What to do when you receive your roses

Open the box and check your order.  If you are not ready for planting, the roses can survive in their packaging for 2 weeks.  

Make sure the newspaper is damp (not dripping wet), close the box and store in a cool environment.

The day before planting, place the plants in a bucket of clean water to soak the root system for 24 hours.

Choose the best location

All roses are to be planted outside in the ground or in a pot where they can receive at least 6 – 8 hours of sunshine each day.

• Avoid planting near shrubs and trees that have a bigger root system than the rose.  
• Avoid planting different varieties of roses too close together.
• Do not replace a rose with a rose: soil will need to be changed over before planting.

Planting in the garden 

Dig your hole 30cm x 30cm x 30cm.

Take the rose from your bucket of water and place in the hole, making sure the roots are pointing downwards. Backfill the hole halfway.  Add water to ensure the soil is making good contact with the root system. Backfill the rest of the hole, firm the soil and water.  

The bud union should sit 2cm above the soil.  Prune the branches back by a third just above a healthy eye. Ideally you are looking for balance – the height of the branches should match the length of the roots.

Spacing of roses

• Bush roses – 1m to 1.2m (closer if the plants are the same variety and you want to create a hedge)
• Standards and groundcovers - 1m
• Miniatures – 0.5m
• Climbers – 3m to 5m, depending on the variety of rose

Our Planting Guide will be included in your box, and in the video below Brian shows how to plant a rose bush.

Remembering Walter Duncan

At the end of last month, we sadly said goodbye to a great rosarian, a mentor for Brian and many rose growers, and a very special man: Walter Duncan.

Walter’s passion for roses started when he was a young child and never left him; he quickly became a very skilled rose grower, won many important awards, designed beautiful gardens and developed a large commercial rose nursery, growing 100,000 rose plants per year to supply retailers around Australia.

In the late 1990’s, Walter and his wife Kay moved from Adelaide to Sevenhill, in Clare Valley, to rebuild their family villa and establish one of the most beautiful gardens in South Australia, with over 2000 roses and a big selection of heritage varieties.

Walter was very passionate about old fashioned roses and many of the varieties of our Old-Fashioned collection come from his Heritage Garden in Clare Valley.

“Walter was highly regarded in our industry – Brian Wagner remembers – and very generous in sharing his knowledge and passion. I used to visit him every spring to cut budwood from his garden for rare heritage varieties. Last time I saw him, I was with my son Luca, and we had great time with Walter and Kay, cutting budwood and ending the day at their favourite Indian Restaurant”.

The picture below was taken that day, while Walter was looking for rare varieties for us in his beautiful garden.

20% Discount on selected varieties

We are having a Sale on three very popular varieties, that we are sure you will love.

Take advantage of this special sale and order your plants today. Sale is valid until stock lasts.

Did you know that we regularly post photos and updates through our Facebook and Instagram pages? 

Hop on over and give us a like!

Office opening hours:

Monday to Thursday, from 9am to 3pm

Friday, from 9am to 1pm

Closed on public holidays and weekends.

The nursery will be closed to public in wintertime, as we are busy digging and preparing your orders.

Contact us:

ph 08 87393321

[email protected]