Agree about DA, I’ve mentioned these things before, they’re very good at what they do and their website is very user friendly compared to many other sites.
@ Katsa, I have different colour themed beds like Tack. In my East Garden I have more of a romantic, cottagey theme with burgundy/purple/pink/white. The West Garden has a long hot colours border, mainly purple, red and orange with the odd splash of yellow. Opposite that is the oranges and lemons bed. The plot is long and south facing, with the house in the middle so the bright colours can’t be seen from the East garden and vice versa. Would you have room for an island bed where you can have orange roses? If you choose a companion perennial colour for both, like white or purple, that would unify them. Purple is a very useful link colour I find!
Thanks @Omori, Alexander looks fabulous and good to hear it’s healthy. I’m going to search for it right away. The reason nowadays I go for vibrant/deeper colours (unless I want a white/blush for the East Garden) is that everything fades on me. ‘Normal’ reds end up pink, oranges a washed out apricot etc., so my ‘hot’ border is, in reality ‘warm’. I rely on dahlias for a real shot of hot.
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
I'm wondering if there is some photoshopping going on though? The pictures in the DA catalogue and website always look so filled with flowers and foliage with no droopy stem in sight, real life versions can look quite different...
Afternoon everyone, very new to the rose thread. I'm *trying* to catch up on all the posts from the beginning of this thread, (page 50 now) but thought I'd introduce myself.
I'm super lucky to live not 5 mins from the DA garden centre, although the hubster would say that his bank balance is not so lucky, haha...
I also want to add my penneth worth for the DA rose, Alexander. It's in a disused well on our kitchen patio. I bought it as a potted rose last summer. Despite the abundance of rain we're having today, it's truly stunning. It is a thorny monster though!
That looks lovely @Joolz, it certainly does give a punch of colour doesn’t it. Mine is much narrower but I understand it can be up to 3’ wide which yours looks to be? Wouldn’t mind mine getting more full like that. Looks very effective with the Erigeron. DA sell it but it’s actually a Harkness rose, I’m a great fan of Harkness. And welcome! 💐
I'm wondering if there is some photoshopping going on though? The pictures in the DA catalogue and website always look so filled with flowers and foliage with no droopy stem in sight, real life versions can look quite different...
..that's because they have drip watering in place through pipework running underneath the soil by the roses... combined with a high potash fertilizer it encourages a better growth habit.. ...I think some of their photos could be improved considerably, some look quite washed out, with too much light on them... a complaint I've heard from others, and it doesn't just apply to DA's rose catalogues... Beales even worse at photography I think..
..remember too, that DA produce roses to appeal to customers in other countries, especially the U.S. they have a big market for them over there, including growing fields and a distribution centre... they can grow exceptionally well in most of the U.S. , and often better than here... we just get to try them out first...
@Marlorena that's interesting info... I never realised DA are so big in the US, but it's a much bigger market, so makes sense! If I had the time and money I would invest in some kind of drip watering system, my DA roses hate the sprinkler and I know the sprinkler is a huge contributor to the droopy stems. But some of my roses (most non-DA) don't seem to mind the sprinkler too much so I have to focus on getting more of those.
About the Beales catalogue, I find it quite frustrating how they show a photograph of only a single rose, but not of the whole plant...so I have to do a separate google seach to see what the plant looks like. I've spent quite a lot of time during the lockdown doing this ...
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I'm super lucky to live not 5 mins from the DA garden centre, although the hubster would say that his bank balance is not so lucky, haha...
I also want to add my penneth worth for the DA rose, Alexander. It's in a disused well on our kitchen patio. I bought it as a potted rose last summer. Despite the abundance of rain we're having today, it's truly stunning. It is a thorny monster though!
...I think some of their photos could be improved considerably, some look quite washed out, with too much light on them... a complaint I've heard from others, and it doesn't just apply to DA's rose catalogues... Beales even worse at photography I think..
..remember too, that DA produce roses to appeal to customers in other countries, especially the U.S. they have a big market for them over there, including growing fields and a distribution centre... they can grow exceptionally well in most of the U.S. , and often better than here... we just get to try them out first...
About the Beales catalogue, I find it quite frustrating how they show a photograph of only a single rose, but not of the whole plant...so I have to do a separate google seach to see what the plant looks like. I've spent quite a lot of time during the lockdown doing this