NEW DAWN

Today it i snowing, wet heavy snow and the sky is grey. It is a perfect day for dreaming about summer in Annapolis Valley, Canada. Roses belong to my favourite things and among them my NEW DAWN pink climbing rose.

Climbers generally have large blooms on not too vigorous, rather stiff growth and most repeat flower. Most climbers are best supported by walls, trellises, arches or obelisks

Climbers should be pruned to establish a permanent framework of significant branches from which flowering stems are produced. To achieve this cut back side shoots to one or two buds from the point where they branch out from the main shoots. If the plant has become bare at the base, cut one of it’s main shoots hard back to encourage new growth from ground level. The best time to prune a climber is October, when the flowering  is over, but it can be done later if the weather is mild.

Rambling rose

I love my pink rambling rose greeting me at the entrance of my driveway. In the summer it is totally covered with lovely pink flowers.

 

Ramblers are in general, much more vigorous than climbers. They will produce great quantities of small flowers, although most do not repeat flower.

Ramblers need to be pruned to encourage flowering on young shoots that grow from the base of the plant each year. To achieve this cut out completely the side shoots that have finished flowering and tie in the new shoots in their place.

Rambling roses are said to be easy to propagate. In October I  took some cuttings and planted those in soil. They rooted well and even started to grow a little before the frost arrived. I will keep you posted on how they get on when spring is back.

FOOD and Climate Change

When the Scientists  reported on Climate Change last autumn one of the issues that was highlighted was the need to take into account what we eat when trying to reduce Greenhouse Gases. Roughly one third of all emitted GHGs originate from food consumption. Especially red meat is the culprit when GHGs emissions need to be reduced.

  One  efficient way to minimize the GHG emissions is to minimize the amount of food that go to waste. The GHG emitted during production will otherwise be for no purpose at all.