Jack Holloway
Passionate Gardener
SEQUOIA FARM Haenertsburg South Africa
Raubritter in a pot?
18 May '06 7:33 pm Anybody, especially from hot climes, have any comment to make on their success or not with Raubritter in a pot? I am looking to put one as a focal point in quite a sunny spot. How do they cope on the whole with a) heat and b) continuous summer rain?
Jack Holloway
Passionate Gardener
SEQUOIA FARM Haenertsburg South Africa
Too late, pot bought...
21 May '06 3:00 am I decided to put Raubritter in a 'cement' pot at the end of the azalea hedge which flanks the Standen Walk. Cement to match the bench which stands under the beech looking down the Beech Borders. The Beech Borders are pink, mainly self-propogated roses on the sunny side and pink ditto azaleas on the shaded side. The bench looks down the slope between the borders, across a little waterlily pond and the stream valley and eventually up to some Acer sacharinum and the Arboritum across the valley. The Standen Walk follows the contour from the (still unbuilt) Jewel Garden below the Anniversary Garden. It is named after one of the most beautifully proportioned garden features I saw in all of England: the walk to the Gazebo at Standen. (Go look while you are there, Moosey!)
So this morning rather idly I popped into the Purple Daisy, a lovely local plant shop belonging to friends, and they had just what I had pictured in my mind's eye, but never seen: a perfectly spherical pot, about 650mm in diameter, with a short and relatively narrow (25mm)and simply moulded neck. I will create a simple brick plinth - also to clamp the completely round bottom - drybrush it in white and plant the globular pink Raubritter in it to mark the junction of the Beech Borders and the Standen Walk. I think it will give Raubritter a prominence which it deserves: let's hope the effort and expense prove justified a year from now!
moosey
head gardener
London Expert Replies...
21 May '06 3:40 am Tell you what, Jack - you will have created a rather beautiful fusion of geometry, if nothing else - Raubritter has beautiful globe shaped flowers. Mine tries to climb, and grows quite slowly. It's beautiful, though. Good for you!
PS London is red cordyline crazy. Weird. Wonder how expensive they are here - kind of hope that the NZ breeders are getting royalties! Cheers.
Isadora
valued member
Re: Raubritter in a pot?
23 May '06 4:31 am I have keep several types of roses in pots, including Raubritter. I use the largest pots possible, so the roses have plenty of room for roots. In July & August we get temps. around 100 degrees. Since you have a lot of rain where you're at, make sure you have excellent drainage! A high quality pot soil with plenty of vermeculite, good drain holes and the pots not sitting directly on the ground (even just 1/4" lift off the ground will help the pots drain) My problem is winter. I live in the Rocky Mts. Our elevation is considered faily low (foothills) at 6000 ft. but still, it gets very cold at night! In late fall I trim my roses back, put enough mulch over them to almost completely cover them, then put a rose cone over them. I give them a watering when the forcast tells me we're in for an especially cold front. This seems to help prevent the soil in the pots from freezing quite so much.
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Jack Holloway
Passionate Gardener
SEQUOIA FARM Haenertsburg South Africa
24 May '06 8:05 pm Welcome to the forum, Isadora! Thanks for your excellent response to my question - I look forward to hearing more from you about your garden and your part of the world
