Corina Gul is a keen, talented and award winning photographer, she’s an amazing cook (trust me), a ‘lover of life’ and holds ‘being kind’ importantly high. BUT, her garden is we are chatting about today. If there’s a rose she doesn’t know of, it’s not worth knowing about. Corina (and her family’s) garden is beautiful. Colour is necessary for her. Wandering her garden gave me only fabulous vibes of Alice In Wonderland. Let’s chat with the beautiful human about her roses…
When do you find you passion for roses?
We started growing roses in 2019 when we decided to transform our backyard into a garden. At first it was just pick whatever was available from the nursery, such as red rose, yellow rose etc. But when I was reading the rose plant labels, I learned that they have names, I was intrigued. Further reading showed that each rose has unique characteristics, like people. Then I joined a Facebook chat group to find out more and discovered a whole new world of passionate rose gardeners. They introduced me to the world of David Austin roses and I fell in love at that point.
What was the first rose plant you purchased?
In our previous home we had a couple of yellow roses, they were our first roses. We brought them with us when we moved to our current home but we got rid of them when the children were born because we were afraid of bees and thorns. We were so ignorant back then, we’ve now observed that the bees are too busy harvesting their food to chase after little kids. As for thorns, we created hedges around rose bushes so children don’t accidentally get close enough to get scratched. In our current home, the first roses we bought and grew were climbing roses. We bought two of each to grow them over three arches: Tess of the D’Uberville, Peace (Climbing), and Gold Bunny.
How many varieties do you have?
Proudly 25, so far haha…
Which one is your current favourite?
It has to be Yves Piaget by Meilland, a French rose. This rose is released in Australia under the name Queen Adelaide. It is a highly perfumed rose in deep pink with scalloped petals set amongst glossy green leaves. At full bloom, she is as big as a dessert plate and her perfume is intoxicating, very sweet like apples and pears with a citrus note.
Is there a rose on your ‘Wish List’?
Not really, I’m happy with what we’ve got now. But if we do decide to expand our gardens, maybe I’ll acquire some Delbards for their interesting stripes or more of my favourite Meillands for the scallop petals type.
A good Rose ‘Care Tip’?
Increase watering during the dry months and deep watering all year round. Feed them regularly with good products such as Neutrog Seamungus or Sudden Impact for Roses. Never never ever apply chemical fertilisers in the soil. You can cultivate good soil just be burying fruit peels and veggie scrapes into the soil, add a bit of cow manure and mulch, then top it up with a scoop of soil. It works wonders and attracts earthworms which are really beneficial to the roots as they help to aerate the soil.
Generally is there a plant that you’ve tried but didn’t succeed in keeping alive?
Yes, plenty. Most of them were plants that were gifted to us by well meaning friends. We are not good at watering by hand. So what we’ve done is laid out extensive irrigating system below ground and above ground as well. We meticulously researched and selected plants suitable for the conditions in our gardens. We observed the positions and durations of the sunlight and shade during different time of the year to determine what’s suitable to grow where in the spaces we created. Once established, our plants create their own eco climate and they thrive in their environs. So whenever we received plants from well meaning friends, if they are not suited to the eco climate of our plants, they either failed to thrive or failed to survive or both.
