rose addiction

[pinkr]

Hi I'm pinkr and I have a rose addiction. We inherited a small rose bed with our house but after a visit to David Austin Rose Garden at alnwick I have developed a problem. Dh is currently ripping out over grown bushes and I'm filling the space with as many lovelies as possible. Does anyone have any gorgeous rose suggestions for me? !

I'll open the bidding with Darcey Bussell.

Don't have any suggestions on varieties, but would say make sure your soil is free of any 'nasties' that have built up previously and could infect new plants.

Maybe need to change some of the soil, or sterilise it if possible.

Souvenier du Dr Jamain. Would leave my husband for it. Is demanding and petulant and prone to lurgies and the flowers barely last a day and have short stems and thorns but the scent and colour are absolutely gorgeous. I am convinced the Flower in The Little Prince was one of these.

(NB this is also Monty Don's favourite rose but it was MY favourite rose first).

New dawn. Warning, it gets huge!

However, I must warn you to be careful.

I filled my garden with David Austen roses when I first came here, and 10 years on very few are left.

They look great in a garden where they are immaculately tended, have their every need taken care of and you go see them at their best time, but in a real life garden where they may not have optimal conditions, they can look pretty crummy pretty quickly.

I have and love either in mine or mums garden:

Nuits de Young
Mme Alfred Carriere
Rosa magenta bleu
Munstead Wood
Coopers Burmese
Sally Holmes
Generous Gardener
Lady Emma Hamilton
Gentle Hermione
Gertrude Jekyll
Dr du Jamain (though tender and died on me: I am getting a replacement)
Paul's Himalayan Musk
Queen of Sweden
Rosa Mundi (still on wish list for this year)
Mrs Oakley Fisher
Deep Secret

The scent and colour and repeat flowering of Munstead Wood (deep maroon) and Rosa Magenta Bleu (antique pink) are the best without any doubt.

The Olympic roses: Victory, Wimbledon are still going strong in pots in my garden but although they are a nice bit of history, as roses go there are better ones.

Roses look better in a mixed border than in a rose bed in my opinion.

forgot
New Dawn
American Pillar

Mum has her roses in rose beds : they look patchy in my opinion and there is either bare soil between them or else overgrown shasta daisies and the like which look messy and hide the roses and probably swamp them.

Why is DH ripping out roses? Seems a shame.

Underplanting that's nice with roses are nepeta and alliums. Lavenders don't go as they need different growing conditions

Oh he's ripping out leggy hebe and over grown cotoneaster not Roses. We are under planting with heaucheras and salvias, lavender and many other lovely things. Interesting to note David Austin might not do so well after a few yyears I'll bear that in mind

ooh love your list funnyperson ....I would add the Lark Ascending (gorgeous but I fear delicate and fleeting), Grace and Boscobel which I am obsessed with. And the Alnwick rose. And old woolerton hall. yes I think I have a problem too.
I've just inherited in my new house two enormous beds of David Austin roses too - am going to take them out in the winter and replant in a mixed bed. But the garden also has tall climbers on posts down a walkway - they are very woody with tons of stems/stalks (?) at the base. And they look a bit tatty - should I just replace these rose experts?

Oh I am not of the 'replace old rose' school, I'd rather nurture them for ever, if necessary propagate with cuttings.
But quite how to treat these rose beds is a good question because the older style of garden has beds full of different varieties of roses, and however niec the roses, this always seems a bit boring to me.
However whenever I go to Sissinghurst's rose garden, it always amazes and delights and never dates, even though the roses there are old roses the same since Vita Sackville West planted them.
The difference is in the companion planting with peonies and clematis, and in the way the roses are trained to grow in showers of flowers.
So if I inherited a rose bed I would probably wait, and choose carefully the plants to plant with them, and train them as they do i Sissinghurst and in that way bring the rose bed into a timeless and 21st century.

Ok I have : Lark ascending, gentle hermionie, sceptered isle, alnwick, summer song, Lady of shallot, Scarborough fair, Wollerton old hall, pat knight, lichfield abbey, Strawberry fair, fighting termeiaire, Shropshire lad, Crown Princess m, ladys blush, Harlow Carr, Lady of the lake, blush noisette, Kew garden
I think there's a few others...

I now have eye on new dawn, Minstead wood and a few others! Dh despairs and don't even get me started on heucheras...
dh Though only has himself to blame... He wanted the big garden and got me hooked

thats such a lovely list pinkr what are your favourites?

My favorites are Scarborough fair as it is really free flowering and the flowers are beautiful. I also love the lady of the lake which is rambling and just lovely in that the flowers bud apricot and then fade to White eventually. For scent I love Wollerton

Compassion (climber)

Goldfinch (lovely scented rambler for arches, pergola etc)

Jacques Cartier (old portland rose with good disease resistance and lovely scent. Repeat flowering and compact so can be grown in a pot)

We have Harlow Carr, queen of Sweden and Darcey Bussell in our rose bed. They were moved this winter though so have just been bedding in this season. I have ordered another DA climber for the front of the house, the name of which escapes me. But hoping it will look the part next summer!
Have under planted with lavender and blue geraniums, plus have some allium bulbs in. Hoping it all looks ok next summer!

Also have Compassion, and of the various types I've got, Blue Moon is the favourite. Gorgeous lilac colour and almost lemon scented.