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Golden Wedding Hybrid Tea Rose Bush
by brittle1906
Review of Golden Wedding Hybrid Tea Rose.
I purchased my parents an aptly named rose bush for their Ruby Wedding anniversary, which proved to be a great success. Ten years later, as they were about to celebrate their Golden Wedding anniversary, my father asked to me to find out if there was a rose that would suit their 50 ... years of marriage.
This was in 2002 and of course by this time, research was made somewhat simple by means of the internet. My Dad was fascinated by computers and loved to sit with me surfing the web. He wouldn't do any typing, but would instruct me to find what he wanted and then happily browse the relevant web pages. I tried to get him to do more with the computer but he was having none of it and was more than happy with his method of internet use! Our joint research led us to a pretty lemony gold coloured rose called 'Golden Wedding'. Dad ordered his rose and gave it to my mother along with a gold chain and a locket engraved with a rose and their wedding date, as a 50th wedding anniversary gift.
Time has moved on and both my parents have now passed away, Dad in 2006 and mum last year in 2011. I have inherited my parents home along with the gardens, I have made a few alterations in the rear garden, as I have visiting grandchildren and a large dog, but the roses remain, and will do so.
The Golden Wedding rose bush will be 10 years old this month and is still going strong.
**The Rose**
Golden Wedding is a delicately coloured rose, the petals are well shaped and have a soft velvety sheen to them. The lemon/gold colour is subtle, it is not a particularly eye catching rose, in that it is not flashy or showy.
Golden Wedding does not have a particularly long flowering season in comparison to other roses we have in the garden. It generally blooms for two or three months between June and September. The rose prefers a sunny position and we are lucky enough to have a mainly south facing rear garden which is ideal for roses. All roses prefer a well drained, rich, fertile soil and care needs to be taken so that they do not become waterlogged.
Golden Wedding is growing in a border which can be seen from the conservatory, Dad chose this spot as mum suffered quite poor health for the last years of her life and spent a lot of time in the conservatory when she was too unwell to venture out of doors.
The rose needs little attention, it is not a fast growing rose and the only care we really give it is a light pruning in the autumn to remove any dead wood and to restrict the height of the bush. Golden Wedding is a hybrid tea rose. Hybrid tea rose is the name given to these cultivated rose bushes, they have been developed by rose growers from a cross between hybrid perpetual and old fashioned tea roses.
Golden Wedding produces single flowers on each stem, unlike the floribunda type roses which have multiple headed blooms. This particular rose has quite small, pale green leaves and the stems of this rose bush are fairly slender, they are also almost thorn-less, which is a blessing as we do have some roses in our garden that are particularly spiteful!
The Golden Wedding blooms do sometimes droop rather as their weight becomes too much for the stem to support. We counteract the problem by using a piece of trellis attached to the fencing behind the flower border and tying the rose in to this when appropriate. Unfortunately, Golden Wedding does not make a very good rose for cutting given the tendency towards stem weakness. .
Golden Wedding has a beautiful scent, it is a very fragrant rose. The scent seems to be very long lasting, n that the roses still smell wonderful even when the bloom is past it's best.
**Selecting a Rose**
Personally I would not buy a rose bush sight unseen, although our Golden Wedding rose was purchased from an online retailer, ideally I would prefer to inspect the rose and select the best one available.
When choosing a rose bush from a garden centre or other supplier, it is best to chose a specimen with uniform green leaves and no signs of insect damage or disease. These roses are generally sold in a pot or bare rooted. The supplier should provide information on planting and care of your new rose bush, but if not the general rule of thumb is to soak a bare rooted rose in a bucket of water for a few hours before planting. A pot grown rose can be planted straight away.
Dig a hole that is deep enough to accommodate the plants roots and the hole should be prepared with a layer of organic matter before planting. The rose bush should have its roots carefully separated and be placed in the hole and supported as you back fill the hole. Stamp the soil down around the base of the plant to endure good coverage and then gently water in, cross your fingers and good luck!
Golden Wedding seems to be pretty resilient against pests and diseases. My parents had many more rose bushes in the gardens at one time, but about a year after planting Golden Wedding, they lost several due to a rose fungal disease. Golden Wedding was unaffected, I'm glad to say.
**Conclusion**
Other than the yearly pruning, this rose bush really needs very little attention. My late father was far more vigilant than me and I know he would occasionally treat his roses to a dose of specialist rose feed or a top dressing of farmyard manure or compost. I have to admit that nothing in the garden gets quite the same level of nurturing that Dad bestowed upon it!
I would recommend this rose to others, you do not need a huge garden to grow this rose bush, pruning does of course limit the size the bush grows to, so you can keep it to within the size acceptable for your needs. The Golden Wedding rose does need a little support, so it is best planted somewhere where this can arranged easily. Golden Wedding is not a patio rose, it does need to be in the ground, rather than in a container.
The lovely scent makes this rose a great addition to a rose border, all too often these days, a beautiful rose will be totally scentless, a great pity in my opinion!
Golden Wedding is a popular rose, which has been around for a good few years.
In my opinion, the name makes it ideal as a 50th wedding anniversary gift.
As mentioned at the top of this review, my father bought this rose as a present for my mother on their Golden Wedding anniversary, it gave her a great deal of pleasure and I like to think his gift will go on for years to come.
Had my parents still been alive, they would have celebrated their diamond Wedding anniversary this week!
Thank you for reading
© brittle1906 April 2012
N.B. My reviews may be found on other sites under the same user name.
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Mint
by Thebaker50
This is a review of mint, a hardy little plant that is great to grow, and really needs a minimal amount of attention. I originally bought my mint plants from seeds, getting around 100 or so of them with some parsley, thyme, corriander seeds all for £1.20!
The seeds appear very small, and look similar to the sorts of seeds that you ... can sometimes see on bread, that sort of black/grey/puirple appearence.
I planted said seeds in pots containing ordinary multipurpose composte, and orginally place them in the greenhouse. Once little shoots started to appear (which only took 2-3 days in m case!), I transfered to pots outside.
The plants then took hold very quickly, and they are described as being very "invasive". Therefore I do not recomend that you place them in a place where you have other prized plants. These would be ideal plants for that bit of garden you do not know what to do with. And it may be worth putting some sort of a partition around the plants to stop them overgrowing if you do not want them too.
Whats nice about this plant is that you can pick the leaves when it suits you (within reason), and they are not too heavily infested with bugs (unlike some rocket leaves which i planted, which gave the catapillars a delcious meal but sadly i got none!
U haven't really cared very much for my mint leaves in the last 8 months, but I went out this morning to have a look at how they are doing for this review (its just spring now), and the new plants are already starting to grow, and i even harvested about 4 small leaves.
These plants are really easy to grow, they literally grow like weeds. If you just want a plant that smells nice, and you can eat, with minimal care, this is the plant for you. I would also recommend it for children as well, as I am sure they could take good care of it, and will probably enjoy picking the leaves etc., as well as the plant being cheap incase the child changes their mind and decides they do not want to care for it anymore.
So in summary, a very easy to keep plant but its very invasive, so be careful not to let it overrun your garden. Can grow in less than favourable conditions.
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Willow Tree (Salix)
by Lunaria
There are hundreds of different species of willow (Salix), deciduous trees that can grow and spread quite rapidly both in natural and cultivated environments. The common willow we see growing in woodlands and roadsides is Salix caprea, known as goat willow or pussy willow. There is an abundance of it growing in the hedgerows where we ... live. It grows to a height of 6 -10 metres, has broad leaves with soft grey undersides and produces pretty yellow catkins in early spring. I like to cut and dry branches when in flower with catkins to make a long lasting displays in vases for the home.
~ Willow roots ~
All willow thrives best in damp soil conditions. We are advised not to grow willow near old water pipes because the strong roots will seek water and take advantage of any cracks which could lead to clogged pipes. For a similar reason it is best to keep willow at a good distance from septic tanks and open water drainage channels. There is a septic tank and natural soak away at our property, also an old well so when we have planted willow we have made sure it is at a distance of at least 8m away. It is claimed willow roots can be destructive to new pipes and foundations of buildings, I tend to think this is rather over dramatic and fail to see how willow roots could possibly break through concrete or solid sound surfaces. Many people, myself included, have willow growing near buildings and relatively new water pipes without any problems whatsoever.
~ Willow branches ~
Willow branches can be very flexible as well as strong and if coppiced will often grow extremely thin and straight. In ancient times willow rods were harvested for making a wide range of essential and useful things such as baskets, fencing, tools, traps, furniture and toys. Willow is still popular for basket making and wattle fencing. A few years ago I learnt the very basics of basket making and use willow rods from trees growing in my garden. I have produced a selection of very odd shaped baskets whilst practising the technique but I find weaving with willow very therapeutic, the pliable thin rods are smooth, shiny and have a fresh green aroma.
~ Propagating and planting willow ~
For a fast growing hedge or summer screen willows are ideal and the fastest growing willow used for this is Salix Viminalis. When I decided to create a windbreak along the front edge of our garden I chose willow and cut branches from Salix Viminalis in the Autumn. I made stakes of approximately 40cm with a slanted cut at one end, these I then pushed into the ground with the slated end down at 45cm intervals and watered in well. In the spring buds appeared on the stakes and new growth begun. In the first year growth was slow whilst the stakes established a root system but in the second year the line of willows grew rapidly and now three years later we already have a willow screen 4 metres in height. It will need trimming this Autumn to prevent it becoming too tall and to encourage it to thicken further at the base. In my view this must be the one of the quickest and easiest ways to establish a living screen.
Ornamental varieties of Willow can be bought in large tubs or bare rooted from local nurseries, garden centres or specialist online suppliers. Willow stakes for planting can be obtained online from
JPR Environmental or MammothWillow.co.uk and for basket making from Somerset Willow Growers Ltd.
Thank you for reading x
© Lunaria 2012
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