Your Garden – Jude Costello
ROSES are a passion of mine!
Roses come in so many different forms, how many of you have grown roses other than Hybrid Teas or Floribundas?
Now is time to look through catalogues and decide what you wish to order and plant this year. A limited number of these other roses are available at your local nurseries but if you want one of the hundreds available only at specialty nurseries you will need to order a catalogue or search online.
David Austin roses are a great option and you will find a good range in local nurseries. I have found wind can be a problem with David Austins, so I recommend planting them below ground level and interplanted with perennials, bulbs etc to reduce the flow.
If your garden is still exposed like mine, you may need to support new canes to avoid them being snapped off at their base.
I very rarely buy ‘new releases’ as I much prefer growing tried and true cultivars, very often you will notice the new ones disappear after a year or two.
I would certainly recommend two fairly new climbers though, Golden Gate and Altissimo and the floribunda Silver Ghost – all are healthy robust growers which flower well.
Many of the old and species roses are not recurrent but are highly floriferous in spring or summer and certainly worth a spot in any garden, and are often beautifully fragrant. Funnily enough there are a couple of these with out of season blooms here after the lovely rain.
Hybrid Perpetuals, Bourbons, Hybrid Musks, Rugosas, Tea Roses, Scots and China Roses flower over a long season with beautiful, often fragrant blooms in many and varied forms and colours.
When growing these old roses, don’t prune them like you would modern roses. Old roses grow well in borders, as hedges and as pillars rather than in classic rose gardens.
Nurseries will usually order roses for you providing they are available from their suppliers but you need to do so nice and early.
Roses really reward your early preparation of good soil – now is a good time to dig in some manure and organic matter ready for August planting.
