Our back garden, though rain battered, gives me great pleasure, particularly V's rose which is now in its 'second flush'. Our smaller pink rose is awaiting heavy cutting back from my husband and our third rose, the scented red one, is not visible at present from our back patio window. But it is still there.
During our first summer here, nearly nine years ago, clematis Broughton Star was rampaging along the fence and up into the hawthorn hedge at our boundary. Peeping through this tangled mass were the blossoms of a red climbing rose. The first step in its preservation was to cut back the clematis. My husband has done this at least twice now but, in general, clematis Broughton Star is a resilient plant, and continues to twine itself around a holly bush which it would be impracticable to dig out.
His next move was to buy three large wooden stakes in an attempt to support the rose. This was not completely to my liking (although I did not say so at the time). The rose swayed its way along the fence aided by a triangle of stakes and wires.
This year marked a decisive moment. My husband removed the stakes which are now helping to corral our blackcurrant bushes and announced that he was going to cut the rose right back. It was suffering from blackspot and this was the only remedy.
It was not exactly the right time of year to do this (although I did not say so at the time) and he left about two feet of one stem. I had a few anxious weeks. He assured me that the stem was still green and the rose was not dead. Throughout the really hot weather he watered it.
He was proved right. Our rose is sending up dark red shoots from the single stem and from the base above its graft exactly as described in a gardening magazine passed on to me by J. By August, as predicted in the article, these should have reached a decent size. Next year I hope it will bloom again.
