I never have planted roses in a group of 3 but I do plan on doing just that this spring. I have room and want to make a visual impact in certain areas of my yard. I want to plant 3 Belinda's dream, 3 Sceptor d isle, and 3 Caldwell pink. I was unsure at first but once I made the decision to do it I knew it was the right one. I'm super excited for spring!

JJ Peace, I agree with boncrow. I'd rather make a big impact with something I love, than to fill a garden with one of this and one of that. Once I determine the very best roses for the Garden of Forgotten Dreams, those roses will be planted en masse, and all the others will be sent packing.

If you have borders the size of those in gardens like David Austin's -- or garden on several acres -- then planting in threes will give the look of one big shrub that is of an appropriate scale. If you garden in the average American suburban home's yard, there's probably no room for such a huge shrub.

Personally, I'd rather have only one of each and fit more individual cultivars than have swaths of repetition (which to me is more "landscaping" than "gardening"). The only exception for me is bedding annuals, which I see as sort of a living background for the perennials and roses, and self-seeding plants which I let do their own thing. But we all have our preferences, and this is why every garden is unique.

:-)

~Christopher

More roses and other stuff:

I don't plant one variety of roses in a group. I think it's a matter of the gardener's aesthetics, not just whether she/he is a collector. I'm a collector, but also have a quite large garden (2-3 acres) with room to plant roses in groups if I wanted to. I prefer a wildish-looking garden, somewhat like Jackie's above, and part of the look I want I achieve by not planting clones in groups (although I do allow suckering thickets of some roses). Instead I like to mimic, somewhat, nature by planting plants that are same-but-different: planting old roses of similar habit together, and encouraging annuals and perennials to self-seed. This gives the advantages of both similarity and variety. If I have many exemplars of one species in the garden, I like them to be from seed, for the variety they offer (though I do have a lot of cloned hedging plants). All this is an expression of my personal idea of what's beautiful in a garden, nothing more.
Jackie also makes a good point about the dimensions reached by David Austin roses in the U.S. as opposed to in Britain. I've seen enormous plants of some of his varieties.
Melissa

The group of 3 cliche produces a triangle which is geometric and rigid. The result is actually more likely to be a nice flowing drift when even numbers like 4 are used instead.

Very pretty, Jackie. I do see some repetition of both color and form, which takes your garden from the realm of pure collecting and into garden design. And this is the beauty of creating gardens -- it gives you the chance to bring to life whatever magic sings to your soul, whether it be collecting the individual specimens you love, or composing a symphony with fewer notes of rhythmic repetition.

This post was edited by Sow_what on Wed, Jan 14, 15 at 4:46

..always nice to see Jackie's garden, or anyone else's for that matter too...especially at this time of year...

...if I had a larger garden I would plant some roses in groups of 3 I think.. I wouldn't use 4 ever, to me that just wouldn't look right with any group of plants...3, 5 or 7 and so on...
..I should add that I can certainly see your point though... more haphazard and less deliberate, but if I notice a 4th has popped up somewhere I just got to remove it..

...I have about 35 different roses and only 'Little White Pet' is planted as a group of 3.... I think it's just too small here to be seen as a single specimen...
...I aim to do the same with 'Fabvier' (perhaps 'Martha Gonzalez' in U.S.).... when I strike it from cuttings...

..Austin's here usually make it cheaper to buy 3 too, it always seems to be an offer they do...

This post was edited by Marlorena on Wed, Jan 14, 15 at 8:44

My garden is pretty small, narrow, and densely planted, but not in groups of three at all - my collectors heart sees that as a missed opportunity to have other plants! And I very much believe that if there's bare soil, there's room for another plant. Cuts down on weeding.
So I rely on close planting to create a lush effect and then in focal points I pick one natually bigger shrub and give it space to really do its thing. E.g. Ghislaine de Feligonde is anchoring my orange border. I will get back to you in about ... oh 5 years when the garden is mature and then I can tell you if it worked or not!

I have 2 acres to plant so while I may be doing only 3 separate plantings of 3 that doesn't mean my whole yard will be that way,I have a hard time deciding what is my favorite of anything so I usually end up with a mosh of everything. Jackie your garden is beautiful and I hope to one day have one just as beautiful, I just started so I still have a few years.

This post was edited by boncrow66 on Wed, Jan 14, 15 at 9:08

It depends on what you mean. I have several roses that I have 2 bush's planted 12" apart that have the look of one big bush. Then I have what I call mass planting. 4 to 6 bush's of the same variety planted 42" from each other. Both serve the purpose that I want in my garden.

I have a small suburban lot so I'm a one of each person because there is always a new one I want to try. I'd love to have the room to do the 3 in a triangle thing but I'd need to move and that's not going to happen, lol!

For several years, I had 3 Molineuxs planted together in a triangle (about 18 in. apart). Here is one pic of it--I think you can make out the two bushes--the third one is on the other side.

Molineux--3 in a cluster
{{gwi:218933}}

Here is another pic where you can see it more in relation to other plants in the garden. As you can see, it makes quite a big impact!
{{gwi:293758}}

It works well for Molineux because it is a smaller and somewhat upright bush. If you have a lot going on in that part of the garden, Molineux can get a bit lost at times. But as a 3-in-1 bush, nobody is ever going to miss it!

I would generally recommend this treatment for narrower, more upright bushes--unless you have one heck of a lot of space available for 3 big sprawlers planted together.

That said, one of my Molineux died in last winter's brutal weather. Since I'm trying to slowly cut back a bit on the number of roses I have, I vowed not to replace anything that died on its own--so I haven't replaced my triple Molineux.

However, turns out 2 Molineux side-by-side work pretty good also--more of an impact than one by itself, anyway. Assuming this winter doesn't do any more damage, we'll see if I can live with two Molineux rather than three.

Kate

Jackie, your garden is absolutely beautiful. I could look at your photos all day.

I don't have enough space to plant in mass, but if I did I'm not sure that I would? I'd probably just buy more varieties... guess I would fall under the "collector" category myself! When I really like a rose, sometimes I do buy a second one. I have two Henri Martins Mosses, but they are in different parts of my garden and one is in full sun and the other in part shade. The one in full sun grew much more in the first year.

I do plant two minis of the same variety next to eachother so that they look like 1 larger rose. That gives them a little more impact and keeps them from getting lost in my garden.

Michaela

Our actual garden area is fairly small and, since it's divided into six subsections with paved areas between them, doesn't lend itself to planting anything en masse. I do, however, like continuity and therefore have doubles and triples of some roses (SdlM, Mrs. B.R. Cant, Le Vesuve, Grand Dame and the late Mrs. Dudley Crosses) but none of them are planted next to each other. The same is true of sea lavender, remontant irises and pelargoniums. The former two make babies and/or can be subdivided, so it's very tempting to fill up any empty spaces with them rather than going out and buying something new. I also know these are survivors in my garden, and so very many other roses and plants haven't been. Now that I think of it I do have two Pink Rosette planted together because they were so very puny when I bought them and haven't filled out much since then. I hope this spring will be a good one for them. I do like to see some space between my plants which gives me a feeling of peace and clarity, if that makes any sense. The only exception is Tea Rose Row, because the teas are meant to be seen as one entity, a flowering mostly pink and white hedge around the outside of a curving walkway, which is backed on one side by a very steep hill, which people who don't care for heights might not want to see and might pose a danger for small children.

If I had the space I would be tempted to grow two or three of the smaller roses together but as mentioned my garden is so chopped up that it's difficult to do. A large rose, such as Kate's three Molineux (now sadly two) appears to be, can be very effective, as it definitely is in her garden.

Ingrid

I tried the "3" plantings on a strip several years ago. The garden had potential to be pretty but some of the plants didn't thrive, some got crown gall, and my Gemini ended up with RRD. I wanted this area to be an established garden, not one with hard to find replacements. Now I just enjoy the mixture of roses, like a box of assorted candy.

Thanks everyone for posting. I was surprised by the many replies and I cherished every word of it.

I love your garden Jackie. Actually, I do love it and it is my type of garden. In my younger days, I always admire the formal garden but as I got older, I really love the informal and natural look. You got the magic touch. You made a very good point about being a designer or collector. I have to ask myself that question as well. Last but not least, you made a valid point about the height of the same rose in different climate. Now that I think about it, my golden celebration and L.D. Braithwaite is quite big after a few years. I think I will have to wait a year to see what the growth habit is of the D.A. roses I planted last spring. I can always add it later if I think it isn't big enough. Thank you, Jackie.

Kate, what a beautiful garden too. I definitely see the impact of molineux. It is perfect because it is not a giant. You definitely got the magic touch like Jackie.

Again, thank you all.

I planted 3 tall roses together to hide an air conditioner. It worked great and I didn't have to wait for a mature plant. Instant gratification.

Kate and Jacque, your yards are amazing! So beautiful!

I planted roses in three's for the first time last year. I have a very small garden, but wanted to put some roses in the front (for several years I resisted but couldn't any longer). I generally have groups of everything in the front border to the walkway to my house. As Jacque stated, the Austins are getting very big in their first year (and they are on their own root to boot!). I may have to move out a Lady Alex of Kent to another location. She is huge! I dont' want her attacking people as they try to get to my front door. That being said, the border by my front door is only a couple of feet wide, so I have to grow bushes/plants that don't get wide.

Because I have such a small yard, everything else is planted just as one plant. I love the variety and they do fill in.

Let me see if I can get some pictures of last spring.
{{gwi:288405}}

Front border

{{gwi:288406}}

back rose bed

As you can see on my back bed, my Abridge Rose (front pink) and my Evelyn Rose (tall one in the back) are reverting back to root stock and will be gone this year. As will Jude the Obscure as I DON'T like this rose at all.

I've planted a few HT's in groups of 3 because they never get very full in my climate. I have several mass plantings but only of smaller roses, not Austins or shrub roses. I have 6 Bonica plus one of the climbing variety. In a round boxedged bed divided in 4 parts by paths of granite setts I have up to 12 roses in each quadrant, white, pale yellow, amber yellow and pink. This is one of my oldest plantings, more than 15 years old so not all roses are still living. It is difficult to replace them because of replant disease so there are gaps.

(I wonder how many times I've shown this bed over the years?)

marian--I love that pic. Especially the yellow roses surrounded by green bushes (boxwood, I assume?), and the paths. So cool.

Kate

Marian, gorgeous garden!!!

Mustbnuts and Marian, both of your gardens are very beautiful and flawless. I am sure many people have said that before.

Thank you for sharing all your pics, it definitely open up a lot of possibilities for the rest of us.

I like the idea and look of mass planting. Ya'll have some beautiful gardens! I want to try it but have a few concerns: With roses being heavy feeders, won't they be competing for resources like water and nutrients and become stressed when they're that close together? Besides that, won't some of them appear like mass plantings anyway when they mature?

Also, when I look at some of the DA roses in pots (Lady of Shallot is a perfect example), they plant multiples in the same pot to give a fuller effect. I've always heard even solo, roses will get root bound after a few years. Won't it happen much faster with more than one in a pot?

I have 3 Julias planted as a wall between us and neighbors

A new bed going in will be one mass of Boscobel. It will be visual Impact ( I hope )

Jackie, I wanted my new yard to look like yours. I wanted winding paths with unexpected surprises.

My husband wanted a lawn, so I ended up with pretty linear plantings.

But, your yard is more my ideal.

Thank you Jaqueline for your definition of a "collector"! That's definitely what I am. And a crammer as well. I do see how planting a rose in groups would have a fabulous visual result, but for me, that would just limit my ability to collect roses I don't yet have.