The rainfall in Sydney has been well above average, with continued falls now starting to refill Warragamba dam.
For the rose garden, the falls have been a little too high to continue calling them a 'blessing'. At least one of my roses, St Swithun, is showing drainage stress by shedding its lower leaves. It may end up being a casualty.
This month I thought I'd focus on two different but beautiful public rose gardens that are an inspiration to rose growers: Swanes at Dural and the Roy Rumsey rose. garden in Parramatta Park.
Swanes was for more than 75 years a family run establishment. The family did a great job and were lovely people. I knew and lived close to Valerie Swane, who has a lovely white rose named after her memory. They had two nurseries, the main retail one at Galston Road, Dural and their rose farm at Narromine (near Dubbo, central western NSW).
Nowadays Swanes is commercially owned. The name now appears on several other Sydney nurseries, but the enormous Dural property remains the headquarters. Thankfully the new owners still know the value of providing some amazing rose gardens to attract gardeners and tourists alike:
The long beds are perhaps 40 metres wide by 4 metres deep, with varieties planted in rows that run front to back. Mulching is done with lucerne hay, something that Swanes has promoted for more than a decade. The bushes number in the thousands, not the hundreds. Photographs can't do it justice - it's something you just have to experience for yourself. The best visiting months are October through May. Check in late April for their annual hosting of the Dural Rose Festival, which is well worth visiting to see and smell exhibition blooms.
The nursery is just as impressive, covering the whole range of plants. Of all the major suppliers, Swanes is the most devoted to modern roses, particularly those from the US. They were also an early promoter of David Austin roses, but their emphasis has declined recently. That's because of poor sales of the Austin strains (according to one staff member I spoke to). Their latest promotion is the new range of Delbard roses from France, although that's not yet highlighted on their website.
Shopping for roses? Swanes is a good place to buy if you're shopping for quality, not price. Large potted bushes can cost between $20 and $35 (more for new varieties). That's often double whhat others charge, but these are very well cared for babies. You do get what you pay for. The wide range of fertilisers, mulches and chemicals are priced comparably with hardware chains.
Roy and Heather Rumsey were legends of Australian rose gardening. The volunteer-run garden in their honour is situated in a corner of Parramatta Park, near the corner of Pitt and Macquarie Streets.
The Parramatta Council suggests the Rumsey garden as a place for wedding photographs. It's not hard to see why, especially in late November when the climbers are blooming:
The emphasis of this garden is almost precisely the opposite of Swanes. It consists of old roses, donated mainly from Rumsey's own private collection. There are groups of tea, noisette, bourbon, rugosa, hybrid perpetual and portland roses in the centre. The perimeter is built mostly of old 'species' roses (i.e. not bred by human intervention) from around the world - including this rather thorny one from China:
It's interesting to observe which roses do better than others in this garden. If you're a low maintenance gardener, you can see for yourself that you wouldn't want to grow hybrid perpetuals. They stood out head and shoulders above other groups for disease problems. It was probably no coincidence that they had the fewest blooms too. The teas and bourbons did much better, but even they weren't immune. Only the rugosa and species roses were disease free.
For anyone curious about growing these old treasures, a visit is a must. The once-flowering spring roses would be past their prime by December, but many repeat flowering varieties should be doing well.
This is Souvenir de la Malmaison:
And here's Karen Blixen:
This cupped bloom is typical of Heritage, which is performing so well on all fronts this season:
This is Duchesse de Brabant at its finest (although rain can make the blooms look like soggy tissues!
And a classic, fragrant red Kardinal to end on a Christmassy note!
I've updated the 2003 Trials part of the site with additional photos.
Have a great festive season, and don't forget breathe in the roses. I wouldn't trade them for a white christmas!
Daniel.