Autumn gardening - Roses

Most of us think of roses are being at their most glorious in June, but the Rugosas are that rare plant in the rose family that will actually perform well, if not better, in autumn. Plants to look out for that will be slowing in your garden now include the hybrid musks which love the damper conditions that autumn usually brings, while old stalwarts like 'Bonica', with its dainty clusters of sugar-pink flowers, is prime among the modern shrub roses that put on a good, late-summer show. Also there's the species climber, Rosa moschata, which has simple white flowers that do not impress with their appearance, but do have a superb fragrance and can be relied to flower from late July until early November.

With most roses though, its hips and haws that offer autumn beauty. Rugosa has fat round hips like unripe cherry tomatoes while Rosa moyesii has fruit that are orange and elongated, rather like tiny kumquats. Of course you have to decide if you're going to aim for good flowers next year or good hips and haws this year, because you can't have both! If you deadhead your rose bushes you won't get rosehips, but if you leave the flower heads to become hips, next year's flowers may not be so impressive.

Rose hip syrup

I litre jug full of rose hips
Half a litre jug full of water
250 ml of sugar

Wash the rose hips thoroughly. Remove stems and flower remnants and the seeds then boil the hips and water for twenty minutes in a tightly-covered saucepan. Strain through a jelly bag. Return the clear juice to kettle. Add sugar, stir well and boil five minutes. Refrigerate until used.

Autumn is also the season for planting new roses in the garden and the period in which we to prepare bushes for winter's approach. Autumn is a time when black spot and mildew are highly dangerous, so keep spraying and trimming any diseased leaves until late October when you should begin the hibernation process which means ceasing to feed and water. By late November you may wish to protect tender roses from frost too.

Autumn roses photograph by jkavo , used under a creative commons attribution licence