The garden in April 2016, over the preceding winter roses have been planted along the fence on the right, you can just see the small bushes, also at the base of the trellis and arch in the distance. Here, five years later, in 2021 the result.
A look at some of the roses planted.
Ghislaine de Feligond and James Galway
Looking at the Trellis and archway. Here on the right is “Ghislaine de Feligonde” then two more roses in centre and left – both of these died, no roses would grow in this particular position it semed, something was wrong with the soil here.On the other side of the Arch two roses planted – on the right another “Ghislaine de Feligonde” and on the left, growing much more vigorously, “James Galway”Here they are in 2021
Ghislane de Feligonde, small apricot/white flowers, is a rambling rose that repeat flowers and will grow in shade. It is not very vigorous, so is easy to control. The stems are quite stiff, so it can be tricky to train horizontally, but I have managed to get it over most of the arch here. “James Galway”, the large pink flowers, is a climbing rose from David Austen. It is very vigorous, grows stiffly upright to 4m tall, it repeat flowers like mad all summer long so makes a reliable focal-point, it’s main drawback is – no fragrance at all.
Goldfinch
I chose this rambler as much for it’s name as anything, it wasn’t as gold as promised. Here are two bushes planted either side of the arch over the entrance steps from the road.Here they are in 2021, somewhat shaded by the tall hawthrorn bush on the right, but providing a nice display of flowers for a month in early summer, and a nice foliage archway through the rest of the year (almost evergreen in this location). The pile of debris on the left is prunings from said hawthorn.
Rambling Rector and Vielchenblau
I had a pot with “Rambling Rector” growing in it in London, it had been intended to grow along a fence there but proved too thorny and vigorous, so it lay neglected in this pot for two years. I took it down to Devon and planted it in this awkward spot, shaded and next to the roots of a large Ash tree. I didn’t expect much, but one year after planting it shot up to the top of the shed.It grew so well that I put in a pergola to support it.Here it is in 2023, it became a mainstay of the garden, it flowers once, all through June, bees love it, it buzzes while the flowers are open.The two thin stalks that appear out of a bunch of celandine on the bottom left of the photo were there already, I didn’t plant them, they weren’t growing well due to being in the shade of the giant Ash trees. But once the shade was removed they grew.The flowers are small, purple/blue with white centres and yellow stamens, very pretty. The flowers don’t last long and only come once, but it is pretty while it is there, attracts bees and is very easy to train, nice long flexible stalks grow in autumn and can be trained easily. Here it is flowering above the end of the pergola that was built for Rambling Rector.
Rosy Cushion
There was a tree-stump, I thought I would cover it with some low-growing “ground cover roses” and chose “Rosy Cushion”, but they grew to six feet tall, flowered continuously from June to October and looked fantastic. They balanced the “Rambling Rector” on the other side of the garden. Fantastic rose, but I’ve tried growing it in London without much success. Not sure why.
Harkness roses.
I bought most of my roses from David Austen (such great catalogues) but wanted to try different types, so went for Harkness. These generally IO found to require more care and attention, have less rich foliage, bigger flowers. They are mostly classed as “floribunda” I think. The rose flowers are very good, large, beautiful colours and very fragrant. The strongest smelling roses I have found, also they last a long time in a vase, very good for picking and bringing in to perfume a room. The yellow one here is “Well Being”. I planted a couple of others, they suffered from my neglect – I prefer plants that look after themselves for the most part.Chandos beautyWell Being
Ultimate rambler
Once while cycling in France we ate lunch in a park, it had numerous excellent roses, many ramblers growing up through trees, one of them grew up through a tall birch tree and fronds full of blossom cascaded down from the top. I have always wanted to emulate that. No trees big enough in this garden, but I got close.
The blossom up in the apple tree to the right above the archway is not apple blossom, it is the rambling rose “Kew gardens”. Not exactly the cascading effect, but very pleasing for me. By the way the bright red rose climbing over the pergola on the left is ~”Rambling Rosie” heavy bunches of bright red flowers through a long period, easy to grow, no fragrance though.two rambling roses were planted in front of the house before I took it over, the one flowering here is, I think, “Felicite Perpetue”. I erected the arch across the front of the house to support these roses and they grew vigorously, this one has also grown through the holly bush on the right. There is a grape vine on the left of the arch, also there when I arrived, the grapes never ripened. Also a decorative quince bush growing to the right of the door, which flowered in March, rock-hard inedible fruits though.Looking out of a window surrounded by rose flowers. Ideal.I generally prefer my plants growing in the garden, but sometimes it’s nice to pick some.
