All images courtesy of David Austin roses. Visit our website for further details here
New David Austin roses available at the Moosbach Garden
Time to review the chicken situation
It’s time to face facts, we have too many chickens. They are costly to keep, time-consuming and too many can turn the land sour. We love collecting fresh laid eggs from the nest boxes and seeing the hens running around the orchard but there are simply too many. Hens can live to about 6 years old but they lay most of their eggs in the first 2 years, they still lay eggs from year 3 onwards but just not as many. We need to be realistic, as much as we like the idea of a chicken retirement home, 30 older hens that aren’t earning their keep need to be re-homed. We think they are ideal in smaller quantities for families who don’t want 30 eggs a day and they make good pets.
A gardening list that is far too long
During the last four years we have been working very hard creating different areas of the garden, including a magnolia walk, a rose walk and a rose garden. These are now starting to mature and they now need constant work to keep them looking at their best. Every week we write a gardening to-do list and although we get lots of jobs done each day the list just seems to get longer and longer. So we have to work faster and harder and we have to prioritise what needs doing.
So we have made the decision to reduce the chickens down from 50 to 16, which is a much more manageable number and this will give us more time to concentrate on keeping the garden in tip-top shape.
The Moosbach Garden Plant Shop
Added to our already busy schedule is the Moosbach Garden plant shop, we sold a few plants last year but this year we thought we would expand upon this and we started stocking David Austin roses. In the last 3 months we have sold 50% of the roses that we initially brought in and now another batch of roses have been ordered to supplement what we have to offer. So we have 17 different varieties of roses for sale, as well as, delphiniums, Acanthus, Lupins, Lavender, Salvia, Phlox, Cosmos and Day Lilies.
In the next couple of weeks the 8 new varieties of roses will go on to the Moosbach Website, along with the 9 varieties already on there. We will add other plants to the online shop when they are available to buy. In May there will be some fantastic delphiniums available, as well as Lavender and Salvia. These combine perfectly with roses in a mixed border. There is however, limited availability on all of the David Austin roses and we are already down to the last 2 or roses on some varieties. If you visit us in June you will be able to see all of the roses in our rose garden, along with some stunningly beautiful delphiniums, which we grow from seed here in the Moosbach garden.
If you would like to see the roses that we have available then please click here and if you are interested in buying some chickens please email us.
June, July and August are the best times to visit the garden here, however, May can be good too depending upon the weather.
Peonies and Tree Peonies
We have been extending our range of peonies in the garden and have both the perennial variety and the tree form. There are many different varieties of both perennial and tree peonies but they must be treated very differently.
Both types can be grown from seed or purchased as mature plants, Perennial peonies can be treated like all other perennials and can be cut back in the autumn after the first frosts, Tree Peonies on the other hand should never be cut back, they do not respond well to being pruned and in some instances will even die. Tree peonies can grow to a height of about 2 metres and produce stunningly beautiful flowers, just be conscious of where you plant them as they need a bit of space to grow into. If you want to grow new plants from seed you will need to hand pollinate them and then protect the pollinated flower insects and bees.
Pictured about a Tree Peony flower (Left) and Perennial Peony flower (right).
With both sorts you need to wait until the seeds have ripened and the seed pods are splitting and the seeds exposed. Dry the seeds and store over winter, they need exposure to 3 months of cold temperatures either outside or in the fridge before sowing. With a little luck seedlings should emerge either in spring or in summer, you will have to wait about 3 years for the first flowers but I think that it is definitely worth the wait. Seeds that have been pollinated by insects will not be true to the parent plant but what is life without a little mystery?
New buds on one of our Tree Peonies, each bud will produce its own set of flowers and the plants are very hardy.
Perennial Peony shoots just emerging from the ground, this plant was in the ground for 2 years before it produced its first set of flowers. Please remember that peonies do not like have their roots disturbed so moving them is not recommended.
After what seems like a very long and very snowy winter lets hope for a glorious summer, we wish you a very Happy Easter.
A touch of spring in the Moosbach Garden
Better Weather
This week has brought better weather to the Moosbach Garden and a touch of spring, we’ve had a few really sunny days which has warmed the soil and this gardener’s heart.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were sunny and warm and I spent 6 hours each day working in the garden. I noticed that the plants are waking up and many perennials are producing their first tentative shoots of the year. Bramble feels it too and has been running around the garden, ears back and leaping on my back when he thinks that I’m not paying attention and then running away.
Jobs to do now
There are a myriad of jobs that need doing in the garden now that Spring is knocking on the door and it really does pay dividends to get those jobs done now before everything starts growing in earnest.
Here is my list of jobs to do now :-
- Cut back all of the old stems from the perennials, it’s much easier to do now without damaging the new shoots. Lift and split any large perennials that you haven’t split already – this is the last chance to do so.
- Prune back any roses that need it, removing any crossing stems will prevent later damage and disease from rubbing stems.
- Give all of the roses a good feed with David Austin Rose Feed and then only in-between flowering.
- Weed all of the flower beds before weeds get a foot hold, not only does it reduce work later on but the beds will look much tidier and then apply a good layer of mulch to inhibit weed growth and to retain moisture. You can buy proprietory mulch’s from garden centres or you can use well-rotted compost or horse manure. Any manure that you use in the garden should be at least 2 years old and have a crumbly texture.
- Prune and feed Hydrangea, this depends on the weather where you are. Reducing the stems by a third will reduce the risk of branches being pulled to the ground by the weight of the blooms. Use Rhododendron fertiliser on all hydrangeas and Magnolia’s.
- Plant bare root or potted roses now to give them a good chance of getting established. Always use David Austin Mykorrhiza fungi when planting roses as this expands the root system and gives the roses the best possible start and then top dress with David Austin Rose Feed.
- Sow seeds indoors, if you haven’t already done so. Already we have Delphinium, lavender, Cosmos and Sweet Pea seedlings. Don’t forget to harden off your seedlings once they are big enough to go out and when all chances of frost have passed.
Above you can see that these Day Lily shoots are actively growing, they are almost impossible to kill and naturalize well in the garden without much care. These are an old variety typical in this part of Germany and I will be potting some up for selling today.
This week we potted up 14 pots of Sweet Peas and these will be available for sale from May onwards. Sweet Peas make the perfect plants for cut flowers and will flower prolifically all summer long but ensure you keep cutting the flowers as failure to do so will result in the plant going to seed. Another good plant for cut flowers is Cosmos Sensation, we have about 60 plants available from May, I think that they also look fantastic planted in a group, especially along the edge of a path.
We also have Lupin plants in White, Yellow and Red for sale, these were grown last year and are now robust, established plants which will produce stunning displays this year.
And Finally ……
A few choice pictures of the young Copper Black Maran hens that we hatched in November last year to replenish our flock of older hens.
We have 9 different varieties of David Austin roses available to buy on our website www.moosbach-schwarzwald.com as well as David Austin Rose feed, mycorrhizal fungi and the fantastic David Austin rose book “Meine Rosen” (Only in German).
Please remember we are only too happy to answer any gardening questions that you might have, please feel free to drop us an email.
We wish you all a very joyous Spring and many hours of happy gardening!
Gardening jobs to do now
There are some hard and fast rules with gardening that you have to embrace or forever feel like you have somehow failed. I think that a lot of people beat themselves up about their gardening ability and status as a gardener. I am as guilty as the next man or woman and refer to my self as a hobby gardener, I think that it lets you off the hook when things don’t go to plan or don’t really work. However, here is an enlightening fact – gardening is a long game, it takes time to learn your craft, learn your garden (each one is different) and gardens need time to mature. When I started gardening, 40 years ago (that’s a sobering, frightening and impossible number as I’m sure that I’m only 35) , I assumed that professional gardeners did everything perfectly and nothing ever failed or looked less than perfect. This, of course, is simply not the case, every gardener has things that go wrong every year and they make a note, mental or otherwise, to do that differently the next year. You see gardening is an ever evolving process, it’s not just your garden that grows, it is your knowledge, your judgement and your skills. So I am going to stop calling myself a hobby gardener, from this moment onwards I am a gardener!
Don’t be overwhelmed
I think some people are overwhelmed by starting gardening as they are so afraid of getting things wrong and looking silly, that other gardeners will judge them and they’ll be found wanting in the garden department. What I would say to these people is don’t worry about it, fellow gardeners are nurturers and unless they are unkind people they will want you to succeed.
Starting out
If you are new to gardening start on a small-scale, don’t set yourself up for failure by trying to create a garden on the scale of Kew Gardens or Wisley – they have a huge teams of experienced gardeners making it look perfect. Dip your toes in the gardening water by trying something that fits in with your current skill level and the time that you have available. This helps build self-confidence, gives you a sense of accomplishment and helps with life balance. It is amazing how the brain soaks up all of this new acquired knowledge and without realising it you’ve amassed a huge amount of gardening know how and in a few years people will be asking you for advice, not the other way around.
Free resources and money-saving ideas
For many people money is a restricting factor, however, there are some things that you can do which don’t cost much and give great results. Here’s my list of things to do if you have a restricted budget :-
- Use your local library for excellent sources of information, read books by Monty Don, Carol Klein and many others
- Research online (google is your best friend) there is a plethora of useful, free information out there and for extra confidence search videos on YouTube.
- Grow plants from seeds, it doesn’t cost much and you can always go halves on seed packets with friends.
- Check garden centres for the reduced priced plants, they can’t be bothered with caring for plants that are past their best or ones that they’ve forgotten to water. I once got 6 hydrangea plants from a DIY shop in Germany for 1 Euro, that’s about 15 cents per plant. All they needed was watering, a feed and a bit of TLC, all 6 survived and are now large healthy plants.
- Check online marketplaces like Ebay for cheap small plants, I recommend researching how much they cost elsewhere before you buy so that you know that you are not getting ripped off
- Check your local newspaper if you have one, sometimes there are ads for cheap plants, manure and second-hand tools.
- See if there is a local gardening group that you can join and maybe acquire a few unwanted plants from other gardeners.
- Learn how to take cuttings and then ask friends if you could take some cuttings (always ask first).
Once you have perennial plants that are 2 or three years old, you can take your own cuttings, split some perennials and harvest the seeds. You can then swap plants with other people or sell them and buy something that you haven’t got.
Our hopes for this gardening year
Last year we planted a select few David Austin roses, OK it was 60 but who’s counting? It will be interesting to see how they do this summer, I am presuming that the snow will eventually stop falling and melt of course. We planted a long rose hedge using Rugosa hedging (Wild Edric, Mrs Anthony Waterer and Sarah Van Fleet) and I’m wondering how long it will take before it becomes a substantial hedge. This hedge runs across the hill from the terrace to the middle garden and the intention is to create a rose walk with a mixture of shrubbery above and below. We also created a Magnolia walk from below the terrace to the pond. As always, I do the planting and Thomas does the structural stuff. He likes building walls, cutting down trees and making new benches and gates, this is fine by me as it doesn’t really float my boat and keeps him busy!
In the top garden, which is rapidly becoming the Rose Garden we have a mixture of roses. Close to the house with have some climbing roses, supported by a network of poles supporting strong wire which should be hidden by the roses in a couple of seasons. Here we have the following roses, Gertrude Jekyll, Claire Austin and Mortimer Sackler. Across the lawn from this is a fragrant shrub rose collection that we bought from David Austin which contains 4 different roses, 3 of each variety and these are, Harlow Carr (pink), Susan William-Ellis (white), Charles Darwin (yellow) and Thomas A Beckett (red), they are all strongly scented . This bed is edged by a low-level hedge of Munstead Lavender, there are some peonies mixed in with this and apart from the occasional Salvia that will be it. We are aiming for a more classic look than a bed so crammed with plants that beautiful plants get lost in the excess.
Opposite this bed, on the far side of one of the few flat pieces of garden that we have where there is a row of climbing and rambling roses, these again will be supported by strong posts and wires. There is an eclectic mix of roses here but that’s what I like, if it doesn’t all work beautifully I can move some of them next winter. The roses include, Paul’s Himalayan Musk (White and pink Rambler), Filipe Kiftgate (white Rambler), Old Wollerton Hall (cream Climber) and Malvern Hills (Yellow Climber).
Although these roses will flower this year but they will not attain their full glory for a couple of years, they have to establish themselves with good root systems but here in the Moosbach Garden we are patient (well I am). I imagine how it will all look in 5 years from now and I’m sure that it will be different to the picture in my head but I’m Ok with that.
There are many more roses that we have planted, some repeat flowering, as we have all become used to, and some older species roses that only flower once per year but that’s better shared next year or later in the summer when we have taken some photographs.
Some of you may think that this is a lot of change in a year but a garden never sits still, it is a snap shot in time of the gardener’s heart, aspirations and dreams. It is typical for a young garden like this. Many people, Gertrude Jekyll included, recommended with older, established gardens that every few years you change something drastically in your garden, this helps to keep the garden a vibrant and interesting place.
I cannot ever imagine not gardening but eventually I will have to be brave and pass the Moosbach Garden trowel onto a new, younger and enthusiastic gardener. Hopefully that day is 20 years off but you never know what life will throw your way.
Jobs to do in the next 6 weeks
With spring on the horizon there are jobs that need doing before all the garden comes to life. Already I notice migratory birds arriving from their wintering grounds and collecting nesting materials, yesterday I saw 2 storks and I thought to myself that it’s time to dust off those gardening tools, sharpen those secateurs and get out there. I like that period just before spring when you can really get things done. Obviously there are the normal tasks like weeding beds, turning over the soil in the vegetable garden, cutting back last years growth from perennials and pruning fruit trees but it is also an excellent time to tackle architectural and structural jobs. Once the spring arrives in earnest and everything starts growing with jubilant, gay abandon then there is little time for anything except weeding, deadheading and tying in new growth. However, before all that starts you can build dry stone walls, create new paths and generally assess which areas need a little repair.
So here is my quick list of things to do now
- Deadhead old wood from perennials like Phlox, Michaelmas Daisies and Peonies before the new shoots appear
- Weed all the flower beds, carefully avoiding digging up any hidden perennials, (you should know where they are). If you do dig any up it won’t do them much harm if you replant then straight away.
- Split any Perennials that have become too big for their space. See my post on splitting Phlox plants.
- Top dress weeded beds with well-rotten compost or horse manure (2-year-old is best)
- Prune roses when the weather is decent enough not to cause die-back. There are some good instructional videos on www.davidaustinroses.com
- Make bamboo supports for sweet peas,delphiniums, beans and peas
- Sow seeds indoors of sweet peas, delphiniums, beans and peas.
- This is your last chance to buy and plant bare root hedging plants like box and yew
- Have a good cup of tea or coffee
Available to buy now
Don’t forget that we have 9 different sorts of highly scented David Austin roses for sale available for collection now :-
- Harlow Carr (pink)
- Gertrude Jekyll (pink)
- Thomas A Becket (red)
- Charles Darwin (yellow)
- Gentle Hermione (pink)
- Desdemona (cream)
- Roald Dahl (Apricot)
- Claire Austin (cream Climbing rose)
- The Generous Gardener (pink climbing rose)
We recommend using David Austin mycorrhizal fungi when planting roses as this extends the root system and helps the rose to establish itself more quickly and then feed between flowering with David Austin Rose Food.
So I wish you all happy and fulfilled gardening!
Gentle Hermione (Ausrumba). The David Austin Featured rose of the week. This is a beautifully formed rose for cutting
This is a very beautiful small rose only growing to a height of 120cm, so it’s ideal for the front of the flower border or even for a decent sized pot. It has the most beautiful light pink flowers, a wonderfully powerful perfume and the formation of the flower is one of the most beautiful of all of the roses. It is also fairly disease resistant.
I think that if you want to create a really stunning display that I would plant 3 of these intermingled with Munstead Lavender and a good really dark blue Salvia but you could also mix in some Scabious plants at the front of the border.
If you would like to look at more wonderful David Austin roses then why not visit the Moosbach Garden and pick up a David Austin Rose Catalogue, they are written in German. We currently have 9 different varieties of rose available at the Moosbach Garden but we would be happy to order a different variety for you.
You can buy this rose on our website by clicking here.
To see all of the rose varieties we currently have for sale click here.
The Generous Gardener (Ausdrawn). David Austin featured climbing rose of the week. A fantastic English climbing rose, tall, strong and disease resistant.
Image courtesy of David Austin Roses.
David Austin Senior comments in his book ” The Rose” that “The Generous Gardener” is his favourite climbing rose and I have to say that I am inclined to agree. When I first bought one last year I was mesmerised by the beautiful blooms, the exquisite perfume and the quality and colour of the leaves. The scent for this rose is a mixture of tea and Myrrh and it is a good repeat flowering shrub. It grows to a height of around 350cm, so I think you need 2, 1 planted either side of a rose arch for the most stunning of displays. It is available as a shrub rose as well but I’m reliably informed that it does better as a climber.
I’ve planted mine at the top of the big bed, next to the steps in the top garden so that it is the first thing that you see and smell as you enter the garden from the road. I’m half inclined to plant a second on the opposite side of the path so that the assault on the senses is complete. My plan is to fill this big bed with a classic colour combination of light pink roses paired with dark blue perennials like lavender, delphiniums and salvia, I’ve already sourced the seed for some fantastically dark blue salvias. A rose arch of “The Generous Gardener” with its lovely light pink flowers would fit this scheme perfectly, acting as a gateway into a rose paradise, my only concern is planting it far enough away from the road so that it is not eaten by the deer.
The problem with deer is really quite severe here in the Black Forest and we have resorted to erecting an electric fence 6 feet tall all the way around the garden. I’m keeping a watchful eye on all of the roses for any sign of predation, I’ve also bought some very smelly black powder that you mix with water and then paint onto the leaves but I’m reluctant to put something that smells unpleasant onto beautifully scented roses. We have had a snowy winter here (it’s not over yet) and it’s been shocking to see how many deer foot prints there are in the garden if the gate is left open over night. Hopefully we will win the battle.
However, we are confident that the measures that we have put in place will be successful and all of the hard work will pay off in the summer. We are currently building new paths in the garden to create some stunning rose walks (Rugosa Sarah Van Fleet, Wild Edric, Mrs Anthony Waterer) and then we will be building some rustic rose arches using natural materials found on our land. You’ll notice in the photograph above that the rose is growing up a wooden arch and I think that this is the perfect material, especially here in the Black Forest where there is so much wood readily available. That being said I think it looks just as stunning climbing up a wall of the house, if you are thinking of planting a climbing rose like this up a wall remember that roses need at least 4 hours of sunshine a day. Most roses thrive best in a south facing position, will tolerate an eastern or western position but perform very poorly against a north facing wall. There are some specific roses that are more suited to shadier locations like Alba Semi-Plena and if you would like some suggestions of suitable rose varieties then please drop me an email.
We do have a limited supply of “The Generous Gardener” available to purchase here at the garden or via our website.
We also have available the fantastic book by David Austin “Meine Rosen”, available for collection or for delivery. We will also be selling some limited stocks of phlox, delphiniums, acanthus, sweet peas, cosmos and lavender and these will be available from May onwards.
Please remember that although some disease resistant roses are available now, roses on the whole do suffer from fungus and black spot and the only way to keep your roses in optimum health is to spray them every 4 to 6 weeks with a proprietary spray and to give them a handful of David Austin Rose feed after each flowering has ended. This ensures a continued high quality roses throughout the summer.
So I wish you all much happiness and enjoyment gardening!
Charles Darwin (Auspeet) David Austin featured rose of the week
David Austin Rose – Claire Austin (Ausprior). Featured rose of the week
Image courtesy of David Austin Roses
This beautiful English Musk rose can be grown either as a shrub or as a climbing rose. When the buds appear on this strongly perfumed rose they are of a delicate light lemon, however, when they open the flowers are a gorgeous creamy white.
The petals are arranged in concentric circles and you can get lost admiring the wonder and beauty of nature. The perfume is myrrh mixed with meadow-sweet and vanilla.
If grown as a shrub rose you should expect a plant 140cm x 90cm and if grown as a climber you should expect to achieve a height of 2.5m. If you have the space why not grow it in both forms.
For me there is something pure and untainted about white flowers and this rose would be perfect if you want to create a white border or even a white garden if you are lucky enough to have the space. Here at the Moosbach Garden we are creating multiple outdoor rooms, including a rose garden.
I’m a big fan of using Yew hedging as a backdrop for planting schemes. For me the dark green foliage of Yew contrasts beautifully with light coloured flowers and is a classic staple of garden design. Also, looking forward, as one can not help but doing with gardening, Yew is slow-growing so only needs cutting once per year and this is a very important consideration for the future.
I challenge everyone to have a go at designing their own garden space, it is amazing how satisfying it is to create something from scratch and slowly watch it mature. You can make this more affordable by buying small plants and allowing them to mature slowly. Even if you are new to gardening there are many things that you can do to create a wonderful garden on a low-budget. Carol Klein’s book “Grow your own garden” by BBC books (only available in English) is a fantastic guide to growing your own plants from seeds, cuttings and plant division.
As you would expect we have the David Austin Rose “Claire Austin” available to purchase on our website www.moosbach-schwarzwald.com or you can visit us at the Moosbach Garden and peruse all of the wonderful plants that we have for sale.
Harlow Carr (Aushouse) – featured David Austin rose of the week
David Austin rose Harlow Carr (Aushouse) – image courtesy of David Austin Roses.
This fabulous rose is part of their fragrant rose collection and is perfect for the flower border. A robust rose with medium sized fragrant flowers of a delicate rose pink. It is bushy in form and has the advantage of producing blooms almost to the ground, giving a stunning visual display.
The perfume evokes childhood memories of glorious summer days without end and the perfume is very similar to rose scented soaps. The leaves which are at first bronze in colour turn green and the rose is very disease resistant, unusual amongst many roses.
In height and spread it can grow to 120 x 90 cm but this can be improved by planting 3 of this excellent rose in a triangle 1 metre apart giving the effect of one large bush. It can also be used as a hedging plant and is an excellent way to divide a garden space. At 120cm this does not form a tall hedge and if you want to create a substantial hedge then I would recommend one of the Rugosa roses like Sarah Van Fleet, Mrs Anthony Waterer or Wild Edric.
We have this rose for sale on our website at www.moosbach-schwarzwald.com
We also have a selection of delphiniums, acanthus, sweet peas and day lilies for sale.
Pink roses combine especially well with blue flowers such as Salvia, Lavender and Delphiniums. Like all flowers I recomment planting in groups rather than individually which can lack the impact of group plantings, groups of plants should drift into each other in a naturalistic way and if you have the space be repeated at intervals within a flower border.
Happy gardening!
Gertrude Jekyll – our featured rose of the week
Gertrude Jekyll (Ausbord) Image courtesy of David Austin Roses.
David Austin English Roses are the epitome of summer and add class and a timeless beauty to any garden. Over the next few weeks we will be showcasing 9 different David Austin Roses, all of which are available to buy on our website.
Gertrude Jekyll (pronounced Jee – Kell) was an English Edwardian garden designer and plantswoman who influenced the way most people garden today. She was instrumental in defining how plant combinations in flower borders were put together.
This beautiful rose is named after her and was voted the Nations favourite rose in the United Kingdom. It produces gorgeous pink roses with a very strong perfume, reminiscent of the Damask roses. Whilst it is not a climbing rose it can produce quite tall stems and is better suited to the back of the flower bed, or against a wall or rose arch, I treat it like a semi-climbing rose. However, you can keep this rose as a lower, bushier rose by selective pruning.
I think this rose needs to be planted somewhere that you, your family and guests walk past everyday so that it can be seen and smelled in all of its glory. If you want to create a spectacular display plant 3 of these roses in a triangle, one metre apart and you will be rewarded time and time again.
We have these glorious roses for sale on our website www.moosbach-schwarzwald.com
Available for collection or delivery from February 2018.