Romancing the garden

Does your garden need some excitement, maybe a little romance? Roses are the go to plants for that and are ideal for covering archways and arbours or for tumbling over balconies or garden walls. Rose grower Ludwig Taschner recommends roses that can be tied onto supports and trained upwards, such as Panarosa shrub roses, climbing roses, including mini climbers (midinettes) and even spreading groundcover roses.

All of these rose types are vigorous, healthy roses that are generally disease free and flower abundantly. Many are fragrant too. The ultimate romantic hideaway, a bench tucked away under a rose covered arbour.

For this rosy abundance, three climbing roses were planted around the steel arbour structure and trained upwards. The roses were chosen for their full, old fashioned blooms . ‘Eden Rose’combines very large and full soft pink blooms with glossy dark green leaves, a combination that has enticed gardeners worldwide to plant it.

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It flowers repeatedly in great profusion. ‘Climbing Iceberg’produces clusters of semi double white blooms and it flowers almost continuously. Free flowering ‘Iceberg’ roses lead the eye all the way to the end of the balcony, with other floribunda and Fairytale roses in-between in shades of pink with an occasional pop of salmon.

Jasmine adds to the fragrance and tumbles over the edge of the extended window box. The position is ideal, as it receives morning sun and afternoon shade. The planter is filled with a rich rose potting soil and is kept lightly moist.

A drainage system was installed during the construction of the planter so that the roots would not sit in water. Such an original way to use standard roses, and what an invitation to meander through them. Each rose has its own space in the paved chequerboard, with groundcovers in-between.

Best of all the charming semi-double blooms of ‘Deloitte and Touche’ can be enjoyed at eye-level. Tip: ‘To support the large heads of flowers, use a strong iron stake with a cross bar. Put the cross bar into the crown of the rose and secure it with strips of shade cloth.

Putting small blocks of Styrofoam between the stem and the bar and securing with shade cloth strips is even better. Do not use wire or cable ties this can strangle the rose stems. Rose ‘Clair Matin’ produces clusters of semi-double shell pink blooms throughout th season.

It is a neat grower that produces many flowering side stems making it an ideal rose for an archway, leading to another part of the garden or acting as focal point. Placing a bench underneath the archway makes it possible to enjoy the lightly fragrant blooms.

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