How strange, I had Albertine in England and I have it here in France and it's one of the most fragrant roses I know. If you look it up on the RHS site it says very fragrant and also on this link for David Austin roses it says strong fragrance. http://www.davidaustinroses.com/english/showrose.asp?showr=11
Have a look a the David Austin roses, there are some lovely fragrant climbers there. Falstaff is a lovely deep crimson fragrant one.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
BusyL, I agree; all my life I have been told and read that it is one of the most fragrant of roses; BUT, just remembering an article I read years ago in New Scientist; men's noses work a bit differently to women's, could it be that they can't smell Albertine?
I'm a woman, and I can't smell Albertine either. I'm just going to put it down to a duff plant
We are in the middle or organising a huge garden, so I'm sure there will be more spots for roses. I must admit roses (other than rplacing the climbing one that didn't climb) weren't really on the agenda before reading all the wonderful entries on this thread.
I'm writing down all the suggestions, and I've bookmarked the rosebuddies site.
We need to cover a large area of steep sloping bank by the sea, and the top contenders were vinca (major or minor) and heather. I just saw that there were ground covering roses. That could be magnificent - but it wouldn't do much to combat the weeds would it? And we'd get scratched to bits doing the weeding.
I just got a flyer fromthe local garden centre (Cadbury in Somerset). They are selling tickets for a talk on roses by someone from David Austen Roses. I wouldn't have looked twice if I hadn't been recently educated on this forum.
Sounds like a remarkable deal, for £5 you get a carvery dinner too!
Blueb, see if you can find out if roses will flourish that close to the sea. There are a lot of fabulous marginal plants that like the salt air. Good luck with it all.
Thanks everyone, it's been a great success. I moved all the plants into quarantine and sprayed the whole patch with glyphosate. I put some leftover supermarket herbs in a couple of months ago (thyme, basil, parsley) and they have done well. Yesterday I dug out all the dead foliage in the rest of it and the mangy rose, and dug in fertiliser and some more compost. A nice lovage plant survived, and some marjoram, and to my surprise the chard. The chard bolted when moved and I thought it had died, but there are some fine new leaves coming up. It will probably bolt again now I've moved it back! I added lemon thyme, sage and tarragon, and it's looking lovely.
Now, the rose. I was going to get one of the gorgeous ones recommended above, but I've had so much trouble with deer eating the roses on the other side of the house I'm not sure it would be a good move. I might try it, but I might go for a passionflower or clematis instead.
Posts
I tend to get my roses from www.rosebuddies.com They seem to know a lot, have a good selection and tell you what is appropriate in which position.
How strange, I had Albertine in England and I have it here in France and it's one of the most fragrant roses I know. If you look it up on the RHS site it says very fragrant and also on this link for David Austin roses it says strong fragrance. http://www.davidaustinroses.com/english/showrose.asp?showr=11
Have a look a the David Austin roses, there are some lovely fragrant climbers there. Falstaff is a lovely deep crimson fragrant one.
Though you have looked already! Read through too quickly! But the link I gave shows Albertine.
BusyL, I agree; all my life I have been told and read that it is one of the most fragrant of roses; BUT, just remembering an article I read years ago in New Scientist; men's noses work a bit differently to women's, could it be that they can't smell Albertine?
I'm a woman, and I can't smell Albertine either. I'm just going to put it down to a duff plant
We are in the middle or organising a huge garden, so I'm sure there will be more spots for roses. I must admit roses (other than rplacing the climbing one that didn't climb) weren't really on the agenda before reading all the wonderful entries on this thread.
I'm writing down all the suggestions, and I've bookmarked the rosebuddies site.
We need to cover a large area of steep sloping bank by the sea, and the top contenders were vinca (major or minor) and heather. I just saw that there were ground covering roses. That could be magnificent - but it wouldn't do much to combat the weeds would it? And we'd get scratched to bits doing the weeding.
I just got a flyer fromthe local garden centre (Cadbury in Somerset). They are selling tickets for a talk on roses by someone from David Austen Roses. I wouldn't have looked twice if I hadn't been recently educated on this forum.
Sounds like a remarkable deal, for £5 you get a carvery dinner too!
Blueb, see if you can find out if roses will flourish that close to the sea. There are a lot of fabulous marginal plants that like the salt air. Good luck with it all.
Thanks everyone, it's been a great success. I moved all the plants into quarantine and sprayed the whole patch with glyphosate. I put some leftover supermarket herbs in a couple of months ago (thyme, basil, parsley) and they have done well. Yesterday I dug out all the dead foliage in the rest of it and the mangy rose, and dug in fertiliser and some more compost. A nice lovage plant survived, and some marjoram, and to my surprise the chard. The chard bolted when moved and I thought it had died, but there are some fine new leaves coming up. It will probably bolt again now I've moved it back! I added lemon thyme, sage and tarragon, and it's looking lovely.
Now, the rose. I was going to get one of the gorgeous ones recommended above, but I've had so much trouble with deer eating the roses on the other side of the house I'm not sure it would be a good move. I might try it, but I might go for a passionflower or clematis instead.
Thank you for letting us know. Glad it's a success.