Rose Appreciation Thread

[Furries]

Following on from some chat on another thread, I said I’d start one on here re roses. Any hints, tips and lots of photos welcome!

Disclaimer: I am not a competent gardener, but I do love my roses. I will start with a few separate posts to allow for relevant photos.

To start, I love the David Austin website. You can search by colour, size, aspect etc. And there is plenty of helpful information re planting, pruning, watering, feeding etc. However, you also NEED to request their brochure. It is a thing of beauty and I look forward to receiving it every year - so many gorgeous photos to pour over!

I had never had or planted roses before. I wanted to make roses the focal point for my front garden. Partly for ease - rather than having a garden with a variety of plants that needed different care at different times, this means that they all get the same care at the same time.

With regards to planting/care:

A couple of weeks before planting, I made sure that I dug plenty of well-rotted manure into the beds. When planting, I sprinkled Mycorrhizal Fungi into the hole and over the rootball.

I prune, feed and mulch around the first half of March. It can be done earlier, but I like to try and wait as long as possible to avoid frosts. By the time you come to doing this most leaves should already be gone, but if there are any left then these should be removed.

I then feed and mulch again after they’ve had their first flush of blooms - this is usually around the beginning of July for me.

Other than that, it’s keeping on top of deadheading. That can be quite a lot for me - I’ve got 18 shrubs and 5 standards.

If anyone is looking for roses, David Austin have 15% off until 18 April - the code is PILGRIM.

Will add some photos in further posts. Looking forward to seeing lots of rose love on here!

@Nepmarthiturn what a lovely rose to have at the entrance to your home!

I’ve just looked up warm welcome - what a gorgeous colour 😍

Have also just looked at centre stage - that also looks lovely. I think I might give a ground cover rose a go. Might have to wait until next year, will see how I go!

Wow what a gorgeous garden OP. You must have spent a fortune, I was eyeing up a tree/standard rose but quite expensive. The look gorgeous in a row like you have them. I think I need to re-plan rather than just plonk things in! I love getting DA catalogue and pondering! I have about 5 of his roses. My favourite is Bathsheba.
I read somewhere that for the magazines they often plant at least two in a pot to make them really bushy. I have some in big pots (shrub roses) and they never look very 'full', now I know why!

Also OP where is the arch from it is lovely. Nice and sturdy

It’s this one. A number of places stock it, I went with Next so that I could pay for it monthly.

I then painted it with really good quality outdoor paint (Tom’s Oil from Little Greene Paint Co). It’s not cheap, but a little goes a long way. Over the years I’ve learned that scrimping on outdoor paint is not worth it!

https://www.next.co.uk/style/st060081/m97706#m97706

It wasn’t cheap, but for a couple of birthdays and christmases I asked for money rather than presents. I don’t normally like doing this, but I explained exactly what I had in mind and that, for years to come, they’d bring a lot of pleasure and remind me those that helped fund it!

Have just looked up the Bathsheba rose, it’s stunning. What is the smell like? I haven’t ride roses in pots yet. I do not have a good success rate with container planting 🤣. Any hints/tips you’d like to share?

How is the arch secured to the ground?

My Bathsheba is in the ground in a sunny south position. It is quite tall and bushy and I have to tie it in, over 6" but I prune it back. I have other smaller bush roses in the boarder but they get very bushy! Who knows.... the potted ones are on there second year now and seem to be growing well. I used a container compost mixed with manure. Then I feed them a couple of times. Most of the roses were flowering into Dec!

The four posts are secured with something like this. I paid someone to get the right size and install the rose arch - that was beyond my abilities!

https://www.diy.com/departments/post-metal-support-post-fence-support-spike-size-71x150x590mm/4673802234636_BQ.prd

What a lovely thread! And OP, Generous Gardener is such a beautiful rose - I would love to know how you get on with it. I have envied a neighbour who has an established one for ages - I bought one last year for me, but of course it's still small.

I grew up with roses - my mum has well over 100 and she loves them. I am starting out with my garden, but so far I have:

• an unidentified yellow shrub which is beautiful (very vigorous, very disease-resistant, from what I have seen).
• an unidentified dark red climber, rather leggy, but lovely turkish-delight scent.
• rambling rector (cutting from my mum)
• the lady gardener
• lady of shalott (in a pot, but I think I want to plant it).
• rosa rubiginosa (sweetbriar)
• generous gardener
• wollerton old hall
• albertine (gorgeous!)
• wedding day (I bought it because it was cheap, to cover something ugly! But despite the name, it is nice).
• rubrifolia (seedlings from my mum)

I have several I really want - I'd love Tuscany Superb, Mrs Oakley Fisher, Clair de Lune and Paul's Himalayan Musk. And Kiftsgate, if I had space! I am going to buy Canary Bird, too. My DP likes single roses (which I do too), and I fancy a rambler or vigorous climber that'd go all over the back of the house.

FWIW, standardised roses are possible to grow at home, if you're willing to try grafting. They are just grafted high on the stem - you graft the flowering part onto a good strong trunk of a species rose, and you're good to go! I've not done it because it is such a faff, but it shouldn't in theory be difficult.

@Furries really tempted by the arch idea!

You've inspired me. Once I've got the summer plants I've already bought squeezed in I'm going to see where I can squeeze some more roses in!

The one I bought last year is in a pot. It is so pretty, but can't now remember what the variety is called! 🤦🏻‍♀️

Lovely photos! I have Darcey Bussell, Queen of Sweden, Roald Dahl, a yellow non DA, possibly Graham Thomas I think, Tranquility and Abraham Darby. Favourite is Queen of Sweden!

I have two questions; has anyone tried growing a climber around a door using a pot and a trellis? Would love one around our front door bur I don’t have any flower beds near it.

What are some good ideas for low perennials to plant with roses?

I've just planted 4 David Austin roses that I bought with the 15% reduction. Lady of Shalott, Roald Dahl, Harlow Carr and Eustacia Vye.
I've also bought some bare root geraniums, Brookside, Rozanne and Derrick Cook, so blues and white. They're in pots and just coming into leaf now so I'm planning to plant them under the roses as ground cover.

Sorry, my notifications seem to have had a gremlin - I didn’t realise there were more posts. Apologies for ignoring them!

@SarahAndQuack - I’ve just had a pleasant 10 minutes googling all your roses. What a lovely collection to have. Hopefully you’ll come back to post some photos once they’ve bloomed? I don’t think I’d have much luck with doing my own standard, maybe I’ll give it a go one day!

@Nepmarthiturn - hope you manage to find some space to squeeze more roses in.

@maisiedaisy64 - ooh, some lovely roses there. Again, would you come back to post photos once they’re in bloom? Re the climber round the door, am sure it would be possible as long as you’ve got space for decent-sized pots. I’ve been considering this idea myself, so hopefully someone who’s done this will stumble across the thread at some point! Re perennials, am not sure. Where my roses are planted, they grow so big during season that there wouldn’t be any space/light for perennials.

@Quinque - Nothing better than new roses with a reduction! I’ve got my eye on Harlow Carr, am wanting 2 standards but they’re out of stock at the moment. I never seem to do well with geraniums, they all look lovely.

Beautiful roses! Would anyone be able to help me identify a rose that I have inherited?

It is stunning, huge and blooms last all summer. It also smells incredible. Excuse messy pics, it was taken as we moved in last year, the house had been empty a while and a creeper from next door was trying to take over.

Apologies, better close up picture!

@MaJoady - can’t help with id’ing it, but it’s absolutely stunning! What a lovely thing to inherit moving into your property.

Well, this spring has been rubbish so far, but something to brighten my mood at last.

Lots of buds coming through now on my standards (Olivia Rose Austin). I love how the colour changes from buds to blooms.

My shrubs usually start to bloom a couple of weeks later - looking forward to them coming through as the scent is lovely.

Is it an old house - ie could the rose have been there for decades - might help in id.

OP just found this thread. Your roses are beautiful. I think the one you're growing on the arch might be my favourite. I've been, idly, looking for a rose very like that. My dream rose is that shape, white shading to pale pink and scented but I've never come across one. I don't want a climber or rambler (no idea what the difference is). A bush, or perhaps shell out for a standard....or two. I've only got one rose at the moment., Remember Me. I planted on the grave of a much loved hamster, the colour of the flowers reminded me of her and I was a mug for the name.

Oh @Furries I loooove your roses. I like the effect you get with several of the same type.

I'm a magpie with a small garden so I only have three and they're all different. Compassion is a bubblegum pink climber that turns peachy the longer it's open. It has a medium lemony scent. It was a moving in gift. Ferdinand Pichard is an old pink and white shrub rose that has a raspberry ripple effect on the petals. The flowers are small but prolific and strongly scented. It's my DH's favourite rose. I love it but it's prone to blackspot. I might try scentsational next time which is newer with a similar raspberry ripple look. The third is Gertrude Jekyll with its huge bright pink flowers. I'm absolutely in love with it. I wish I had bought it sooner. I got three flowers when I planted it last year and cut one to put in an old candle jar in my office. It filled the whole upstairs with the smell of Turkish delight for a week. It's covered in so many buds at the moment I can't even count them.

I'd post some pictures but none of them have bloomed yet! I remember last year I had buds on them for ages before any finally bloomed. I was checking them everyday for over a month after spotting the buds and when I finally gave up, they all bloomed at once. I think I might be waiting even longer this year. My peonies have taken forever after the awful winter and are still buds too.

@IcakethereforeIam have you seen the rose A Whiter Shade of Pale? I love the white with pale pink centres.

@PleaseJustText that is gorgeous. Perhaps a little pinker than my head rose. I'd need to see, and, more importantly, smell it. I'm often in danger of falling, nose first, into a rosebed.

Think I may have found my dream rose, though I've only seen photos of it. Margaret Merrell, a National Trust rose.

I have Summer song which is the most gorgeous coral colour . Falstaff which is magenta. Sceptered Isle which is a very delicate blush . Gertrude Jekyll, pink . I've just today bought For your eyes only . It will be my only non David Austin rose but it looked so gorgeous in the nursery that I was seduced . I also have New Dawn around my front door.