Scary stuff, this greenhouse effect. It's my 11th year of growing roses, and my hybrid tea bushes are definitely starting spring growth earlier than they did in 1994. There's a lot of fat, healthy new stems in the making down in my picking bed as of 8 August.
Rose books will nearly universally tell you to fertilise in early spring. If your bushes are sprouting now, ignore that well-intended advice and feed now. Those sprouts can turn into either fat, strong stems or thin, spindly ones. Take the first option! Unless you're afraid of a late frost, there is no need to wait till September (roses don't use calendars).
A good feed of a fast-release, granular rose food is exactly the boost roses want. This year I used Thrive granular, but Brunnings, Manutec, Paton and others all make good products. By all means use organic fertilisers too, but bear in mind that they often take a month before releasing their chemical benefits. You don't want too little, too late. Newly planted and potted roses can be a little sensitive to granular fertilisers - a combination of Osmocote and liquid feeds like Aquasol are ideal for them.
August being the only true month of dormancy for most roses in Sydney, there aren't many blooms to show. This one actually came from a pruned branch of my current favourite pink hybrid tea, Granada:
I only wish you could smell it too!
Meanwhile, as of 22 August there is some good growth on both my established bushes and the new varieties I'm growing. Click through to my 2004-5 trials page for the new ones. For bragging rights I'll post one more photo here. This is the top growth on Voodoo, a thorny and very vigorous grower.
Catch you next month.
Daniel.