Gardening with Roses: A Practical and Inspirational Guide - Softcover

About the Author

Patrick Taylor has written many garden books including Planting in Patterns, Period Gardens, The Gardener’s Guide to Britain, The 500 Best Garden Plants, and Gardening with Roses. He is also a publisher and lives and gardens in Sumerset.

Books by Patrick Taylor:

Gardening with Roses: A Practical and Inspirational Guide Making Gardens: An Essential Guide to Planning and Planting The 500 Best Garden Plants Gardening with Bulbs: A Practical and Inspirational Guide

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

It is a desirable goal, and is certainly worth trying to achieve as much horizontal or semi-horizontal growth as you can - both to cover the wall and because you will have a greater number of vigorous flowering shoots erupting from horizontal stems. Climbing roses do not need to be properly supported. On a wall, heavy-gauge wires fixed horizontally 12 in apart with regular supporters in the form of vine-eyes along its length, every 10 ft or so, is immense convenience. When tying in roses to the wires use soft gardening string, never nylon, or worst of all, plastic-covered wire ties which look horrible and can constrict new growth. In old-fashioned French gardens such as La Rosseraie de l'Hay, the very skilled gardeners still use traditional slips of osier deftly twisted over to secure the rose shoots.

A wall or sturdy fence will provide a protected environment for more tender roses - sheltering them from the wind and trapping the sun. A pergola or arbour does not afford this protection - so if your garden is cold and suffers from winds, plant only the hardier roses in such exposed positions. The colour of a wall or fence will have much influence on the appearance of a rose planted against it. Limestone walls, with yellow or tawny brown in their colouring, make a beautiful background for cream, apricot, or yellow roses. Whereas some red brick makes a very ugly background for certain red roses. In Dutch and French formal gardens woodwork is often painted a very dark green, almost black, which provides a sympathetic background to many colours.