Blooming beautiful
It’s a bit ungrateful of me, I acknowledge, but the amount of rose blossom in the garden at the moment strikes me as bordering on the indigestible. The pergola, for example, which is clothed in climbers to create mystery by obscuring some of the garden beyond, is heavily draped in shades of pink.
Later, this will be relieved by the graceful, nodding purple flowers of Clematis viticella ‘Black Prince’ and also, I hope, the flat white flowers of C. ‘Marie Boisselot’, the first clematis I bought, and for this reason an abiding favourite. This beautiful and so far catproof plant (it grows up a post favoured by Mimi for a fast ascent to the top of the pergola) was apparently killed off by an untimely frost, but is now shooting again vigorously from the base.
On the left-hand side of the pergola, as I look down on the garden from my study window, is a gorgeous little rambler, ‘Open Arms’, which has small, single, pale pink flowers, a deeper pink in bud, produced continuously through the summer and into autumn.
Although it is supposedly a ‘miniature’ rambler, it is very vigorous and needs confident pruning. Like so many roses one pounces on in catalogues because they are described as a ‘short’ rambler (in this case 8ft), ‘Open Arms’ will shoot off if it is happy and be up and halfway along the top of a pergola in two or three seasons – 15ft and still going strong is my latest calculation. Sneaking through it is a velvety-flowered clematis, ‘Black Tea’, the darkest of the deep purple varieties.
At the opposite end of the pergola, ‘Mme Butterfly Clg’, a sport of ‘Ophelia Clg’, has a heady fragrance. The blowsy pink flowers age to cream from elegant, apricot-tinged buds. This is a rose that flowers freely and repeats well. On the fence behind is another favourite small climbing rose, ‘Seafoam’, a modest little trailing thing in its early years, which seems to gain vigour once established. It was bred in America in the 1960s, and is popular there with landscape designers. It has charming double white flowers and in my garden thrives in semi-shade.
Next in the right-hand line-up are two English roses from David Austin: ‘Heritage’, a genuinely short climber with cup-shaped pale pink flowers, and ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles Clg’, an Old Rose Hybrid. The flower stems are rather lax and flop about a bit but the bright crimson flowers are lovely.
On the other side of the garden, the ivory-white, camellia-like flowers of ‘Mme Legras de St Germain’, are so profuse and weighty that the wind has torn down its custom-made hazel trellis and urgent repairs are required.
To complete my collection of ramblers and climbing roses, on the end wall two lovely roses intermingle against the mellow Victorian brick. The first, white again, I’m afraid, is a rose I have felt I just had to have in all my gardens, the exquisite climbing tea rose, ‘Sombreuil’. The David Austin catalogue gets it absolutely right when it describes it as ‘a really good Old Rose of refinement and charm’. ‘Sombreuil’ has a delicate scent, reminiscent of green tea; it is hardy but loves a warm wall.
Next to it is a delightful climbing rose, which I prune back hard every winter but which shoots back up to the top of this 12ft wall every spring. R. ‘Elmshorn’, bred by Kordes in Germany in the 1950s, has clusters of bright crimson double flowers until Christmas. Most suppliers describe it as a compact, modern shrub rose, but I can vouch for its mountaineering skills.
David Austin Roses: 01902-376300, www.davidaustinroses.com
Peter Beales Roses Ltd: 01953-454707, www.classicroses.co.uk
Burncoose Nurseries: 01209-860316, www.burncoose.co.uk
Keep half-used packets of seed in an airtight tin, if possible with a little bag of silicon gel in the bottom – exposure to damp is a major cause of germination failure.
Don’t slacken efforts to curb the snail population – get into the habit of doing a round-up when they emerge after rain.
Remove runners from strawberry plants: they sap energy from the mother plant and may reduce yields.
Keep pruning springflowering shrubs to keep them tidy and preserve a good shape.
Mow the lawn regularly – perhaps with the lawnmower blades on a higher setting than usual. This will let white clover flourish – it’s an excellent source of nectar for bumblebees and other beneficial insects whose numbers are in decline.
Deadhead roses and herbaceous perennials regularly to prolong the flowering season – timeconsuming but it really makes a difference.
Keep staking plants in beds and borders – high winds seem to have become a feature of changing weather patterns.
Astrantia ‘Buckland’ is the longest flowering of the beautiful masterworts, with dusky pink, cream and green flowers held on wiry stems above deeply cut leaves. £5 or £14 for three plants: www.claireaustin-hardyplants.co.uk
Later, this will be relieved by the graceful, nodding purple flowers of Clematis viticella ‘Black Prince’ and also, I hope, the flat white flowers of C. ‘Marie Boisselot’, the first clematis I bought, and for this reason an abiding favourite. This beautiful and so far catproof plant (it grows up a post favoured by Mimi for a fast ascent to the top of the pergola) was apparently killed off by an untimely frost, but is now shooting again vigorously from the base.
On the left-hand side of the pergola, as I look down on the garden from my study window, is a gorgeous little rambler, ‘Open Arms’, which has small, single, pale pink flowers, a deeper pink in bud, produced continuously through the summer and into autumn.
Although it is supposedly a ‘miniature’ rambler, it is very vigorous and needs confident pruning. Like so many roses one pounces on in catalogues because they are described as a ‘short’ rambler (in this case 8ft), ‘Open Arms’ will shoot off if it is happy and be up and halfway along the top of a pergola in two or three seasons – 15ft and still going strong is my latest calculation. Sneaking through it is a velvety-flowered clematis, ‘Black Tea’, the darkest of the deep purple varieties.
At the opposite end of the pergola, ‘Mme Butterfly Clg’, a sport of ‘Ophelia Clg’, has a heady fragrance. The blowsy pink flowers age to cream from elegant, apricot-tinged buds. This is a rose that flowers freely and repeats well. On the fence behind is another favourite small climbing rose, ‘Seafoam’, a modest little trailing thing in its early years, which seems to gain vigour once established. It was bred in America in the 1960s, and is popular there with landscape designers. It has charming double white flowers and in my garden thrives in semi-shade.
Next in the right-hand line-up are two English roses from David Austin: ‘Heritage’, a genuinely short climber with cup-shaped pale pink flowers, and ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles Clg’, an Old Rose Hybrid. The flower stems are rather lax and flop about a bit but the bright crimson flowers are lovely.
On the other side of the garden, the ivory-white, camellia-like flowers of ‘Mme Legras de St Germain’, are so profuse and weighty that the wind has torn down its custom-made hazel trellis and urgent repairs are required.
To complete my collection of ramblers and climbing roses, on the end wall two lovely roses intermingle against the mellow Victorian brick. The first, white again, I’m afraid, is a rose I have felt I just had to have in all my gardens, the exquisite climbing tea rose, ‘Sombreuil’. The David Austin catalogue gets it absolutely right when it describes it as ‘a really good Old Rose of refinement and charm’. ‘Sombreuil’ has a delicate scent, reminiscent of green tea; it is hardy but loves a warm wall.
Next to it is a delightful climbing rose, which I prune back hard every winter but which shoots back up to the top of this 12ft wall every spring. R. ‘Elmshorn’, bred by Kordes in Germany in the 1950s, has clusters of bright crimson double flowers until Christmas. Most suppliers describe it as a compact, modern shrub rose, but I can vouch for its mountaineering skills.
David Austin Roses: 01902-376300, www.davidaustinroses.com
Peter Beales Roses Ltd: 01953-454707, www.classicroses.co.uk
Burncoose Nurseries: 01209-860316, www.burncoose.co.uk
Jobs to do this week
Keep half-used packets of seed in an airtight tin, if possible with a little bag of silicon gel in the bottom – exposure to damp is a major cause of germination failure.Don’t slacken efforts to curb the snail population – get into the habit of doing a round-up when they emerge after rain.
Remove runners from strawberry plants: they sap energy from the mother plant and may reduce yields.
Keep pruning springflowering shrubs to keep them tidy and preserve a good shape.
Mow the lawn regularly – perhaps with the lawnmower blades on a higher setting than usual. This will let white clover flourish – it’s an excellent source of nectar for bumblebees and other beneficial insects whose numbers are in decline.
Deadhead roses and herbaceous perennials regularly to prolong the flowering season – timeconsuming but it really makes a difference.
Keep staking plants in beds and borders – high winds seem to have become a feature of changing weather patterns.
