I have Munstead Wood growing next to Lady of Shalott, I'm very pleased with the combo. The Lady is not flashy, she's a lovely, graceful rose. I'd call the color more yellow/gold than apricot/orange. I think it would complement Golden Celebration very nicely.

I love a pink and yellow combo. This year I'm planting Queen of Sweden next to Golden Celebration. There is a white Ducher in front of these two. Hope this helps a little.

Are these roses going to be in a row? Or in a grouping?

How about 'Charles Rennie Mackintosh' (more pink than lav.) or 'Leonardo da Vinci' for a supporting role. Since 'Golden Celebration' does get large (in our climate) you may decide you need 2 'L. of Shallot' for balance). Between one Lady and one Golden C. I think the latter is going to be, and should be, the major player.

A mauve lavender like 'Angel Face' may also work with 'Lady' and 'Golden C.' (altho more emphatic and not as interesting). The best way to know in advance is to beg, borrow or steal a bloom of the proposed rose, fasten it to a bamboo stake and place nearby. Stand back and evaluate (without the wisteria since it will bloom only once).

I also think in terms of clothing. My pants are golden yellow, the top is soft apricot, now what color should my shoulder bag be?

'Honey Dijon' would blend in and be secondary to Golden C. and Lady. Then a forth player could be the right soft med. pinkish.

One of these days someone will make a million by publishing a book specifically of rose combos of 3+.

The new bed is across the sidewalk from GC so they'll be in the same vicinity but not side by side. I have one Limelight hydrangea (a woody, pink/red fall color hydrangea) and plan to add two more evenly spaced about 8' apart. The groupings of three roses will go between the hydrangea. As in: Roses, hydrangea, roses, hydrangea, roses, hydrangea. I might plant the front of the bed with lavender if I can get it to thrive in my climate.

I was thinking the first rose (closest to wisteria and GC) would be Munstead Wood, the next three Lady of S and then a third grouping of three. I can't decide what I should put last. Another peachy one like LofS? I don't want the colors to be too too similar. 'Honey Dijon' looks nice but I want to stay away from HTs as I like a more OGR growth habit/flower shape and try not to spray.

'Limelight' sound wonderful. It grows 6-8 ft. With proposed spacing of 8 feet there won't be room for 3 roses between them. You will only have 2 feet left between them if they only grow to 6 ft. 'Lady of S.' is going to need at least 4 feet.

Rethink the number of plants and space requirements of each.

Agree with iris gal on the mature size of Limelight & hear it can get much larger than that. Also hear it can be severely pruned yearly after bloom but before new buds form. Been considering it for my garden so researching mature size.

Might consider Little Lime, which supposedly grows 3-5', or a third to half the size of Limelight. Your idea sounds charming!

Here is a link that might be useful: Limelight & Little Lime

This post was edited by vasue on Thu, Feb 27, 14 at 18:39

I have pat Austin next to mine...beautiful :)

Thanks for the advice about size. I had estimated before, something I'm just terrible at, because I didn't want to go outside in the cold. The space is 40' long and the one (6-8 yr. old) Limelight I have is about 6.5'. I do prune it in the fall to keep it from encroaching on what is currently planted in the same bed. The space available between this one and the next hydrangea is a full 14.5', not 8' so nearly double.

I've been thinking I could put a single Munstead Wood before the mature hydrangea. This is a smaller space and I've heard MW grows lower (is this correct?) so I thought it would be a nice beginning. The next section would be LofS, a hydrangea and then another grouping of roses finished with a hydrangea. I am hoping to find a rose with a similar growth habit and complementary color to grow on he other side of LofS.

My ideas have been all over the place. Carding Mill, A Shropshire Lad, Abraham Darby, Jude the Obscure. Any you'd avoid outright? Any that won't be the right shape? I'm hoping they're bushier rather than tall and leggy. The Golden Celebration I have started out bushier but a cane was broken off early on and I've had trouble with 'octopus arms' every since.