No matter the time of year, freshly cut flowers will always bring a sense of joy and natural beauty into any room. Fresh bouquets in water — whether grown ourselves or gifted — are normally at their best for a couple of weeks, but blooms will be fleeting and are usually thrown away once they start to lose their colour and wilt. So, a question that I’m asked a lot is simply — ‘How can I make my flowers last longer?’ The answer lies in the art of drying flowers — a craft that I’ve been immersed in for the past seven years. Dried floral arrangements will bring a different aesthetic to interiors compared to fresh — they are not for everyone — but if you like the look, you can very easily prolong the beauty of your flowers by months — even years — by creating striking arrangements that celebrate floral structures and will add interest to mantelpieces, dining tables, sideboards — you name it — throughout the seasons.
How to take rose cuttings | House & Garden
23.06.2023 - 10:25 / houseandgarden.co.uk
Propagating is a fun, inexpensive way to produce new plants, either to use in the garden or to give as gifts. Roses are relatively easy to duplicate, and you can never have enough roses, so it's well worth a go.
It is against the law to propagate some roses – in particular modern roses, which may be protected by plant breeders' rights. If in doubt, contact the breeder to ask. Unlike most plants, the variety name (which is different to the selling name) of a rose contains the breeder's name. This can be found on the Royal Horticultural Society's Plantfinder website. For instance, Strawberry Hill is also known as 'Ausrimini' and Wollerton Old Hall also goes by the name 'Ausblanket'; the Aus at the front indicating that these two climbing roses were bred by David Austin. Bea tells us it's a Peter Beales rose, and Har means it was raised by Harkness. Breeder information can also be found on the Roses UK website.
If in doubt, avoid propagating roses bred in the last few decades. New plants can be made from old and species roses without breaking any laws. For instance, you may decide you'd like to grow a hedge and thus require a lot of plants; desirable hedging roses include the pink and white striped Rosa gallica 'Versicolor' (also known as Rosa mundi) or the white rugosa 'Blanche Double de Coubert'. Or perhaps you want to produce new roses to give as gifts, in which case a deliciously scented repeat-flowering historic shrub rose, such as striped 'Ferdinand Pichard' or pink 'Louise Odier', may suit.
Softwood cuttings are the easiest way to propagate roses because they are quick to root. Do it in spring, ideally before mid-morning, using a sharp, clean pair of secateurs. Take a young, healthy 10 to 15-centimetre stem, which
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English Rose Darcey Bussell
The English Rose Darcey Bussell bred by David Austin