Calling all rose experts! Please share your advice with a gardening novice!

[JennyLake]

Hello
We have had a planting area approx 200 x 50 cm built into our patio (basically to avoid having to put in a handrail or fence/barrier). I’d love to plant some fragrant roses in there but as a non gardener I haven’t a clue what to look for or where to start. Googling has left me more confused - I think I need shrub roses? Would that be right? How many would you put in a space that size? What spacing between them? Any particular fragrant varieties you could recommend? I’d love a bright pink colour variety. Our builder has prepare the planter with drainage about 30 cm and then 30cm of soil on top. Do I buy bulbs/established plants? Thanks! 🌹

I am not a rose expert but I do love roses. I would put one or maybe two in and then stick some nice ground cover planting in to cover the rest of the soil. Look at the David Austin website. Anything labelled "modern shrub rose" will be repeat flowering and will flower most of the summer.

They also are good at saying which are scented and what they smell like

Have a look at David Austin roses website. They give excellent advice and their roses are the very best.

Very few roses will be happy with 30cm soil depth. You could search David Austin (or Peter Beale, roses for small gardens). But you'd probably be better planting up a planter like this with perennials - something like nepeta or lavender or rosemary would probably do well.

There are roses that cope with being grown in planters, but on the whole they are not that well suited to it - they like their roots to be nice and cool.

@SarahAndQuack ah that’s a shame…but very good to know! Thank you

Is it ok to plant a rose in a pot into the ground at this time of year?

yes.

If you want roses, and why not indeed, then given the soil depth you could go for Rosa ‘The Fairy’ which has beautiful miniature pale pink flowers. I saw this planted in combination with lavender (something like Munstead or Hidcote) and it was gorgeous. I think that should work in the location you describe.

https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/collections/ideal-for-pots-containers?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIz6j02YL7hQMVL5lQBh2R1QPCEAAYASAAEgKLK_D_BwE

DA lists quite a few roses suitable for containers. He recommends 45x45 minimum space so your space should be fine. DA Olivia is gorgeous and such a well behaved rose.

I would look on the David Austin Roses site. It's not a lot of soil depth so while you are going to plant them as a hedge, I'd search for roses for containers.

The website search facility is ace so you can also narrow it down by fragrance and colour.

The rose care section is also everything you need to know. Bear in mind roses will need feeding and mulching every year as they are hungry plants, they need pruning and dead heading, plus the endless fight against black spot.

She only has 30cm soil depth, though - and roses like to have enough depth. No rose except a miniature one is going to cope in that, and even something like Fairy might not be terribly happy.

She has 30 but needs 45, couldn’t she take out some of the drainage to up it a bit? Do you need that much drainage. What are you using for drainage?

I’m going out with my trowel and measuring tape today to see exactly how deep it is! Thanks to all for the suggestions…David Austin site is super helpful so thanks for that recommendation. Fingers crossed it’s more than the builder suggested!