Best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the whole team at Knight’s Roses. Thank you for your business – we can’t wait to serve you again next year.  Please do not hesitate to contact us with any enquiries.

Daniel Knight

We are busy planning our first “Autumn Rose Open Day” to be held on Saturday, 3rd May, 2025 from 10am for a 10:30am start.

The Rose Society of South Australia will also be onsite to discuss rose categories and types. Come and see our spectacular display of autumn roses at the entrance to our property at 44 Jack Cooper Drive, Evanston. More details to follow soon.

Dreaming of the perfect rose garden? Shop online at Knight’s Roses – we have many potted roses available for sale from our extensive collection with delivery Australia-wide. Pre-order your bagged roses ready for winter to avoid missing out.

Order roses by phone (08) 8523 1311,email retailsales@knightsroses.com.au or visit our website https://knightsroses.com.au

Considering there are thousands of rose varieties commercially available, it can be overwhelming to find the ideal varieties for your garden. Whether you are looking for distinct characteristics, beautiful colours or perfume, take a look at our top selling roses in 2024 for some inspiration:

1. Amazing Mum – has large fragrant bright pink blooms and repeat flowering.
2. Black Caviar – unusual deep red purple blooms with a old fashioned appearance and a superb fragrance, launched to support the National Jockeys Trust.
3. Mister Lincoln – an upright, tall bush producing long straight stems with classic large deep red velvety roses with a strong damask perfume.
4. Iceberg – a legendary rose and universal best-seller, well known for its hardiness, rapid repeat flowering all season long, healthy foliage and clusters of delicate white double blooms.
5. Firestar – clusters of fabulous bright orange blooms fading to raspberry, part proceeds support the CFS Foundation.
6. Mother’s Love – is named to remind us of the memories and love shared by all mothers. It has a vigorous bushy habit and is very hardy with large light pink flowers and a sweet rose fragrance.
7. Ebb Tide – compact bush with attractive, rosette style, dark mauve blooms and a delightful intense spicy clove fragrance.
8. Double Delight – a neat bush with flushes of bi-coloured red and white flowers famous for their lifted spicy scent.
9. Blue Moon – classic lavender blooms on long stems with a strong fragrance and still the most popular of all the ‘blue’ roses.
10. Winx – Easy to grow and very disease resistant with abundant lovely pure white blooms.

Landscape Roses were bred to be tough and hardy! One of the first was ‘La Sevillana’ in 1977. Since then, many landscape roses have been released and praised by professional landscapers, garden clubs and home gardeners alike. Adelaide has several locations featuring these roses.

Landscape and Groundcover Roses fit easily into any garden design, are low maintenance with continuous flowering and are gentler on the environment requiring little or no spraying.

Rose Breeders around the world focused on inventing new shrub and landscape roses which were capable of coping with hot, dry summers and harsh winters, provided a range of colours with strong repeat flowering all season long and, importantly, excellent disease tolerance. One genetic trade-off was generally little or no fragrance. They can be pruned mechanically if desired. The groundcover type “Landscape Roses” can grow more horizontally than vertically and look good when planted en-masse ingroups, borders or as a hedge.

La Sevillana  –   Orange-red clusters of non-fading semi-double flowers with petals dropping cleanly. The resilience, disease resistance and repeat flowering made this rose a worldwide hit. Grows 1.2m x 1.5m.

Bonica –  Clusters of pale pink blooms with very disease resistant foliage. A hardy and vigorous bush or standard rose. It sets hips in the autumn.

Hot Pink Bonica  – A vibrant pink sport of ‘Bonica’ with great repeat flowering, developing rosehips in the autumn. Can grow 1m tall.

Knock Out – Bred in the USA and introduced in 2000. Record-breaking sales have earned it the reputation as the world’s number one Rose Brand. Extremely hardy and drought tolerant with abundant and continuous flowering, producing cherry-red blooms and disease resistant foliage. It does not need deadheading like other roses do, petals drop cleanly. Height approx. 1m. There’s also a ‘Double Pink Knock Out’ on our list.

Flower Carpet – The first Flower Carpet® Rose was bred in 1988 and was one of the first to be marketed as a groundcover rose. ‘Flower Carpet Pink’ was introduced in Australia in 1991. It features small deep-pink double blooms produced in clusters throughout the season with arching, bushy and spreading growth (60cm tall and 1 to 2m wide) with glossy disease resistant foliage. In the past 30 years it has sold about 100 million plants worldwide.

Bees Paradise – A hardy and compact range of low growing shrub roses in Pink, Bi-colour, White and Red. These plants form a carpet of roses and are ideal for group planting, borders, rockeries and informal gardens. Deadheading is not essential.

Watering

Summer is all about the weather. Adelaide has experienced low rainfall for the past five months, almost 50% below average. Water your rose bushes deeply. In particular, pay attention to newly planted and potted roses which should not be allowed to “dry out”.  Young, newly planted roses will benefit from alternate, fortnightly applications of Neutrog’s Liquid Seamungus and GoGo Juice as part of their watering regime.

The amount of sunshine is very high, averaging around 300 hours per month. The UV readings are often high to extreme and evaporation rates, due to heat and low humidity, are very high. The most important ingredient for roses in summer is water. Generally, established roses need an average of 20 to 30 litres of water for each rose per week. It is essential that a rose is well hydrated prior to expected heatwaves above 35°C on average. If severe heat is forecasted in the week ahead, you should increase the rate of watering to 30 to 40 litres per plant. If a rose dries out, it is difficult to get it to recover quickly. Deep watering weekly is far better than small amounts daily. It is recommended to apply the water in one weekly application or, at most, twice per week preferably early in the morning. These watering recommendations assume you have a substantial covering of mulch. Without mulch, you will need twice the volume of water per plant.

Mulch is vital

It is recommended that you top up your mulch now. Currently most soils are still moist and mulching will keep that moisture in the soil. A generous layer of mulch will help conserve water and prevent the soil and plants drying out rapidly, it can cool the surface by 5-10°C,breaks down to feed the root zone, enables good microbial activity in the soil and also helps to smother weeds.

Neutrog’s ‘Whoflungdung’ is an excellent mulch recommended by the Rose Society. It’s a certified organic mulch which is biologically activated, nutrient rich and weed free. It comes in 20kg compressed bales. Make sure the ground is well watered before you mulch. Spread a layer about 5cm in depth and water in to reduce odour and settle it down.

Removing Spent Flowers

To encourage repeat flowering, remove dead blooms. Generally, remove the old bloom and a portion of stem down to the second five-leaflet leaf. Occasionally, some ‘blind’ shoots don’t produce flowers and these can be trimmed to encourage a new shoot. A non-performing rose bush is a sign that it is lacking fertiliser or may be diseased.

Fertilising Your Roses   

If old blooms were removed following the first spring flush, another flush will coincide with Christmas. Then there are two options. The first is to leave the spent blooms on the bush and reduce the watering a little, providing just enough to keep the plants alive, but not thriving – effectively placing them into a summer hibernation.  They can then be stirred back into strong growth with an application of Neutrog’s ‘Sudden Impact for Roses’ and a summer trim in late February or early March.

‘Sudden Impact for Roses’ is an organic based fertiliser recommended by the Rose Society of S.A.  It provides a full range of plant nutrients in a slow release pellet form together with water-soluble nutrients to maximise performance.

The second option is to keep the rose flowering with continuous removal of spent blooms, with plenty of water and applications of liquid ‘Sudden Impact for Roses’ every two weeks in January.

It is to be expected that the flowers in January, February and early March will generally be smaller with less petals compared to autumn flushes. This is heat related. In addition, due to high UV readings, dark coloured roses, such as red roses, can show scorched petals. Temporary shade can prevent this occurring if desired.

Pests and Diseases

Look out for Spider Mite which can appear when it is hot and dry. The lower leaves close to the ground may be pale in colour. Remove a leaf, turn it over and watch carefully (a magnifying glass may help). If insects, the size of pepper start moving around and/or a fine web is evident, Spider Mite are present. Organic oils (such as Eco-Oil or Eco-Neem)or one of the natural sprays (such as Natrasoap)can be used to control bad infestations – don’t use strong, toxic insecticides.

Water sprayed upward from under the leaves can also assist with the removal of early infections.  Spider Mite live under leaves and don’t like to be wet.

Shop online at Knight’s Roses – we still have many potted roses available for sale from our extensive collection with delivery Australia-wide.

To order roses either contact our office by phone (08) 8523 1311, email retailsales@knightsroses.com.au or visit our website https://knightsroses.com.au and place your order online.

With so many rose varieties, the world’s favourite flower can be confusing. There are 3 main categories of roses. There are species (wild) roses created by nature, Old Garden Roses and Modern Roses.

The rose has become the flower most hybridized and improved over time. One American database lists over 10,000 names. Wild roses are species found in the northern hemisphere. Old Garden Roses (both climbing and non-climbing) are those groups that were established prior to 1867, when ‘La France’ was seen to be the first of a group of Modern Roses. Well known Old Garden roses include Gallica, Damask, Centifolia, Moss, Alba, China, Tea, Portland, Bourbon and Hybrid Perpetual. Indeed, many rose groups, including Tea Roses and Hybrid Musks, performed better here than in their countries of origin as the hot, dry, low humidity environment ensured reduced fungal problems.

Modern Garden Roses are the predominant roses of today and new releases are launched each year around the world. The main groups are Hybrid Tea (also known as Large-flowered); Floribunda (also known as Cluster-flowered); Polyantha and Shrub roses which are described as David Austin English Shrub Roses; Hybrid Musk, Hybrid Rugosa and other shrub roses. Modern roses also include Ground Cover and landscape roses; Miniature roses and Climbing Roses. The Climbers can be Large-flowered, Cluster-flowered or Miniature.

Whatever garden design you are thinking of roses can deliver the range of colours, scent and disease tolerance required. Many varieties are exceptionally tough, suitable for our climate and are easy to grow. When you have them, they last for many years.

No other flower is loved as much as the rose. Roses can be placed in just about any landscaping situation and look great in formal, informal, cottage gardens and traditional gardens. What is succeeding for all of us is our ideal climatic conditions to grow roses.

Formal rose garden with English Box hedges

The formal garden is ideal for massed plantings. Orderly garden beds with border plants and shrubs. Roses usually have pride of place in formal gardens, sometimes in an oval or circular bed. For a really formal look, plant low borders such as English Box (Buxus), Dwarf Nandina or cottage perennials like Erigeron ‘Seaside Daisy’, Stachys ‘Lambs Ears’ or lovely white Alyssum Carpet. The right height for a border is all about the scale compared to the rest of the garden. Keep it simple. In garden design we really try to avoid straight lines.

Border with roses and perennials

Harmonise the colours. Pinks go very well with mauve and blue with a touch of white and can be complemented by grey and silver foliage plants. Shrubs and trees that have a neat, classic shape are best for a formal garden. Don’t fail to prune any of these if they start to dominate where they shouldn’t. Order, grace and proportion are the important elements.

For small areas such as patios, consider growing roses in pots – but remember they need regular watering and feeding. The containers can be highly decorative, glazed terracotta pots, wooden tubs or concrete urns. Choose two or three or more attractive pots and group them in one area where they look like a patio garden on their own. A sculpture should be in a position where it adds impact to the scene.

The charm of a rockery lies in the pleasing combination of different shaped rocks with an attractive blend of plants – this is where landscape and ground cover roses can look amazing. When building a rockery for plants, it needs to be well drained and filled with top quality, weed-free soil, then select ground cover roses to give colour for many months of the year, such as the well-known Flower Carpet collection.

Showing Cottage Garden elements

The next style is a Cottage Garden. More or less, they have always been in fashion, can look very beautiful and offer great scope to the enthusiastic gardener who can make a great cottage garden on a tiny plot or large space. Cottage gardens came from humble beginnings. In bygone years these plots had vegetables, fruit trees, herbs and plants grown from cuttings and seeds, often brightened by roses, lilies, hollyhocks, foxgloves, lavender and forget-me-nots providing beauty with usefulness, all grown together. The plants were trained to be eye-catching – roses were trained around verandahs and along fences to appreciate the scent in the air. The cottage garden is not rigid, it’s a manner of gardening flattering to a modern house as it is to an old one.

It is important to note that the higher Potassium and other trace elements in Sudden Impact for Roses is designed to increase resistance to fungal diseases and improve flowering.  If plants are not performing well, supplementary applications of Neutrog Seamungus and GoGo Juice should boost the plant back into strong growth or try the latest updated product ‘POPUL8’ containing a wide diversity of bacteria and fungi to enhance plant growth.

Watering

Water your rose bushes deeply.  Generally, watering will not be required until October. The exceptions are newly planted and potted roses which may require regular watering commencing September. These should not be allowed to “dryout”.

Irrigation systems should be checked in early September to ensure they are working effectively and fix any leaks or problems.

Young, newly planted roses will benefit from alternate, fortnightly applications of Liquid Seamungus and GoGo Juice as part of their watering regime.

Mulch is essential

It is recommended that you top up your mulch now, rather than wait for the hot weather. This needs to be completed in early spring to ensure new growth is not damaged. Currently most soils are still moist and mulching will keep that moisture in the soil.

A generous layer of mulch will help conserve water and prevent the soil and plants drying out rapidly, it cools the surface, breaks down to feed the root zone, enables good microbial activity in the soil and also helps to smother weeds.

Neutrog’s ‘Whoflungdung’ is an excellent mulch recommended by the Rose Society. It’s a certified organic mulch which is biologically activated, nutrient rich and weed free. It comes in 20kg compressed bales and can be easily spread. Spread a layer about 5cm in depth and water in to reduce odour and settle it down.

Removing Spent Flowers

To encourage repeat flowering, remove dead blooms. Generally, remove the old bloom and a portion of stem down to the second five-leaflet leaf. Occasionally, some ‘blind’ spring shoots stop growing and don’t produce flowers and these can be trimmed to encourage a new shoot.  A non-performing rose bush is a sign that it is lacking fertiliser or may be diseased.

Pests and Diseases

Unfortunately, pests and diseases can frustrate rose growers who want clean, healthy bushes. There are now many natural remedies for pests. These include the presence of predatory wasps to control aphids and bacterial laden sprays such as ‘Success’ or ‘Dipel’ to control both bad insects and grubs. Some initial outbreaks of aphids can be severe and these should be washed off or sprayed with a natural product, such as Yates ‘Nature’s Way Natrasoap Pest Spray’. Pest Oils can also be used to control insects and will also assist in fungal treatment.

Fungal issues, if left untreated, can severely impede the performance of rose plants. Prevention is better than acure and applications of preventative fungal sprays a fortnight apart in early spring will certainly stop major outbreaks of Mildew and Black Spot. Natural oil sprays, such as Eco Oil, and milk spray (1-part full cream milk to 10 parts water) are good “gentle on the environment”, preventative sprays. Mancozeb or Triforine sprays offer chemical treatments which have proven very effective. If a major outbreak occurs, regular fungal spray treatments will be necessary to get these diseases under control.

To contact Knight’s Roses  – phone +61 8 85231311 or visit our website www.knightsroses.com.au

Why were standard roses invented? This is a good question and there is a very interesting answer!

Standard roses were developed in the late 18th century in Europe, most likely in Germany. It is believed in the early 19th century standard roses were introduced to allow ladies wearing fashionable crinoline dresses to move more easily around a formal rose garden, as they are on a long rose cane a few feet off the ground with the variety of the rose growing on the top of the cane as below.

It is recorded that there were several nurseries in Germany that specialised in providing the root stock to propogate standard roses. Standard roses were extensively grown in France and England, popular in the Victorian era, where they were featured in the gardens of stately homes.

In the modern day era, standard roses are useful as architectural or structural plants. Patio (2ft or 60cm) and Standard (3ft or 90cm) roses are an ideal height for adding a focal point into your garden or verandah. Perfect for formal gardens, standard roses allow for smaller plants with light surface roots (such as annuals) to be grown underneath.

Standard and Patio roses are built to retain their distinctive ‘lollipop’ shape, however the shape can vary depending on the specific variety that is grafted onto the tall stem. Hybrid tea roses tend to grow in a ‘V’ shape, where as floribundas often maintain the round shape. A climbing or rambling rose when grafted onto a standard creates a cascading form known as a weeping standard – these are generally 5-6ft tall.

When planting standard roses into your garden, staking the stem is essential, as when a standard is in flower, it can be top heavy and can bend, break and fall over. If planting your standard in a row, we recomment planting approximately 1m to 1.2m apart

Email your roses questions to: retailsales@knightsroses.com.au

Contact Knight’s Roses for more information : 1300 1 ROSES or (08) 8523 1311

Order your bare root roses now while there’s plenty of stock. Visit our website https://knightsroses.com.au or phone 1300 1ROSES or (08) 8523 1311. We have a wonderful selection of both bagged and potted roses available. Retail Store operating at 44 Jack Cooper Drice, Gawler SA. Winter is the perfect rime to plant roses, fruit trees and ornamentals, such as Lavender, Lillies, Begonias, Geraniums and shade loving shrubs.

There’s an old saying, “It’s too soon to prune in June!” July is the month when most roses are pruned. Pruning too early risks damage from frosty nights. Some old-fashioned roses and some weeping standards are pruned after they flower in spring. However, these are a minority.  For all other roses, mid-winter is the best time to remove dead, old or diseased wood, shorten healthy canes to promote vigorous new growth and train your roses to a manageable shape and size to encourage flowering. In this process you are rejuvenating the plant to ensure it is productive year after year.

Consider the condition of your plants. Trying to resuscitate an older plant that has been performing poorly is a losing game– best to remove it and replace it. Pruning is not difficult with the right equipment. You need good bi-pass secateurs, good loppers and a pruning saw. Wear all leather gloves, preferably gauntlets. A pruning saw is ideal for cuts over 2.5cm and removing old canes. Make sure your tools are sharp.

When you prune a bush rose, 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 roughly a cup shape, 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 7mm 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.

Prune Miniature roses and patio roses slightly less severely than Floribunda roses, as hard pruning encourages the development of a few, strong shoots at the expense of the production of blooms.

Climbing roses and pillars are a great choice as they make use of your vertical space and can create a colourful attractive garden background.

When pruning climbers or pillar roses, first look at the base of the plant. If it has performed well, there will be a number of new canes 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 (evident 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 wire trellis on each side of the plant. Remove dead wood and unwanted old canes.

SAME LOCATION: Boundary of Pillar Roses shown in winter and spring

For a Pillar Rose, leave approximately 6 to 8 good green 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.

Standard ‘Iceberg’ roses are very popular – they last for many years and produce an enormous number of blooms. Pruning is not difficult, although regular shaping is needed to make sure the head does not become too large as it may be damaged by strong wind. Also check that the standard is well secured to its stake. Cut out thin, dead or diseased wood. Prune back new shoots to 3 to 5 buds (about 15cm) and remaining lateral shoots to 2 – 4 buds (about 10 – 15cm). When the plant is about 3 years old, the head will be formed. These buds are sometimes known as ‘eyes’.

Once pruning is finished, a winter dormancy spray should be applied liberally – use Pest Oil, Winter Oil or Lime Sulphur. Winter Oil is considered best. If using Pest Oil double the dosage. 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 outbreaks in spring.

FERTILISING

Roses do not require feeding in winter. However, roses benefit from an application of Neutrog ‘Seamungus’.This is a soil tonic and root conditioner, manufactured from seaweed, fish,humid acid and manure. It stimulates the roots into strong healthy growth inlate winter and early spring.

Pelletised Seamungus is recommended, as pellets will breakdown with rainfall enhancing root growth and should be applied prior to mulching. For stressed plants apply Neutrog POPUL8 to add beneficial microbes.

MULCH

Clean up old fallen leaves and cuttings then apply mulch. There are many types of mulch available, including pea straw, pine bark, wood chips and top quality commercial products such as Jeffries Recover and Neutrog ‘Whoflungdung’. Generally, apply mulch in late winter before the roses begin to produce tender shoots which can be accidently broken off.

Knight’s Roses recommend an application of 5cm of Neutrog’s ‘Whoflungdung’. While it can be applied immediately 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 it down. Mulch significantly reduces evaporation, cools the root zone and introduces good microbial activity into the soil.

PLANTING YOUR NEW BARE ROOT ROSE

Remove your bare root rose from the bag, wash off sawdust, soak in full bucket of water with 20mls of Neutrog GOGO Juice for 4 to 6 hours before planting. Dig a square hole roughly 30cm and add a handful of Neutrog Seamungus pellets into the bottom of the hole and mix thoroughly. This will encourage root development.

JOIN THE ROSE SOCIETY

Consider joining the Rose Society of SA and enjoy meeting other rose lovers and attending events and meetings throughout the year. Free rose pruning demonstrations will be held 30th June and 7th July. Visit the website for more information and lots of helpful advice:  https://sarose.org.au/about/membership

A reminder to email your rose questions to: retailsales@knightsroses.com.au

Contact Knight’s Roses for more information – phone +61 8 85231311 or visit our website www.knightsroses.com.au

What style of garden do you have? Do you follow a theme? This month for something different, we are promoting a Musical Inspired Garden, with beautiful new blooms and some tried and true ones for your collection.

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire and span the transition from the Classical period to the Romantic era in classical Music.

Für Elise is one of Beethoven’s most popular compositions, and this rose was named after the Beethoven Anniversary Year 2020. This Gold Medal Winning variety of intense dark pink magenta has beautifully cupped blooms of a nostalgic character.

Slim Dusty, AO MBE, was an iconic Australian country music artist, celebrated for his talent as a singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer. Universally recognized as Australia’s King of Country Music, he became a cultural icon with a career spanning almost seven decades. Throughout his illustrious journey, he amassed numerous awards, establishing himself as one of the most revered figures in Australian music history.

The Slim Dusty rose is a compact floribunda rose with rich golden orange tones and is a fitting tribute to Australia’s legend of Country Music.

Dolly Parton is an American singer-songwriter, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily for her decades-long career in Country Music.

Dolly Parton rose is an upright, bushy, repeat blooming plant that grows up to 1.5m tall. This is the rose you want to lift your spirits when you have been working 9 – 5!!

This multi award-winning compact hybrid tea rose blooms abundantly at a steady tempo from spring to late autumn. Vibrant and distinctive flowers of ochre orange softening to coppery pink are music to your eyes. These warm, luminous colours are sure to bring harmony to any garden. Jazz Festival has excellent disease resistance and makes a strikingly beautiful cut flower with a delicate perfume. Ideal for garden and pot alike. Height 1.2m.

Soul Sister is a Floribunda with very unusual colouring of milk chocolate buds, opening to a coffee colour and fading to a soft lavender pink. It is a healthy rounded bush, with semi glossy, medium green foliage. Soul Sister has a light tea fragrance.

Add one to your garden for some much needed Soul, Sister!!

Experience the harmonious beauty of the Violina rose – a symphony for the senses. With glossy leaves and magnificent flower heads, the shell pink petals create a visual masterpiece. The fragrance that floats from this rose will fill your whole garden with the most beautiful perfume, especially when in a massed planting. Put a bunch of these flowers in a vase and it will flow through your house, awakening your senses.

We hope you have a wonderful Easter Break and where ever you may be, get to spend some quality time in your garden. Please feel free to share a picture of your garden to on of our Social Pages or email us a picture that we can share.

Happy Easter

from the Knight’s Roses Team

On behalf of Knight’s Roses, I’m very proud of our hardworking team, quality roses, continued expansion and especially our record-breaking sales over the past few years. Of course, this growth would not have been possible without the support of our loyal wholesale and retail customers, and I thank you for your business.

For us, our passion for roses has only increased as we pursue new ideas and work towards our vision for the future. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any enquiries.

As we celebrate Christmas, may your heart be filled with hope, peace and joy – wishing you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the whole team at Knight’s Roses.

Daniel Knight

Phone (08) 8523 1311, email retailsales@knightsroses.com.au or visit our website.

Each year The National Rose Trial Garden of Australia, which is located within the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, holds a public judging event. Rose Introducers in Australia place a great deal of importance on this coveted award purely because the rose is selected by the public and not by a panel of experts.

On 15 -16 April, the general public was encouraged to visit the trial garden to cast their votes for their top five roses. The voting results provide an excellent insight for rose breeders, rose introducers, growers and retailers as to the varieties and types of roses which are most popular with the public.

‘Forever Yours’ was announced the most popular rose receiving the 2023 People’s Choice Award after the public judging. Over 600 members of the public attended to select their favourite roses which had been trialled for nearly two years.  The velvety red Hybrid Tea, bred by Rosen Tantau, was the clear winner.

Forever Yours is a highly anticipated new release for 2024. Beautiful and fragrant, it features impressive, fully double, large red velvet blooms that are very long lasting and suitable as a cut flower. This rose has strong upright growth reaching 1.2m tall, produces abundant new shoots and has glossy healthy foliage with good disease resistance and excellent repeat flowering ability. Awarded the ‘Rose of Madrid’ in 2018 and Certificate of Merit (NRTGA) in 2023.

There is definitely a trend to have more disease resistant roses and a desire towards space efficient roses which use less ground space such as pillars, climbers and upright shrub roses.

If you ever wanted flowering walls to enchant and embellish your garden, then try growing ‘Camelot’ a new, attractive, uniquely coloured pink climbing rose from Rosen Tantau.

The beautiful medium-sized flowers are produced in clusters with fine, dark pink flecking on the petals. The flowers are loosely fully double and have a moderate citrus fragrance. When fully open the blooms are very bee friendly and self-cleaning.

Camelot has very vigorous growth and will reach approximately 3m tall x 1m wide. The plant continuously produces strong new canes, substantially from the bottom, which are ideal to train against a trellis or structure.

This new variety displays healthy foliage with excellent disease resistance to blackspot and mildew.

Awarded Best Climbing Rose Variety in Belfast, Ireland, in 2014 and Rose of the Year in Sweden in 2022. Order in advance to avoid disappointment.

If you have limited space, or a rental property or more plants than your garden allows, you can grow your roses successfully in pots. Potted roses are ideal for your verandah, patio, courtyard, balcony, along pathways and other areas where their beauty, colour and fragrance can been joyed. Another advantage is pots can be moved into feature areas while they are in full bloom. With their long flowering season, rounded bushy growth and fragrance, roses make highly effective containerised plants.

TIPS FOR GROWING ROSES IN POTS

1.         Choose a location which receives at least 6 hours of sunlight each day. The advantage of growing a rose in a container is that you can shift it to ensure it is in the right position for sunlight or move it under partial shade during heatwaves.

Courtyards which are open to full sun every day can get very hot in summer – it is suggested that some afternoon shade protection is advisable during heatwaves.

2.         Ensure the pot can be shifted. This can be achieved by having the pot on a low stand with wheels or use a sack-truck under it for easy relocation. Mark the side of the pot which faces north and when you relocate it ensure the pot is placed to face the sun in the same position.

3.         Container size – the bigger the better so plants can perform at their best!  But as a general guide a bush rose needs a pot 30 to 40cm in diameter. Half wine barrels make excellent containers for roses but shifting or repotting roses grown in these containers can be a challenge. Choose terracotta, ceramic, concrete, fibreglass or wood containers as they do not absorb heat like black plastic pots which should be avoided. Light coloured pots will stay cooler. They also need ample drainage holes.

4.         Choose quality potting soil. It must be a “premium mix” which is free draining but retains moisture. Roses should be repotted with new soil every 2 – 5 years. Winter is the best time to repot your rose plants. Clean pots as disease can spread easily in dirty containers. Add some Neutrog ‘Seamungus’ pellets in to the mix. Maintain a level of 5 – 10cm of mulch on the top.

5.         Roses in pots require regular watering, the soil must remain moist and cannot be allowed to dry out. Summer conditions are challenging for potted plants. Water the pot until water is freely draining through the holes at the base, then cease watering. The drainage holes cannot be allowed to block up as roses hate ‘wet feet’. If the container is the right size for the rose it will need a good watering 2 to 3 times per week in the summer and maybe daily during heatwaves. Watering can be reduced to 1 to 2 times per week at other times. You can put your finger 2cm deep in the potto test dampness, if your finger comes out clean the soil is dry.

6.         Fertilising is another important element. Feed the roots with a few Neutrog Seamungus pellets and Neutrog Sudden Impact for Roses pellets lightly scratched into the top surface. These break down slowly over 4 to 6 weeks constantly feeding the potted plant. They can then be replenished every 6 or so weeks. Sudden Impact for Roses is also available in a liquid form and its organic base provides a full range of nutrients in a slow-release form.

An application of Neutrog GoGo Juice (a pro-biotic and soil improver) every 6 weeks also ensures the potting mix maintains an active mixture of live microbiological organisms which help to break down compost and fertiliser into digestible forms for the potted rose and helps the plant withstand stress.

7.         The final point relates to pests and diseases. Potted roses can often get spider mite and to avoid this, thoroughly wet the foliage (both underneath and above)with a strong stream of water every 7 to 10 days. Similarly, aphids can be washed off or rubbed off the foliage. An occasional spray with Eco-oil or pest oil will control fungal problems and help with insect control.

CHOOSING WHICH ROSES TO PLANT

Generally, you should consider selecting varieties that have an even growth habit, maintain a regular shape and good repeat flowering throughout the flowering season.

In big tubs, standard roses can be grown with smaller annual flowering plants for colour. Good standard roses for pots include: Black Caviar, FireStar, Per-Fyoom Perfume, Double Knockout, Seduction, Friesia, Gold Bunny and Iceberg.

Or choose smaller rose varieties such as Bees’ Paradise Bicolour or Pink, Dream Chaser, Apricot Clementine, Hot Pink Bonica, Little Wishes and The Fairy.

Watering

The most important ingredient for roses in summer is water. Water your rose bushes deeply. Generally, established roses need an average of 20 to 30L of water foreach rose per week. It is essential that a rose is well hydrated prior to expected heatwaves, where the temp is above 35°C on average thus use 30 to 40L per plant. Its recommended to apply the water in one weekly application or, at most, twice per week preferably early morning. Deep watering weekly is far better than small amounts daily. These watering recommendations assume you have a substantial covering of mulch. Without mulch, you will need twice the volume of water per plant. Young, newly planted roses will benefit from alternate, fortnightly applications of Liquid Seamungus and GoGo Juice as part of their watering regime.

Irrigation systems should be checked to ensure they are working effectively and fix any leaks or problems.

Pests and Diseases

Given our hot, dry, low-humidity summers, most fungal issues disappear and pests such as Aphids and grubs also “back off”. Spider Mite may be an issue and when present, lower leaves close to the ground may be pale in colour. Remove a leaf, turn it over and watch carefully (a magnifying glass may help). If insects, the size of pepper, start moving around and/or a fine web is evident, Spider Mite are present. Water sprayed upward from under the leaves can assist with the removal of early infections as Spider Mites don’t like to be wet.

There are now many natural remedies for pests. Organic Oils (such as Eco-Oil or Eco-Neem) or one of the natural sprays such as Yates ‘Nature’s Way Natrasoap Pest Spray’ can be used to control bad infestations – don’t use strong, toxic insecticides.

For more information on rose growing, visit the Rose Society

To contact Knight’s Roses  – phone +61 8 85231311 or visit our website.

Contact Knight’s Roses for more information : 1300 1 ROSES or (08) 8523 1311

Pests and Diseases

Given our hot, dry, low-humidity summers, most fungal issues disappear and pests such as Aphids and grubs also “back off”. Spider Mite may be an issue and when present, lower leaves close to the ground may be pale in colour. Remove a leaf, turn it over and watch carefully (a magnifying glass may help). If insects, the size of pepper, start moving around and/or a fine web is evident, Spider Mite are present. Water sprayed upward from under the leaves can assist with the removal of early infections as Spider Mites don’t like to be wet.

There are now many natural remedies for pests. Organic Oils (such as Eco-Oil or Eco-Neem) or one of the natural sprays such as Yates ‘Nature’s Way Natrasoap Pest Spray’ can be used to control bad infestations – don’t use strong, toxic insecticides.

For more information on rose growing, visit the Rose Society

To contact Knight’s Roses  – phone +61 8 85231311 or visit our website.

Contact Knight’s Roses for more information : 1300 1 ROSES or (08) 8523 1311

Spring is in the air –  it’s time to get out into the garden. Your tasks are detailed in our ‘Rose growing notes’. Whether your garden is new or old, we all know there are still jobs to do.

Let’s celebrate spring – the season of renewal!

Buy roses online from Knight’s Roses – we now have potted roses for sale from our extensive collection with delivery Australia-wide.

Some varieties available to order include:

A Best Impression, Bees’ Paradise Pink, Aussie Magic, Winx, Dolly’s Rose, Fairy Godmother

To order roses either contact our office by phone (08) 8523 1311, email retailsales@knightsroses.com.au or visit our website https://knightsroses.com.au

and order them online.

Compost is an easy way to recycle organic waste from your kitchen and garden and add nutrient rich humus to your garden beds. It promotes plant growth, helps depleted soil, reduces landfill and is simple to make.

Compost has 4 ingredients: nitrogen, carbon, oxygen and water.  The secret to a healthy rich compost pile is to maintain a balance between carbon and nitrogen matter.

Carbon rich material includes dried leaves, peels, clean sawdust, coffee grounds and straw. Nitrogen, or protein rich materials, include green leaves, fruit and veggie scraps, crushed eggshells, green lawn clippings (used in thin layers) and kitchen waste.

Use about 1/3green material to 2/3 brown materials. Its best to avoid using citrus and onions in the compost as worms don’t like these! Avoid fish, meat, dairy, bone scraps or bread as these will attract rodents and pests. Also avoid composting perennial weeds (due to seeds).

Keep the composts lightly moist. It is important to have earthworms and microbes in your compost. A great way to increase the number of microbes is to apply Neutrog’s GOGO Juice or Seamungus Liquid, mixed in a watering can, and poured over the compost.

Set up your compost container on bare ground. It will allow worms and organisms to aerate the material. There are many compost container designs from a no-turn standard digester to a tumbler which rotates speeding up the process.

After about 4 to 6 months your compost will be ready.

Time to Mulch

It is recommended that you top up your mulch now, rather than wait for the hot weather to set in. Currently most soils are still moist and mulching will keep that moisture in the soil.

A generous layer of mulch will help conserve water and prevent the soil and plants drying out rapidly, it cools the surface, breaks down to feed the root zone, enables good microbial activity in the soil and also helps to smother weeds.

Neutrog’s ‘Whoflungdung’ is an excellent mulch recommended by the Rose Society. It’s a certified organic mulch which is biologically activated, nutrient rich and weed free. It comes in 20kg compressed bales and can be easily spread. Spread a layer about 5cm in depth and water in to reduce odour and settle it down.

Removing Spent Flowers

To encourage repeat flowering, remove dead blooms. Generally, remove the old bloom and a portion of stem down to the second five-leaflet leaf. Occasionally, some ‘blind’ spring shoots stop growing and don’t produce flowers. These can be trimmed to encourage a new flowering shoot.  A non-performing rose bush is assign that it is lacking fertiliser or may be diseased.

Pests and Diseases

Unfortunately, pests and diseases can frustrate rose growers who want clean, healthy bushes. There are now many natural remedies for pests. These include the presence of predatory wasps to control aphids and bacterial laden sprays such as ‘Success’ or ‘Dipel’ to control both bad insects and grubs. Some initial outbreaks of aphids can be severe and these should be washed off or sprayed with a natural product, such as Yates ‘Nature’s Way Natrasoap Pest Spray’. Pest Oils can also be used to control insects and will also assist in fungal treatment.

Fungal issues, if left untreated, can severely impede the performance of rose plants. Prevention is better than a cure and applications of preventative fungal sprays a fortnight apart in early spring will certainly stop major outbreaks of Mildew and Black Spot. Natural oil sprays, such as Eco Oil, and milk spray (1-part full cream milk to10 parts water) are good “gentle on the environment”, preventative sprays. Mancozeb or Triforine sprays offer chemical treatments which have proven very effective. If a major outbreak occurs, regular fungal spray treatments will be necessary to get these diseases under control.

For more information on rose growing, visit sarose.org.au  

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.

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.

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

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.

To celebrate Knight’s Roses 60 years of operation, you are invited to join in the celebrations and attend our Rose and Garden Open Days!

More information about these exciting events will follow but for now SAVE THE DATE:

Saturday 6th May

Saturday 17th June

Saturday 29th July

As Australian Agents for world-famous rose breeders – Harkness of England, Rosen Tantau of Germany, Guillot Rosa Generosa of France and James Cocker and Sons of Scotland – we are very proud to introduce exceptional new release roses each year onto the Australian market. Remarkably, the demand for top quality roses just keeps on growing!

Shop online and pre-order now to avoid disappointment. Visit our website www.knightsroses.com.au or phone 1300 1ROSES or (08) 8523 1311.

We hope that you enjoy our Autumn Newsletter and thank you for your support. As usual, if there’s anything you need, don’t hesitate to give us a call.

Daniel Knight

Roses are a favourite choice for the garden because they are easy to grow and maintenance is relatively simple. The frequent balmy days, particularly later in autumn, are ideal for producing a magnificent autumn flush of high quality, colourful flowers. Here are a few tips to care for your roses.

1. Watering

It is essential to maintain a regular and thorough watering regime. We can be easily misled by milder days and cooler nights. However, the average March and April rainfalls are generally insufficient to maintain healthy Autumn growth in our roses. Like summer, it is best to look at the forward weather forecast for the next 7 days. If the weather forecast is for warm to hot and dry conditions, hydrating roses with a weekly thorough irrigation is recommended. If rain accompanied by lower-than-average temperatures occurs, irrigation may be halted for a period and recommenced when a dry, warm to hot period is forecast.

Generally, irrigation is needed until the opening seasonal rains occur late April – early May. If unsure whether watering is required, scratch down 3 to 5cm below the ground under a rose plant. If dry at this depth, apply water immediately. Remember, the rose has many roots just below the surface and these can dry out, hindering optimum performance.

Roses in pots also require regular watering during the autumn months.

2. Mulch

The mulch which was applied late spring or early summer will be breaking down in autumn and its thickness reducing. Providing sufficient mulch was initially applied, adequate cover will remain to reduce evaporation, continue to cool the roots and feed the earth worms and beneficial microbes in the soil during autumn. However, if all mulch has disappeared, a fresh application of Neutrog’s Whoflungdung (a certified organic mulch) in early autumn is recommended. This mulch is biologically activated, nutrient rich and weed free. It comes in convenient 20kg compressed bales and can be taken to and easily spread where it’s needed.

3. Flowering

Autumn is an excellent flowering period for roses. A light, late summer or early autumn trim will ensure a great flush of flowers around 55 days later. This trim is simply removing the spent summer blooms and a portion of the stem down to a healthy pin-head sized bud nestled between the leaf and stem. Stem removed is generally around 15 – 30cm. Importantly, this is a trim and not a prune and sufficient foliage must remain to avoid exposing the stems to sunburn.

The summer – autumn trim is far more effective if it is completed two or three weeks after an application of Neutrog Sudden Impact for Roses. Don’t be concerned if autumn colours are different to spring colours of the same variety. The on-set of cooler nights and less sunlight through autumn often produces more intense colours in some varieties.

The next newsletter reminds us to “brush up” on our rose pruning skills. Come along to the free Rose Pruning Demonstrations being run by experienced rose pruners from the Rose Society of SA. These are “hands-on” workshops so bring your gloves and secateurs and practice with the help of experts.

The first rose pruning demonstration will be Sunday, 18 June, from 1.30pm to approx. 3pm at Carrick Hill. Opportunity to also enjoy lunch, tea and coffee. The second demonstration will be at the International Rose Garden, Adelaide Botanic Garden on Sunday, 25 June at 12.30pm to approx. 3pm. This workshop will cover pruning all types of roses, including climbers, arches, standards and bush roses.

The third will be a pruning demonstration held by Roses In the Heartland group scheduled for Sunday 9th July, 1pm to 3pm at 3 Para Road, Evanston Gardens (Gawler) with refreshments available and donations supporting SA Cancer Council. Enquiries: https://sarose.org.au

On behalf of the team at Knight’s Roses, I sincerely thank all of our customers, wholesale and retail, for their continued support and wish everyone an enjoyable Christmas season and a Happy New Year.

Daniel Knight

Having a love affair with roses usually means anxiously awaiting the wonderful new releases at the beginning of the winter season. With a palette of colours and new improved disease resistance, rose growing has never been easier!
Shop online and pre-order your favourite roses now to avoid disappointment. Visit our website https://knightsroses.com.au or phone 1300 1ROSES or (08) 8523 1311.

Here is a preview of just two of our new roses coming in 2023!

• Significantly reducing evaporation from the soil, saving up to 40% to 50% of the irrigation otherwise required.
• Cooling and maintaining moisture levels around surface roots (those in the top 10cm of the soil).
• Feeding the plant and enriching the good microbial activity in the soil.

Just a reminder to email your rose questions to: retailsales@knightsroses.com.au

Contact Knight’s Roses for more information – phone +61 8 85231311 or visit our website www.knightsroses.com.au