Roses

[LIZS]

Inspired by a recent garden visit we were thinking of creating a feature of an arch with climbing roses and bushes alongside to break up our long narrow garden. Any advice on when is a good time to do so and care required please.

Best time to plant roses is bare root in late autumn.

One thing to bear in mind with a feature like that is that roses can be reasonably rampant. Make sure you have a fairly wide path, and if possible choose roses which are thornless (there are some lovely ones) and not too vigorous, or you shall spend your life pruning.

Have a look at the DAvid Austin website (after pay day) they have lots of suggestions for this.

And make sure you buy a climber, rather than a rambler - rambling roses can reach 20 feet or more so will swamp an arch.