Bloom that loves to ramble unchecked
The era of the formal rose bed is over. Left to grow free, they can show their true potential
The role of roses in gardens has changed dramatically in recent decades, but it is still a very important garden flower. Although there are still plenty of examples of rose beds in both town and country, these were usually planted 40 or 50 years ago. It is not unusual to see rose beds of this age, but the plants are usually weak and won’t last much longer unless they are heavily fed with rose fertiliser or general fertiliser.
Besides, fashions change in gardening as in everything else. Old-fashioned rose beds are a lot of work with weed control, edging, pruning, spraying against pests and diseases, and deadheading. For these requirements, time has to be
Strangely, roses of many kinds will thrive in informal, natualistic gardens
set aside for best results.
But people are time-poor and they look for gardening ideas that do not take up too much of their opportunities to relax. The formal rose bed has declined considerably because to have rows of rose bushes in straight lines goes against the general tendency for an informal, naturalistic garden. Some designers have even promoted the idea of a wild garden, one which receives little or no maintenance by the owner.
Strangely, roses of many kinds, especially ramblers and climbers, thrive under such conditions, as much as they ever did in settings of intensive care and feeding. That is because many kinds of roses are climbers by nature.
The vicious thorns on the stems are not only for the protection of the juicy shoots from grazing animals but they are also part of the climbing mechanism hooking on to other plants, and hitching a ride over bush or tree before emerging at the top to flower.
Some of these kinds, such as
American Pillar and Rambling Rector, are still to be found growing in hedgerows where the original cottage has long since been knocked down.
It’s a good way to treat roses, and it is appearing more and more as people clear out their old rose beds and replace them with grass lawn, paving or fresh planting with a mixture of shrubs and perennial flowers that are likely to last through the year, changing emphasis every few weeks as new plants come into flower.
Cast in this role, roses, because they are exceptionally long flowering, are very useful in the modern garden, providing colour right through summer into late autumn. The objective of using roses in a scattered informal fashion is to have spots of colour that appear here and there in a border which
can be quite a small area in a small garden. For instance, Canary Bird is a very early flowering yellow variety that brightens up the border while it is still spring. Trumpeter is a very brilliant red for the front of a border where it will flower
MYRIAD OF SHADES
Roses are a long-flowering plant will provide a splash of colour throughout summer and even into late autumn all summer. Iceberg is a pure crystal white flower that lends cool beauty to any border especially at twilight.
So, if the gardeners of the country want to allow their bushes grow tall, to perhaps two metres, the nurseries do not take long to adapt.
Some new varieties have been developed – by grower David Austin – and these combine their qualities, making a large bush or small
climber with large flat, colourful flowers, and repeat flowering. These varieties are usually scented with old-rose fragrance. Many also have reasonable-to-good resistance to disease such as rose blackspot and mildew. Teasing Georgia is a lovely apricot yellow. Graham Thomas is a bright yellow and Olivia Rose Austin is a gorgeous pink with a very flat cabbage-type flower.
If you have been busy and haven’t
got time to prune roses, reducing the number of plants that you have to deal with makes a lot of sense.
But even though it is late for pruning, it is a case of better late than never, because, unpruned, the bushes get even taller with suckers arching out of the beds and pose a real danger to passers-by. Prune the bushes, get rid of weeds and feed with rose fertiliser for a marked improvement.