S4E8 of The Gardener Ben Podcast is streaming now.

On this week’s episode, I talk you through deadheading your roses and how to deal with pest and disease problems after the recent huge amount of cold and wet weather we’ve had here in the UK.

It also features a personal chat with @hoover_who_better, who, after the sad loss of his mother Joan, decided to mark her passing and celebrate her life by naming a brand-new rose after her.

Launched at the Chelsea Flower Show, the rose has recently gone through a small and intimate naming ceremony at the @peterbealesroses show gardens in Attleborough. I wanted to catch up with Dave and ask him why he chose his particular rose and what drew him to it.

This beautiful new variety will be going through my personal growing review process here at North Lodge over the next 12 months, and I’ll have the pleasure of bringing you my first impressions of this very pretty and very fragrant rose over the next few weeks. ‘Joan Darwent’ is available for you to pre-order for bare-root season now directly from @peterbealesroses.

Next week, after our open garden event, we will be bringing you an open garden special. Having welcomed simply hundreds of you through the gate to the North Lodge Cottage Garden, my husband Mark thought it would be a really lovely idea to capture some of your thoughts and impressions as you left the garden space and ask you what you were taking away from our garden to maybe recreate or change in your own.

The Gardener Ben Podcast is brought to you proudly in association with Peter Beales Roses, winner of 31 Chelsea Gold Medals and creating timeless roses since 1968. Go online and shop at www.peterbealesroses.com, and make sure that you’re following along on Instagram and TikTok.

The Gardener Ben Podcast is edited by @my_home_is_my_altar.

Until next week, happy gardening.