{"id":611961143622,"date":"2025-11-13T14:25:24","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T14:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ashridgetrees.co.uk\/blogs\/uncategorized\/ramblings-on-roses\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T08:42:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T08:42:00","slug":"ramblings-on-roses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ashridgetrees.co.uk\/blogs\/roses\/ramblings-on-roses\/","title":{"rendered":"Ramblings on roses"},"content":{"rendered":"

I love roses. They\u2019re colourful, sophisticated, often gorgeously perfumed and happy as Larry in clay soil. Being a London gardener with little time to garden, this is crucial.<\/h2>\n

A winter project<\/strong><\/p>\n

My little pre-Christmas project this year is to plant the climber \u2018Bathsheba\u2019 in a pot against the east-facing wall to one side of the French doors that lead from the kitchen to the back garden. I recently wrote about her for Ashridge, and fell in love while I was researching. Now is the time for planting bare-root roses<\/a>, and it\u2019s nice to have something to get stuck into outdoors on a chilly but sunny day. Then I can spend those dark winter evenings dreaming about what\u2019s to come in summer.<\/p>\n

\"bathsheba<\/a><\/p>\n

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Matching inside and out<\/strong><\/p>\n

My kitchen is painted a sunny yellow, and I\u2019m imagining those apricotty blooms overhanging the French doors, bobbing about while I write or cook, creating a cheery colour link between indoors and out. And when I open the doors and go out, I\u2019ll breathe in deeply, the honeyed tea scent of Bathsheba lifting my spirits the way only roses can.<\/p>\n

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A little care and attention<\/strong><\/p>\n

I know I\u2019ll need a roomy pot and I\u2019ll have to mulch with manure or good, rich garden compost at least once a year, and prune annually<\/a>, so it won\u2019t be zero maintenance. But with her so near the house and right on the patio where we eat whenever it\u2019s warm enough, I\u2019m confident I won\u2019t neglect her.<\/p>\n

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Our London plot<\/strong><\/p>\n

When we moved into our Victorian south London terrace with its long, narrow garden I had visions of borders billowing with colourful perennials. Over the years, with the reality of work and family commitments, I\u2019ve realised that my garden needs to be lower maintenance.<\/p>\n

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Going low-maintenance<\/strong><\/p>\n

I want a garden that\u2019s good to look at all year round, but this doesn\u2019t mean relying on herbaceous perennials that have to be divided and replanted, and cut back every year. It means sticking to plants that grow well in my soil. Trying \u2013 and failing \u2013 with plants that prefer a light, free-draining soil is time consuming and disheartening. With good structure, a few small maple trees<\/a>, clever use of evergreens, grasses and roses<\/a>, I have enough colour and interest to keep me happy throughout the seasons.<\/p>\n

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All about rose supports<\/strong><\/p>\n

So back to Bathsheba. As a climber, she\u2019ll need some kind of support, of course. But I\u2019m not keen on trellis. Eventually it rots and I find it can be too dominant visually. So I was thinking about vine eyes strung with wires. I found a fascinating article by garden designer Bunny Guinness that explains how the professionals do it at Sissinghurst. They train roses to walls using just vine eyes, tying in the shoots horizontally as they grow with twine or Flexi Tie and looping back the tips in semi-circles. I can\u2019t imagine I\u2019ll bother with all the looping, but I love the idea of vine eyes without the faff of straight lines of wiring.<\/p>\n

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Growing Madam Alfred Carriere<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m a little worried about planting against an east-facing wall, but if things don\u2019t work out, I can always move \u2018Bathsheba\u2019 to somewhere sunnier. I grew Madame Alfred Carriere up a north-facing fence<\/a> not long after we moved here, but eventually I gave up and dug her out. Although she\u2019s supposed to be a great rose for shade, I wasn\u2019t rigorous enough with the pruning, and she got leggy and blackspotty. You have to be brutal sometimes. There\u2019s a lovely pyracantha<\/a> there now, which I prune hard against the fence. I\u2019ve underplanted it with bergenias for a ridiculously easy, colourful and evergreen combination. It works really well.<\/p>\n

\"Pyracantha\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Rose pruning and greenfly tales<\/strong><\/p>\n

I usually prune my roses<\/a> in March (when I remember, that is). I have an English shrub rose in my front garden that I adore, I think it’s an \u2018Eglantyne\u2019. It\u2019s pale pink and deliciously fragrant. But every spring it\u2019s swamped with greenfly. I rub them off with my fingers when I remember, but I must admit I\u2019ve resorted to spraying more than once. Which rarely seems to be that successful. It doesn\u2019t seem to mind that much, though, and flowers enthusiastically from June to November, sometimes into December.<\/p>\n

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\n\"David<\/a> Uncertain rose<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A random dark pink shrub rose at the back of the garden never suffers from greenfly, however. And because it\u2019s tucked away, I often forget to prune it. So I\u2019m wondering if a change of pruning time might help my possible \u2018Eglantyne\u2019 and its army of sap suckers. I\u2019ll cut it back this year and see what transpires next spring\u2026<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s to a summer filled with the scent of roses.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Francesca Clarke, Journalist and Garden Designer<\/p>\n\n

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tClimbing Iceberg Rose Bushes\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\n\t\t
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