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The Garden in March

Pruning your roses in spring. Early March is a good time for pruning roses. Trials carried out in Wisley in the UK demonstrated that roses pruned with a chain saw performed as well as those that were artfully pruned with secateurs and and careful attention to detail. However, it demonstrates that roses do need some attention, and that they need to be cut down to size every year in order to maintain vigour, encourage flowering and keep the plant bushy and healthy. If a rose is excessively woody and has some thick, trunk-like stems, cut them down to almost ground level, allowing any younger, flexible shoots to develop. This may be part of a 2-3 year process which can effectively rejuvenate an older plant. Basically, by pruning you are trying to encourage a bushy, 'vase-shaped' habit, so look for buds (which appear as swollen nodes on the stem) which are on the outer side of the branch and cut just above them. When this bud bursts, the new branch will be on the outside of the plant, keeping it bushy, airy and shapely.

Younger Hybrid Teas and Floribunda roses should generally be pruned back hard to 10-15 cms above ground level. With climbing roses, short side shoots should be cut back to one or two buds of the main stem. This encourages development of the plant lower down, where it can be seen, rather than in the upper reaches where blooms are not appreciated. With more mature plants, you can encourage fresh growth from ground level by cutting out a portion (no more than a third in one year) of older, woody branches.

Generally speaking, Roses can bring out the worst in gardeners, and they can become an obsession precisely because they are so awkward. The way around this is to plant only roses which are easy and forgiving - and these are the roses that we sell on dyg. A recent holiday on the Baltic island of Hiddensee (off the north east coast of Germany) brought home the beauty of the simple wild rose, or Japanese shrub rose, Rosa rugosa. This hardy plant was growing in huge drifts in the poorest, sandiest of soil without a helping hand. It requires no pruning (unless you want to chop it down to the ground, from which it will appear again), has fabulously scented flowers, and comes in white or pink.

Living Willow Structures A friend recently asked me to create a living willow "house" in her garden for her children to play in. I had never made one before, but had often admired ones I'd seen in other people's gardens. After a bit of research I realised how easy it is and not the complicated craft I'd assumed it to be.

Using the right species of willow is key. Salix viminalis or Common osier is particularly robust and suitable for the weaving and bending required in making the structures. We offer bundles of 10 rooted Salix viminalis which are about 4 feet in length.

Willows prefer damper soil, but will not tolerate permanently water-logged soil. They will grow well in both sun and partial shade, but the colour of their stems in winter will be more vibrant if planted in full sun. As willow roots will always seek out underground water, they should be planted far away from any drainage pipes.

In my friend's garden I chose to make a little wigwam, making the framework of the structure out of long straight ash branches and then planting my willow "whips" between these, spaced about 6 to 8 inches apart. As the whips are only 4 feet at this stage, I will let them grow freely until the end of the summer and then tie them up all together with strong twine to form the peak of the wigwam.

The "structure" can be left to go wild and unruly or pruned back each autumn to more or less keep its orginal shape. New growth can either be woven into the structure to fill in any holes, pruned off and kept to make more creations with or just left be. 

For my next project, I am going to attempt a living fence, like the one pictured below. I'll keep you posted.