A single rose can be my garden!
You love roses but don’t have much space. No problem. There’s a saying, ‘A single rose can be my garden…a single friend my world’. What would our world be without roses? Here are five inspirational ways to make the rose queen of your small garden.
Roses for the patio
Go for bold vivid colour, don’t settle for just one rose in a container but extend the effect by repeating the same or similar coloured rose in the border around the patio.
- Choose cluster flowering roses, with arching, graceful stems like ‘Granny Dearest’ in the pot and ‘Fortuna’ in the garden. Colourscape roses are our showiest roses. Check out our range.
- Repetition is the oldest landscape trick in the book, and it works. For maximum show repeat the same colour three or four times. It creates a feeling of unity and harmony.
- Opt for the largest possible patio container and fill it with at least three roses to produce a full effect.
Create a rosy wall
A wall is the perfect canvas for a rose, and in one season, you can have rose blooms from top to bottom. Most modern climbers flower almost continuously throughout the season. They are hardy and indestructible because they have much more foliage than a normal bush rose and the root system is larger and more deeply anchored, giving them better access to water and nutrients.
- Try climbers like ‘Aperitif’, ‘Blossom Magic’, ‘Casino’, ‘Cocktail’, ‘Golden Showers’, ‘Golden Celebration’, ‘Iceberg Clg’, ‘Isidingo’, ‘Jude the Obscure’, ‘Starry Eyed ’, ‘Rose Celeste’, ‘and ‘Wedding Garland’.
- When planting a rose next to a wall make sure it is at least 30 cm away from the wall, to avoid excessive dryness and for air to move between the wall and the plant.
- Roses don’t cling naturally to supports. Train the canes upwards by tying them to the support. Don’t make the ties too tight.
- Do not plant on a hot west facing wall. Best are east or north facing walls.
A small, formal garden.
It is quite possible to make a small exquisite formal rose garden in a 5x5m rectangular space, filled with your favourite fragrant roses. Mark out a circle in the rectangular space, making sure that the space between the circle and the garden edges is enough for rose beds. Place a feature in the centre; gazebo, sundial, decorative pot, or fountain.
- Mix compost and Vigorosa fertiliser into the soil to a depth of 30cm.
- Place the roses, still in their plastic bags. The plant tags indicate how tall the roses grow. Make sure knee and hip high roses are at the front with taller ones behind.
Make a hole for each rose, remove from the plastic bag and place in the hole, making sure the bud union (the thickened part at the base of the plant) is just below the level of the bed. Fill in with soil, firm down and water well.
Spectacular archway.
What could be more romantic than archways smothered in roses, especially fragrant roses. Use archways to lead from one garden room to another, or as a feature, like this gazebo-type structure that adds height and focus in the centre of a garden.
- Plant roses on either side of an arch or at the base of each pillar of a pergola and train upwards. Roses do not grow up one side and down the other.
- The best varieties are those with an arching growth habit; not too upright or vigorous, growing 3.5m to 4m high and three to five metres wide.
- Try climbers like ‘Compassion‘, ‘High Hopes‘, ‘Pink Cloud’, ‘Blossom magic‘, ‘Clg Iceberg‘, ‘Cocktail‘, ‘Crème Caramel’, ‘Clair Matin‘, ‘Wedding Garland’ and ‘Clg Crimson Glory‘.
Good morning Roses
Imagine waking up and seeing the world through roses! From the outside, the window frames the rose container beautifully. It is possible to plant up to four roses in a large enough container and the effect is sumptuous. If given the right care, roses in containers grow better than those planted in the soil.
• Plant the rose in a large enough pot (minimum size 35cm diameter), with good potting soil (not garden soil).
• Water daily in spring and summer and feed once a month with Vigorosa fertiliser
• Do not place a container directly against a wall, especially one that catches hot noonday or afternoon sun.
• Go for maximum flower power. Choose roses that flower profusely, especially those that produce clusters of blooms. Recommended roses are compact floribundas, cushion groundcover roses or small shrubs like the “My Granny” roses as well as the Sunsation roses.
