Naomi Slade ‘KIFTSGATE’
Of all the glorious roses, I love ramblers best. It’s their wild, free, devil-may-care attitude to life, their uncontrolled exuberance and, in some cases, their magnitude. Topping out at a magnificent 18m, my favourite rose is ‘Kiftsgate’. So what if it’s not repeat flowering? It’s tough and vigorous, with lavish, perfumed cascades of white flowers followed by coral rosehips. Scrambling over a building or large tree, it feeds pollinators, renders pruning an irrelevance and you smell it before you see it. My heart soars.