In reality my attempts at growing roses have been more modest. At present we have two rambling roses at the top of the garden both growing up old apple trees. Rosa Rambling Rector always flowers first and has a sweet scent from its small white flowers. The bees love the flowers and I heard this week that single flowers are better for bees as they give them easier access to their pollen.
The other rambler is Rosa Kiftsgate. I have read that this can smother whatever you plant it over but it has not been excessively vigorous and has gradually covered two apple trees over several years. It is comforting that first there is the apple blossom and then several weeks later the rose blossom appears. The flowers are beginning to come out and pleasingly there are a huge number of buds this year.
Many people grow roses as part of a mixed border and I have found this to be a good method as the different plants complement each other well. This year we have planted three more. One to replace an oriental poppy that sadly never quite lived up to expectation, one replacing an old cistus that had got rather tired and leggy and the third to replace a hebe that suffered badly from the effects of two cold winters. This is in addition to about four or five other roses dotted about the garden.
Only one of the new ones is fully in bloom and that is Rosa Gallica Officinalis, a shrub rose, which has bright pink sweet smelling flowers. I took a photo this afternoon and perhaps should have dead headed it first but this is its natural state complete with bee.
We had a small amount of rain over the weekend and early yesterday the first for some considerable time. The ground is incredibly dry and some plants particularly those that were divided in the spring have definitely suffered.
However considering how dry it has been most things have survived and are continuing to grow.
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