Another Cantabrian entered the garden

3 Aug '08 7:03 am

Hi
Just joined the group. Thanks for this lovely site which I stumbled accross whilst looking for ideas to grow climbing iceberg roses. I purchased 13 bare root roses in pink and white colours, some bush icebergs and some climbing icebergs. Also purchased a couple of arches and have been trying to clear some debris from the front yard this week. Fortunately the ground is sooo soft from heaps of rain that we have had in the region. The front "lawn" looks like a bog from all the rain of the past couple of weeks.
Last time I planted up a "proper" garden was 10 years ago and I had help from two lovely ladies who landscaped the garden, chose and planted and maintained it all for me. Sigh!!! times have changed, new country, new city, new life,
older me, many illnesses later, it is going to be quite a task for me to do all on my own. My dh is very busy at
work but will give me a few hours of his time tomorrow to help put up the rose arches and dig the holes for the bare root roses that have been in my garden shed for the last two weeks.

I hope that I didn't kill them off by not planting them up as soon as I bought them! I also hope that I will be planting
them in the right "position", which is front of the house - east facing. It gets plenty of sunlight in the morning up until the sun goes round the back of the house about 2pm in the afternoon.

It's amazing that my previous garden grew so lovely, but now I feel like such a floundering newbie to gardening again. If you have any encouraging thoughts, ideas, tips I would be ever so grateful.

Moosey, I love this site, but will have to come back to read more. I'm currently studying and therefore I have lots more reading to do for that than I would like. Oh, just when I thought that I could relax now that there are no children and grandchildren around. We have 4 children, 5 grandchildren. Son of 30 years old in Johannesburg and 3 daughters in their late twenties in Invercargill. Grandkids are also in Invercargill. We last saw them during the Easter holidays.

I don't expect to write soooo much in future. This is just a catch up and probably because I didn't use up my allotted 1000 words elsewhere today. lol!

I am realllly looking forward to spring, although I love all the seasons.

God bless you all for a lovely gardening weekend.

Cheers

Julie

3 Aug '08 10:33 am

New gardens are always exciting! We would all love to see some before and after photos - we're quite a nosy lot! Good luck with the planting. Pity the weather's so horrid. Keep us posted. Very Happy

3 Aug '08 6:57 pm

Helo Julie,and welcome,
Make sure you don't let your new roses dry out,and they will be fine...A display of roses like you have planned sounds great!
Jack,who writes here regularly is near Johanesburg too.
I know you will enjoy being part of Moosey's garden family.
Dixie

3 Aug '08 11:13 pm

Yep I have given the roses a wee shower in the tub and stuck them back in the garden shed.

My son who lives in Johannesburg appears to be climbing the corporate ladder at the stock
exchange and earning a higher salary than he would if he came to NZ. Although he always has a place to come to here in NZ.

I will try to get some before pics of the garden.

God bless and happy sowing.

Cheers
Julie

4 Aug '08 7:43 am

Haai, Juliana!

Toe ek die naam sien toe vermoed ek sommer dis 'n oud Suid-Afrikaner! Dis nie dalk Juliana met 'n ma gebore De Wet nie...? Welkom aan boord!

And for everyone else: an Afrikaans message of welcome because I was certain when I saw Julie's handle that she was Afrikaans, as Juliana is an unusual form of the name occasionally found amongst Afrikaans-speakers. Then I read that she was from Johannesburg! I am 400km from Johannesburg, Dixie, but I DID spend most of my life there...

4 Aug '08 12:41 pm

You live in my city, well near it, Juliana! I can do better than Jack and his 400 kilometres! Welcome, and hope you enjoy our group of friends - we think we're a great bunch. We certainly have brilliant intentions (and some of us have really brilliant gardens!).

I won't write any more cos I have to get outside while its not drizzling, or raining, or cats-and-dogsing. Welcome again. Cheers. M

4 Aug '08 3:45 pm

Well I can't compete with Moosey or Jack for physical proximity now like Moosey or at birth like Jack, but I am on the same planet! Well, the other side actually.

New garden hey? How exciting. My advice is to take your before pictures under the worse conditions possible. Remember, the worse the before, the less better the after has to be. Starting over you'll have an opportunity to space things out to allow easy passage on pathways. You'll be able to ammend the soil to your heart's content without disturbing anything.

You can't go wrong with Iceberg roses, unless you want a lot of scent. They are great looking, disease free (here at least) and bountiful bloomers. Looking forward to the pictures.

4 Aug '08 3:53 pm

Hi Julie and welcome. Very Happy

4 Aug '08 6:50 pm

400 kms from Johannesberg? that's just along the road,isn't it Jack?

4 Aug '08 6:56 pm

If you're heading for Cairo I guess it is, Dixie Smile

Another Cantabrian entered the garden

Another Cantabrian entered the garden

Welcome

Welcome

Thanks for the welcome

Boeremeisie!

Wow

Welcome from sunny California, Julianna.

Welcome from Australia

Joburg

All relative