Gardeners World episode 25 2012: Monty Don is back at Longmeadow making the most of the garden’s glory now and preparing for the seasons to come. He demonstrates a quick and easy way to prune shrub roses and then plants up pots that will flower in time for Christmas.
Grasses look their best at the end of summer and Carol Klein visits a garden in Somerset where they have been used to maximum effect on a sloping site with a range of soil conditions. Meanwhile, Monty meets a self-sufficient vegan gardener, finding out how he grows vegetables for maximum nutrition and flavour and picks up some tips on bottling and storing surplus crops.
Gardeners World episode 25 2012
Pruning shrub roses
Monty likes to give his shrub roses a quick haircut in autumn to reduce the risk of windrock over the winter. It also helps to keep them within bounds if they start getting a little unruly. Here’s how he goes about it. Rose pruning ensures that plants grow vigorously and flower well each year. There is great diversity among shrub roses but most require only light pruning.
Many flower just once in summer and will bloom freely for years with little formal pruning. Shrub roses are a large and diverse group of roses. They are usually larger than modern bush roses and have thornier stems, often with scented flowers. They may repeat flower or flower only once in summer. Many shrub roses are suitable for hedging as well as making excellent specimen plants.
Roses can be pruned during late winter when growth is just resuming, usually mid-February in the south, but in northern and colder areas wait until March.
Forcing bulbs for Christmas
It’s always a pleasure to have fresh flowers around the house in the depths of winter. And if you act now, there’s a good chance you could have some in bloom in time for Christmas. Follow Monty’s advice on what to do when.
