a cup shape, free of growth in the middle to allow air to circulate and light to penetrate.

The outer rim canes should be reduced to one-third to half of their original height and cut to 7 mm above an outward facing bud (eye). Remove all leaves. Ideally cut at a 45-degree angle above the bud ‘eye’ where foliage was attached. Within a few weeks the dormant bud eye will begin to swell. In another three weeks the swelling will result in a young new stem.
CLIMBERS AND PILLAR ROSES
Climbing roses require slightly different treatment. For climbers or pillars, first look at the base of the plant. It is has performed well, there will be a number of new canes (these are still green with no side shoots) from the base. These will provide the best flowers in the spring. Therefore, do not remove these.
Secondly, move up from the base of the plant, following older canes (left following the previous years’ pruning). Some will have strong new canes emerging partially along the old stem. Others will only have short stems all along the cane. These would have produced the flowers during the previous year. Determine how many stems you require. As a guide most climbers need at least 12 canes in order to wrap 6 canes onto a trellis on each side of the plant.
For a Pillar Rose, leave approximately 6 to 8 good canes growing from the base, then wrap them onto the pillar, half clockwise and the other half anti-clockwise and tie on.
Remove any remaining old foliage from stems, fallen leaves and pruning remnants and place into green waste. Composting may not kill off spores and disease – best to dispose of it altogether.



WINTER SPRAY FOR PEST AND DISEASES
Once pruning is finished, a winter dormancy spray should be applied liberally – use pest oil, winter oil or Lime Sulphur. This will effectively eliminate over-wintering aphids and spider mite eggs and fungal spores in cracks and crevasses on the stems and also on the ground under rose plants. Copper Oxy Chloride spray can also be used; however, it can be detrimental to worms. The Winter Spray regime is important for pest and disease control and will ensure significantly reduced problems in spring. FERTILISINGRoses do not require feeding in winter. However, roses benefit from an application of Neutrog ‘Seamungus’. This is a soil tonic and plant conditioner, manufactured from seaweed, fish, humid acid and manure. It stimulates the roots into strong healthy growth in late winter and early spring. Pelletised Seamungus is recommended, as pellets will breakdown with rainfall enhancing root growth and should be applied prior to mulching. MULCHAfter the old fallen leaves and cuttings have been removed, an application of mulch is recommended. Generally, late winter and before the roses begin to produce shoots which can be accidentally broken off. Knight’s Roses recommended an application of 5cm of Neutrog’s ‘Whoflungdung’. while it can be applied immedietly around the base of mature roses (3 years and older) it is advised not to apply mulch closer than 15cms to new, one or two-year-old plants as sometimes damage can occur to young basal shoots. ‘Whoflungdung’ comes in 20kg compressed bales. Apply water after application to settle the mulch in. Mulch significantly reduces evaporation from the surface, cools the root zone and introduces good microbial activity into the soil. Email your roses questions to: retailsales@knightsroses.com.au |
Contact Knight’s Roses for more information : 1300 1 ROSES or (08) 8523 1311 |