SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER
LAST MEETING FOR 2021
We had a very select group meeting at Sheila's home, just six in all, sitting out on the lovely covered terraced and we had all tried to bring roses not seen before. We are onto the 3rd flush of blooms now, with hopefully more to come as we approach the Autumn. Sheila did the most amazing tea starting with smoked salmon on delicious crusty wholemeal with watercress, and an orange cake with flowers but the tea was interrupted by the most vicious thunderstorm, with a whirlwind, so we all had to make a dash inside.
~ Helen Grey had no roses to show, hers have been affected badly by we think the Leaf Cutter bee, which has stripped all the leaves off, she is trying to do some crossbreeding with her Grace rose and Ophelia, so we look forward to an update on that.
~ Ariane brought along a beautiful vase of Munster Wood, Gabriel Oak, Eustacia Vye, and Blue Eden, she has also described her recipe for Raspberry and Rose Petal Jam which has been emailed to members.
~ Sheila has a beautiful peony shaped rose pale pink called Kathleen Harrop. Other good news was her Winchester Cathedral rose bush has come back to life after battling against the rosemary bush that has rather smothered it.
~Joy brought her lovely Desdemona, Burgundy Ice, L’aiment, and St. Swithin, which has a lovely form and a slight liquorice scent.
~Jane brought Tudor rose, a pinky continuous flowerer, Sir John Betjeman a short climber, Paul Noel a rambler and The Fairy a continuous pink ground cover rose.
~ I took my new Pilgrim climber, which is a soft lemon yellow, Tequila Sunrise a vibrant deep apricot, Horatio Nelson a pink rose plus Souvenir de Malmaison a soft pink continuous with a lovely scent.
We briefly discussed pruning and the general opinion was just to tidy up long branches that may be affected by the winter winds, and damaged badly, possibly, causing a disease, and to leave the main pruning until February, (obviously not if it’s frosty).
This will be the last Rose Group meeting this year, as most of the regular members have plenty of roses. Sadly, we can no longer obtain David Austin roses but we can order the odd ones from:
* André Eve Nurseries https://www.roses-andre-eve.com/
* Saulaie Nurseries https://www.pepinieresdelasaulaie.fr/
We hope to get together next year, and discussed the IGC in general, all of us hoping that it will survive the Pandemic. Best wishes to all, Carelle
To watch a leaf cutter bee at work click this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Stq083Jd90A
ROSE GROUP MEETING JULY 202
We had a well-attended Rose Group meeting hosted by Jane Hickey at her lovely home, and delightfully interesting garden.
THE ROSES
Annie bought a very pretty pale pink cluster rose, name unknown, and another called Brownie which was an interesting pinky chocolate colour, yellow centre a repeat climber, that we all fell in love with.
Nevelee bought 3 pale pink roses DA Heritage, Generous gardener and Jardin de Granville, plus the beautifully scented red rose William Shakespeare.
Sheila bought Deep Secret again fabulous scent, a tall strong rose, plus Plus Queen of Sweden, Bathsheba, Gertrude Jekyll etc.
Jaki bought a pretty French rose unknown name, and a spray of pink and white flowers which was very dainty. Elaine bought three floribunda roses all spreading and forming a low growing hedge, of red, pink and white.
Jane’s Crimson Showers red climber had been battered by the wind and rain, but had been very prolific and was still covered in flowers.
Paul NoelI is a climber in Salmon Pink, and her very vigorous Teasing Georgia and Rambling rector had been amazing this year Sally Holmes was a new very pretty single petal rose in pinky white, which we all admired.
Carelle’ roses were Dizzy Heights and Warm Wishes both DA new last winter, and flowering well, Rimosa , Pirate, Ivor’s rose, Anna Purna, Iceberg, Ballerina and Pink Perpetue, were the only ones that were worth showing, nearly all the others have been battered with the wind and the unseasonal rain, however there are buds coming along on most, so something to look forward to seeing hopefully?
Then a lovely walk around Jane’s delightful and interesting garden that has over a hundred different varieties (in fact 117!) before a delicious tea and memorable cakes.
NEXT MEETING
Sheila H has very kindly offered to host our next meeting in September, date to be advised later.
So, with very many thanks to Jane for hosting this afternoon, see you all in September.
Carelle
ROSE GROUP MEETING JUNE 2, 2021
We had a very well attended meeting here at Colombat for our first Rose Group meeting of the year, eleven of us got together with our roses to discuss, before looking around our garden and having tea and cakes. The weather was a perfect 24 degrees and sunshine too, having been raining earlier in the morning, it freshened everything up.
Members who came were:
Annie Key, Carelle Sherwood, Elaine Savage, Helen Harrison, Jaki Moorhouse, Joy Collett, Léonie Mercier, Jane Hickey, Martin Garfoot, Nevelee Corry, and Sheila Harris.
ROSE UPDATES
Joy spoke about her lovely ‘Constance Spry’ rose, sadly not a repeating rose, and her ‘Malvern Hills’.
Sheila bought a gorgeous bucket of amazing roses (which she sweetly gave to me, so I am still enjoying them!) some beautifully scented, ‘Bathsheba’ and ‘Dark Secret’, ‘Pierre de Ronsard’, ‘Burgandy Ice’, among others.
Léonie showed us a photo of her half circle of ‘Little Gem’ roses which were only planted last year and were giving a really good show.
Martin was hoping that we could ID his white rose and a pink one, which was initially thought to be ‘Queen Elizabeth’ but that was finally discounted.
Elaine had thoughtfully labelled all her roses, ‘Tranquillity’, ‘Munstead Wood’, ‘Golden Celebration’, ‘Darcy Bussell’, and ‘Lady Emma Hamilton’.
Nevelee bought a very pretty arrangement with her ‘Albrighton Rambler’ and Cow Parsley.
Jane gave an amusing talk on her American Killer rose (American Pillar), plus ‘Bobby James’, and ‘Paul Noel’ all rampant Ramblers with a mass of blooms. However, most Ramblers only flower the once with ‘Malvern hills’ being the exception.
Jaki bought her lovely traditional roses, many scented ‘Annapurna’, ‘Phyllis Bide’, ‘Monica Bellucci’, ‘Peace’, ‘Diane de Poitiers’, ‘Ibiza’,
Annie bought ‘Jardin de Granville’, and a lovely two tone rose called ‘Purple Splash’.
ILLUSTRATIONS - SEE BELOW
Before tea and cakes, we then walked around our garden to see my roses, notably, Rimosa, which has bloomed non-stop since April. ‘Parkdirektor Riggers’ is another great flowering rose, ‘Iceberg’, and ‘New Dawn’, and many others.
It was a delight to see many likeminded Rose Group friends again after our long Confinement.
NEXT MEETING
Jane has very kindly offered to host the next Rose Group meeting in early July, at her lovely home and garden, date to be arranged.
Best wishes,
Carelle
Rose group newsletter spring 2021
Dear members,
I have just reread my first letter sent in 2020, and we are still in the same extraordinary situation, who would have thought that a year ago, nothing much would have changed! We are still in Le Confinement, and who knows for how much longer.
However, the weather is glorious, and the Spring flowers have been amazing, and been such a welcome boost to our low winter spirits, the roses are all budding up, and I personally I am extremely happy to report, that the double row of Electric fencing plus Rose guards, have kept the Chevreuil (deer) at bay, not like last year, when my poor roses were eaten down to the ground!
I am hoping to host a Rose group meeting here at Colombat, in May, maybe, just for 5 people, (1st come 1st serve basis) but will wait a little longer before announcing a date given the new regulations.
It will be strictly, masks on, outside, and social distancing, we will have had our 2nd Pfizer vaccination by then, so will feel a little more protected.
OPEN GARDENS 2021
I am also going to do the Open Garden Scheme again this year, to support ‘Children with Cancer’ but only by invited rendezvous, please contact me on
Up to 5 people, the garden is at its best in May and June, so please keep this in mind and support this very worthwhile cause. Go to:
and then just put in either 24400 or Mussidan to view our garden.
Wishing you all a very Joyeuses Pâques weekend.
Carelle
Order roses in spring
Meilland Richardier Rose group have a very good brochure that will be sent quarterly. To log on and subscribe go to
https://www.meillandrichardier.com/commande-catalogue/
It is a delightful way to look at some of the best of the rose species being developed.
June Rose Group meeting 2020
Dear all,
The IGC had the first Rose Group meeting of 2020 on Thursday 25th. It was a delightful afternoon held at Jane Hickey’s beautiful garden, full of roses and other interesting plants. There were seven members and we could sit outside with a delicious tea of scones and strawberry jam and cream; the time flew by as we discussed our various roses.
Liz McGlynn brought three beautiful roses to show, Fruit Sorbet, Inès Sastre climber, and Golden Celebration.
Jane Hickey has Long John Silver over an archway, plus Crimson Shower and the Generous Gardener Rose, plus very many more.
Jaki Moorhouse bought Jacqueline du Pre which is such a striking single rose, plus an unknown pink shrub rose.
Nevelee Corry brought Mocha Rosa, an unusual scented rose with a lovely dusky colour and Jardin de Granville a white rose with rose pink centre.
My own contributions were two climbers that flower throughout summer the heavily scented Etoile de Hollande and Pink Purpétue.
Joy Collett sent a photo of her Burgundy Ice which is a very deep colour.
I hope we can have another get-together as this year has been exceptional for roses in all our gardens.
Happy growing
Carelle Sherwood
Roses recommended by the group
APRIL 2020 NEWSLETTER
Dear Rose Group Members,
Just to wish you all a Very Happy Easter during the lock down. I hope that you are all well.
I am sure like me, that you have been really enjoying your gardens in this extraordinary situation, and in the glorious weather that we have had these last weeks. I just feel that we are so lucky to live in this lovely part of France. It is so wonderful to go out into the garden every day and see what has sprung in to life.
I was hoping to put more photos of roses up to show, but although there are many buds emerging, the only one out at the moment is the beautifully fragrant climbing rose “ Etoile de Hollande” . See my photo here.
This year I have put deer prevention guards around all my roses, and it seems to be working!
I have also experimented with the “Sissinghurst pruning method” https://www.sarahraven.com/articles/pruning-roses-the-sissinghurst-method.htm
which also is producing good results.
Sadly, it looks unlikely that we shall be able to meet-up for the first Rose group meeting on the 21st April, but fingers crossed for later on in May.
If you have any photographs of your roses please send them to me. (NB Rose Group members have my address) otherwise please use igcnewsinfo@gmail.com.
Don’t forget to water your new first year roses every day in this extremely dry spell !
Best regards, Carelle
*** UPDATE ***
Jane Hickey has had, via Collisimo post, some late bare root very healthy roses delivered from Roseraie Ducher. https://roseraie-ducher.com/en/
She was pleased because they even sent her a potted one to replace a variety that was not available, plus an extra bare root of another just in case of failure! If interested they are still sending out potted stock. It’s a good very good website with listed sections for dry gardens, full sun garden etc.
