Specialist Growers of Roses Ancient and Modern

Rose-hip syrup While many of our garden roses are starting to wind down for their winter dormancy, autumn marks the beginning of an altogether more dazzling phase in the annual cycle for many of the wilder roses in our hedgerows. The changing of seasons for many rugosas – such as Scabrosa and Rosa Rugosa Alba – brings with it splendid displays of succulent red and orange hips. And while hips of course offer a valuable food source for much of our wildlife, here at Trevor White HQ, hips can only mean one thing – rose-hip syrup! Vanessa has been making rose-hip syrup from her dad’s well-used 1977 edition of Food from Your Garden by Readers Digest, for as long as we can remember. And a kitchen suddenly cluttered with sterilising jars, piles of hips rolling around work surfaces, and pans bubbling away on the hob always promises weeks of treats and indulgence. For if you have an abundance of rose-hip syrup, you’re going to need something – or things – to accompany it, and fruit pies, crumbles, ice cream, poached pears or a good gin cocktail usually work a treat! Here is the recipe, as taken from Food From Your Garden, we seek out every autumn. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do. Ingredients: 2lb (1kg) ripe rose-hips 6 pints (3l) water 1lb (500g) sugar Method: Gather the hips from the wild or dog rose, or from the cultivated Rosa Rugosa. These are the easiest to clean. Wash the hips, remove the stalks and calyces, and put the hips through the coarse blade of a mincer. Add them to a pan containing 4 pints (2l) of water, bring back to the boil, and remove the pan from the heat. Allow to stand for 15 minutes then strain through a jelly bag. Extract as much juice as possible. Return the pulp to the pan with a further 2 pints (1l) of boiling water. Bring back to the boil and remove from the heat. Leave for 10 minutes, then strain through a clean jelly bag. Mix the two juice extracts, and boil in a clean pan until reduced to about 2 pints (1l). Add the sugar, stirring until dissolved. Bring to the boil and keep at boiling point for 5 minutes. Pour into clean, warm bottles and seal at once with sterilised stoppers or corks. Use small bottles if possible, for the syrup does not keep long once opened. For more on the history of rose-hip syrup, including an alternative recipe for 'Raw' rose-hip syrup, the Woodland Trust offer this brilliant blog on their website.

Going Peat-free to Protect our Future Next generation: Trevor's grandsons explore the rose fields. Earlier this month, we welcomed the opportunity to speak to Ben Spencer, Science Editor at the Sunday Times, about the importance of going peat-free. The environmental damage of using peat in horticulture has long been documented, but a report published by the Wildlife Trusts in 2022 revealed that failure to instigate a ban on the use of peat resulted in around 31 million tonnes of CO2 being released between 1990 and 2022. We know digging up peatlands for use in gardens is both devastating for wildlife and a huge source of carbon emissions. However, the Sunday Times reported that despite an outright ban coming in for professional growers by 2026 (a deadline which has already been pushed back numerous times…), just 17% of nurseries are currently completely peat-free, with only half feeling they are on track to be peat-free by the new extended deadline. Making the change Having been peat-free for five years, we understand the financial, and practical, challenges of making the change. The alternatives are still, disappointingly, expensive, and it can take some trial-and-error to find the right compost-mix for your plants. Roses are naturally very thirsty and need plenty of nutrients so finding ways to sustain water-retention, while maintaining good nutrient levels in the soil, was key. We found a mix of bark, wood chip, coir and a wetting agent - H2Gro - worked brilliantly. The costs of potting-up our roses are now considerably higher than they were half a decade ago. But considering the environmental cost of the alternative, it was clear we couldn’t continue to contribute to the loss of such a vital natural habitat and key resource in the fight against climate change. Future-focused thinking It's a somewhat bewildering juxtaposition that plant growers and garden lovers are contributing so heavily to the loss of our precious peatlands. But prohibitive costs, lack of clear policy, and a knowledge-gap about alternatives, are all sadly hindering many from switching to substitutes. And of course, the longer we hesitate the more irreversible damage is done. Professional growers and horticulturalists need to be leading the way, to show that we can grow and garden without peat. There are great alternatives out there and, five years in, we are proof that even the most fastidious roses can – and do! – thrive in other soils and composts, as they have done for millennia. Growing roses doesn’t have to cost the earth. If we want our gardens to be enjoyed by future generations, we need to make the changes necessary to reduce the environmental impact of what we do, and safeguard these essential natural habitats - and the wildlife that flourishes within them - by cutting out peat for good. Top tips for 'Growing Green' From going peat-free, to using recyclable taupe pots and compostable natural packaging - ensuring our roses are grown, packed and distributed in as environmentally friendly a way as possible [...]