Roses

....and I thought this thread was all about ME!
I do love all sorts of roses, their scent is wonderful, but they need a lot of attention, pruning, feeding, and spraying for everything under the sun.Constant dead heading, and so on. Bare stems in Winter.
Would you not like something low maintenance and also evergreen?A lavender bed would look great.

I love scented roses but unfortunately we have very little success with roses in our garden. Here is the top 10 scented roses as chosen by Amateur Gardener magazine. Hope you have success with them.

Oh - thanks for that link - I have bookmarked it.

I have pruned roses before and would not be averse to the dead-heading job - it is not digging!

As for the spraying, I will have to look all that up.

Maybe I could have roses and lavender in the same bed??

I would mix roses with perennial geraniums. One or two lavender bushes might be OK but they need pruning after flowering or they soon become straggly.

I like the idea of having roses to look at from your bedroom window. My favourites (at the moment) are Geoff Hamilton, Just Joey, Margaret Merril and the strongly scented Summer Song which was given to me for my birthday in June. It's a beautiful burnt orange colour but has a rather floppy habit so I'm going to stake it properly next year and not just shove a couple of canes alongside.

I would take a look at David Austen Roses www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/ as they will indicate strength of scent/disease resistance etc. I would go for shrub roses and also a colour scheme too or it could look too bitty. I have white/pale pinks & deep reds as it fits with other plants i have. But you may prefer creams/oranges/peaches and yellows. Either way I agree adding some perennials / lavender would be good too... maybe a rosemary or two too to add to the perfume.
Check in other local gardens to see if roses are doing well otherwise you might be wasting your time!! Good luck and enjoy!

Yes - the comment about roses perhaps not doing well is interesting. The woman who owned this place before us was a very keen gardener and the garden is full of wonderful shrubs. But not one rose - maybe there is a reason for this?!

Another thought - the patio is going to have a low double wall with a gap into which I had thought of putting aubretia - but I am just wondering if there is some similar plant that would grow in that sort of situation which is also scented - any ideas anyone?

oh lucky you [ apt name Luckygirl! ] having a wall like that.
I would have aubretia, but you could also plant some violets for scent? I have always had roses in the past, but have no luck at all where I am now, in spite of trying every trick in the book, nobody else has them either here.Having said that, they do grow in most places.

I have gone for David Austin "olivias" and under planted with Salvias and penstemons wine colour edged with lavender.

The other bed is Harlow Carr, Eglytine (my favourite) and Princess Anne under planted with agastche Blue Boa and geranium Rozanne - Eglytine isn't spelt correctly.

Bulbs. In spring.

I also have a lot of climbers which I adore.

Ps I am on the South Downs so chalk which roses arnt supposed to like.

Luckygirl I don't know where you live, but we've had to give up growing roses in open ground because of deer eating the flowers. Tried all the remedies, nothing works. So we've transplanted the healthiest into large pots next to our house.

Most keen gardeners have one or two roses in the garden, so it is strange she had none.

There is a problem called "replant disorder" where roses fail if old roses have died before. Did she inherit a rose garden maybe? I know there is an area in my own garden where they die so I no longer try for the climbers there. Or, it could be that she just didn't like them.

Lots of good advice about scented roses here so I won't add to that, but certainly patio roses do well in tubs if all else fails.

Thanks for the ideas everyone - whitewave are these underplantings perennial or do they have to be replaced each year? My ignorance of these things knows no bounds!

I would suggest getting the David Austin catalogue (free on line).

Also it is well worth visiting their rose garden which is not too far from you. You will be able to compare the colour. form and fragrance for yourself. We try to visit most years.

To my mind, it does not matter how beautiful a rose is, it it is not fragrant, it is a waste of garden space.

I do not think my OH would agree to a trip to Wolverhampton - he was brought up there and vowed never to go back! But I will look into the catalogue - thanks for the suggestion!

Just click the link I posted ..it is all on there!

Just done that and ordered the catalogue - thanks for all the advice.

lucky they are perennials. So it is pale pink Olivias roses and blue/purple salvia. Then wine coloured penstemon and all edge with lavender.

Then the agastche is a bit tender, but the Rozannes are tough. Dark blue and pale blue with a white eye. So my colour theme is pinks and blue/purple.

Look up David Austin for roses and Crocus for the perennials.

When I say under planted, really it is more to the side!

It is outside Wolverhampton.

Just to say you can pre-order your roses fromAustin on line for the Autumn. This will give you time to prepare the ground, and bare rooted are quite a bit cheaper £16.50 as against £21 in pots. If you order 3 of the same type then you only pay £14.50 each. Also get the fungus for when you plant its micro something - definitely worth it as the roses are really helped.

Many garden centres have a good selection of DA roses now. Just picked up a couple in end of season sale for £10 each.

Fungus?! - now you have lost me!

Another point - some roses only flower once in a season. Others flower repeatedly if you prune after each flowering. Called remontant.

www.rootgrow.co.uk/mycorrhizal-fungi.html

Great stuff