Linda is joined by Ali Mentesh from Red Cow Farm to talk about his garden, incredible collection of roses, his six favourites plus secrets to success.
Seduced by the colour, forms and perfumes of roses, Ali Mentesh has already collected some 200 to adorn the garden rooms at Red Cow Farm. Can he choose a favourite?
Roses are central to the dreamy delights of Red Cow Farm, a 2.5 hectare garden just outside the village of Sutton Forest in the Southern Highlands of NSW. Gardened by Ali Mentesh and Wayne Morrissey, Red Cow Farm is a series of 20 garden rooms, each with its own mood and linked by subtle, clever planning. And while roses don’t feature in every one of the beautiful garden pictures that have been created since Ali and Wayne bought the 1820s cottage in 1990, they are an early, and enduring passion.
Here are Ali’s standouts and why!
*Jude the Obscure - strong growth, repeats well year after year, strong fragrance of quince.
*Charles Darwin - palest clotted cream to a beautiful mustard colour and similar shape to peonies, delightful cupped shape.
*Rambling Rector - vigorous grower and excellent climber, a generous rose when in flower with a clear luminous froth of white.
*Apple Blossom - almost like an apple blossom flower and produces single flowers with a mild perfume. Has the ability to cover a corrugated iron shed!
*William Shakespeare 2000 - exotic blooms are of the richest velvety crimson, gradually changing to an equally rich purple. They are deeply cupped at first, the flowers soon opening out to form shallow, quartered cups.
*Tea Clipper - temperature dependent with shades of apricot and lovely formation of flower with a fragrance of tea, myrrh and fruit.
Rose Care:
*Annual mushroom compost mulch for the entire garden however, avoid any contact with first year roses
*Add some bark mulch to top it off
*Fertilise roses in September and apply organic fertilisers with good trace elements
*Prune shrub and tea roses regularly
Find photos of Red Cow Farm roses:
http://www.gardenclinic.com.au/how-to-grow-article/roses-at-red-cow-farm
http://www.davidaustinrosesaustralia.com/australian/search.asp
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