Summer Growth

No doubt summer is a time for growth. I noticed my rose bushes were growing wild both sideways and upwards in this season, some of them sending out long canes and they simply want to reach up high and climb on the fence or anything in the way that supports them and some bushes have become huge. It's often said that many of David Austin roses can be climbers, and in Australia they are vigorous and grow to be double the size and height of what they would normally be in England. I had a "painful" time attempting to "tame" them and make them look more orderly the other day. I always wear a long sleeved shirt and long pants plus a pair of heavy duty gardening gloves so I can save my skin whenever I deal with these lovely but not exactly easy beauties, and even then there's no guarantee I won't get poked, since wearing an armour is simply not practical. I think it's rather inevitable rosarians have to put up with being poked and scratched (sometimes in the most uncomfortable places) here and there if they want to enjoy the beautiful Queen of Flowers. Some of the most magnificent roses have the nastiest thorns that ever existed, I guess it's a case of "No pain, no gain". It's great to have freshly cut flowers in the house, I forget about the pain when I've got roses in my sight and their fragrances wafting through the house. They really have a soothing effect on me. Hmm! That's the good part. It's all worth it.