I'm not a rose grower either, but I think you have to consider carefully the needs of roses (which are quite substantial?) and therefore anything you also plant under them. They'll have to have the same requirements as the roses.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I love my roses but sometimes I think they are not worth it. I have a long bed in front of the house which starts off pale pink and goes through to dark red. If I had the energy or the inspiration I would dig it all up and plant something else. I do plant pink cosmos all among the roses but nothing else apart from a mass of pale pink and deep purple tulips with some giant allium.
'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
I said the plants would have to have the same needs as the roses, but perhaps a better word would be 'tolerate'.
Hogweed - re your rose bed - that's what Christopher Lloyd famously did - much to the horror of the purists - and look what he created
I think it can be difficult to marry them up with other planting successfully, especially if they've been grown in a 'traditional' way, ie - in a bed of their own to start with. Sometimes, having a completely fresh start is really good fun.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Thanks Pete, l might wait until l see one in full bloom before l rule Falstaff out completely, or search for an alternative, that colour flower isn't very available though l think. I did buy a DA Jude the Obscure rose on her passionate recommendation. I've seen one in flower at a NGS open garden and liked it's flower form and lovely scent.
Verdun most of my roses l grow closer to the back of the border with clematis. I find it no problem to feed, mulch and water them well, and dead head with the aid of a few bits of small paving slab used as stepping stones in the border. I admit they are thorny, l once had to be rescued after getting my pony tail properly stuck, and not pretty in winter when they are just brown sticks. But to see my roses full of buds ready to bloom, and then the pleasure of the first bloom and the first sniff of their perfume is worth it to me.
The most stunning and perfumed rose I've ever had was Souvenir du Docteur Jamain (climbing). The flowers are deep blood red with a velvet appearance and the perfume was outstanding. But it only gets 1 massive flush then just a few flowers for the rest of the season.
I've a vague recollection that Jude the Obscure is the most perfumed rose available. For a pink, Gertrude Jekyll is hard to beat
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I find the deep red of Falstaff was almost matched by Tess of the D'Urbevilles and Will S. I also had a Munstead Wood in the borders but she struggled with all the competition and ended up in a pot which I have brought with me. I hope by now she's grown some strong roots and will enjoy her new home.
These days, when I buy new roses, I tend to go for simpler flowers which allow access to nectar and pollen for bees and other pollinators. As with any shrub or clem they can take a season or two to get their feet down and then they grow well if they've been given the right conditions. I tend to feed the soil, not the plant so there's plenty of beneficial microbes to help.
Well positioned bird feeders attract sparrows and tits to hoover up any excess aphids to feed their young and lady birds do the rest.
Last edited: 05 March 2017 11:19:09
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
That's a new name to me Pete, sounds lovely. I've got Gertrude Jekyll already. That was the first DA rose l ever bought. It does have a deep beautiful scent. l do have a few roses that fully open . I have a pale pink rose called Valentine Heart that bees and hover flies are drawn to. The bees sort of buzz in a circuit in the centre of its flowers, it's funny to see and hear them, they fly off covered in pollen. They do the same in my oriental poppies too, used to fascinate the dog when he was watching transfixed.
I underplant with hardy geraniums and all my roses are in mixed borders. Don't like the look of formal rose gardens. I just make sure that there are plenty of plants in the border that shine when the roses don't. Underplanting also helps keep blackspot at bay.
Pete I've just looked up the Souvenir du Docteur Jamain rose it is a beauty and it said it would do well in a north facing aspect. I think I'm going to see if my wonderful local garden centre has one.
When my SDJ first flowered, it was a jaw-dropper. The petals are so rich and velvety it almost looks too good to be real and the perfume is heady and delicious. Not many prickles either.
Having remembered SDJ, I may well get another myself. I can't remember what happened to the original.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Posts
I'm not a rose grower either, but I think you have to consider carefully the needs of roses (which are quite substantial?) and therefore anything you also plant under them. They'll have to have the same requirements as the roses.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I love my roses but sometimes I think they are not worth it. I have a long bed in front of the house which starts off pale pink and goes through to dark red. If I had the energy or the inspiration I would dig it all up and plant something else. I do plant pink cosmos all among the roses but nothing else apart from a mass of pale pink and deep purple tulips with some giant allium.
I said the plants would have to have the same needs as the roses, but perhaps a better word would be 'tolerate'.
Hogweed - re your rose bed - that's what Christopher Lloyd famously did - much to the horror of the purists - and look what he created
I think it can be difficult to marry them up with other planting successfully, especially if they've been grown in a 'traditional' way, ie - in a bed of their own to start with. Sometimes, having a completely fresh start is really good fun.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Thanks Pete, l might wait until l see one in full bloom before l rule Falstaff out completely, or search for an alternative, that colour flower isn't very available though l think. I did buy a DA Jude the Obscure rose on her passionate recommendation. I've seen one in flower at a NGS open garden and liked it's flower form and lovely scent.
Verdun most of my roses l grow closer to the back of the border with clematis. I find it no problem to feed, mulch and water them well, and dead head with the aid of a few bits of small paving slab used as stepping stones in the border. I admit they are thorny, l once had to be rescued after getting my pony tail properly stuck, and not pretty in winter when they are just brown sticks. But to see my roses full of buds ready to bloom, and then the pleasure of the first bloom and the first sniff of their perfume is worth it to me.
The most stunning and perfumed rose I've ever had was Souvenir du Docteur Jamain (climbing). The flowers are deep blood red with a velvet appearance and the perfume was outstanding. But it only gets 1 massive flush then just a few flowers for the rest of the season.
I've a vague recollection that Jude the Obscure is the most perfumed rose available.
For a pink, Gertrude Jekyll is hard to beat
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I find the deep red of Falstaff was almost matched by Tess of the D'Urbevilles and Will S. I also had a Munstead Wood in the borders but she struggled with all the competition and ended up in a pot which I have brought with me. I hope by now she's grown some strong roots and will enjoy her new home.
These days, when I buy new roses, I tend to go for simpler flowers which allow access to nectar and pollen for bees and other pollinators. As with any shrub or clem they can take a season or two to get their feet down and then they grow well if they've been given the right conditions. I tend to feed the soil, not the plant so there's plenty of beneficial microbes to help.
Well positioned bird feeders attract sparrows and tits to hoover up any excess aphids to feed their young and lady birds do the rest.
Last edited: 05 March 2017 11:19:09
That's a new name to me Pete, sounds lovely. I've got Gertrude Jekyll already. That was the first DA rose l ever bought. It does have a deep beautiful scent. l do have a few roses that fully open . I have a pale pink rose called Valentine Heart that bees and hover flies are drawn to. The bees sort of buzz in a circuit in the centre of its flowers, it's funny to see and hear them, they fly off covered in pollen. They do the same in my oriental poppies too, used to fascinate the dog when he was watching transfixed.
I underplant with hardy geraniums and all my roses are in mixed borders. Don't like the look of formal rose gardens. I just make sure that there are plenty of plants in the border that shine when the roses don't. Underplanting also helps keep blackspot at bay.
Pete I've just looked up the Souvenir du Docteur Jamain rose it is a beauty and it said it would do well in a north facing aspect. I think I'm going to see if my wonderful local garden centre has one.
When my SDJ first flowered, it was a jaw-dropper. The petals are so rich and velvety it almost looks too good to be real and the perfume is heady and delicious. Not many prickles either.
Having remembered SDJ, I may well get another myself.
I can't remember what happened to the original.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.