MIDWEEK NEWS - ROSES OLD AND NEW

The roses continue to look gorgeous and smell delightful.  Here's another round up of what's flowering at the moment together with my musings on their merits or otherwise.

We're starting off with a beautiful frilly pink rose with cup shaped flowers, called 'Wisley', from David Austin roses.  The shrub is a rather more graceful shape than this poor photo might suggest.  It's one of the larger David Austin roses, and I've planted it under a very large Silver Birch where it gets plenty of sun but is probably rather dry.

It's also quite healthy.  I planted this at the same time as Olivia Rose Austin and Scepter'd Isle and although on first glance they may all look similar (I did question why/how I had chosen roses so similar to each other) there are distinct differences too.

'Wisley'

In the photo below, Rosa 'Gentle Hermione' is in the background and  the floribunda rose 'Iceberg' is in the foreground.  I know 'Iceberg' will need no introduction from me.  It is just superb and the flowers just keep coming.  The only thing I would have marked it down on was scent which is very light in my opinion, although it was included in last week's Sunday Times guide to fragrant roses, so don't take my word for it.

'Gentle Hermione' and 'Iceberg'

'Gentle Hermione' is a David Austin rose, with larger blooms in this pale shell pink.  The flower heads are quite soft and light in appearance.  It is a very pretty shrub with a nice open shape, and on the taller side.  One for the back of the border perhaps.  It's healthy too.

'Gentle Hermione'

For the sake of completeness I also include a photo of 'Iceberg', the best white rose that I've grown.

'Iceberg'

Did I hear you say 'enough with the David Austin roses'?  Perhaps it is time to move on...

'Bonica' is described as a modern shrub rose and was introduced in 1981.  It has clusters of small pink flowers on a bush 1.25m high and just as wide.  It's very healthy and floriferous and has good hips too if you don't dead head it (I do).  I think is looks rather good with this blue geranium.  It's beauty is in the overall effect of the mass of flowers rather than in the individual blooms.

'Bonica'

David Austin roses (yes I'm still going on about them) sell their most popular roses potted for planting all year round.  They sell 5 which were not bred by them - Bonica, Iceberg and Champagne Moment (which I reviewed last week) are among them.  I think it's a testament to their quality.

A climber is next, called Baltimore Belle and it dates from 1843.  I bought it because it was recommended in a book I picked up in the library one idle day when I was waiting for the kids to finish school.  With the benefit of hindsight, I now realise that this does not count as thorough research.  This rambler is fine, and like most ramblers it doesn't repeat flower so its a one time only show.  It has taken years to slowly make it's way to the top of the arch over which it is trained.  I could probably have chosen something better, but as I say it is perfectly fine.

Baltimore Belle with Clematis Blue Angel

On we go to another impulsive purchase.  There are four standard roses at the crossing point of the paths which are a dark red floribunda  called 'Ruby Celebration'.  They were in the local garden centre reduced to clear.  Standard roses are pricy plants, so I couldn't pass them by.  The colour is good but it is hard to watch the garden visitors bending forward for a sniff because this rose smells of nothing and they look up with an air of disappointment.  Since a standard rose places its blooms at nose level, it really does need to smell good.

Rosa 'Ruby Celebration'

The next rose is a very good one - Buff Beauty.  It belongs to that group called Hybrid Musk roses and was introduced in 1939.  It grows as wide as it is tall - about 1.5m and I have two of them planted side by side to make this display.  It's lovely and healthy and repeat flowers, but mostly I love it for the colour which is soft and peachy, fading to cream.
 

Rosa 'Buff Beauty'

Now let us look at Rosa 'Margaret Merril', a Floribunda rose dating from 1977.  I bought 24 of these as a cheap job lot when I first planted the rose garden because that was what my budget stretched to at the time.  Over the 12 years or so since then they have gradually declined in health until most of them are looking very poorly and some are near enough dead.  I've mulched them, sprayed them, fed them and nothing has improved them.  I took the decision a couple of weeks ago to remove the ones from the central bed as they were becoming an eyesore.

Margaret Merril

What is really strange is that among that pack of 24 roses were two whose flowers were slightly pinker than the others.  These two roses are the picture of health.  I have no idea what variety they must be.

Bought as 'Margaret Merril' but probably not

Growing over a smaller arch in the rose garden is Rosa 'Compassion', which is an Hybrid Tea, the only representative of that rose family in the garden.  Black spot loves it of course, and it only wants to grow and flower at the top of the arch rather than clothing the sides, however well I try to train it not to.  But it is forgiven because I love the colour, the scent and the rather vintage shape of the flowers.  It was introduced in 1973.  I also have one I grow as a tall shrub, which it seems quite happy to do.

Rosa 'Compassion'

One last rose for this post and then I'm finished.  This one dates from 1880 and is called Rose de Rescht.  This one is a member of the Portland family of roses according to Peter Beales roses, although I thought most Portlands were bred in the 1840s.  It's a confusing matter trying to get your head round all these old rose groups (more on that next week).  Rose de Rescht is a lovely jolly thing though.  Not very large but with nice apple green foliage and magenta flowers of a modest size.

Rose de Rescht

And that's it for now.  I'm not sure how many of you will have made it to the end, but I like to think maybe you did a quick scroll to see if anything took your fancy.  I think this weekend I will do a more general garden round up as there is plenty to enjoy beyond the rose garden, but I do want to write about the old roses of which I have a selection, at some point, as much for my own benefit as anyone elses.

Until then, enjoy your garden and the hot weather.