I'm very happy to show you some photos of my garden. I would like to spend few words abut the garden and it's setting before... Well, if you don't know, Sardinia (you can read more about here: http://www.sardiniapoint.it/ ) is an island, situated just at the center of the Mediterranean Sea. We are surely more renowned for sea, beaches and food than gardens... all my neighbours are filled with cheaper gardens with Pinus,Acacia, Eucalyptus and Melaleuca in awful arrangements :o/ Climate is a tipical hot, dry Mediterranean climate (like the California chaparral), with long, very hot summers and no freezing in humid winther. Not the ideal place for Roses...

So, about 10 years ago(I was 17 years old!) I fell in love with Old Roses, looking for a "english-style" garden, with mixed planted borders, Roses, perennials, and designed by colour schemes ...
Step by step, I designed my garden in "rooms" where Roses are the absolute favourites.

Look at the surrounding landscape

I've started in 1996 with the now called "Rose Garden", where is the largest part of Roses in the garden
A vista in 1999

And some more recent photos ;o)
The central path

The borders

The pergola, with 'Little White Pet' in the foreground and 'Mme Hardy'at right

And the main entrance.To the left is 'Buff Beauty', and to the right 'Mayor of Casterbridge', with 'New Dawn', 'Albéric Barbier' and 'Céline Forestier' in the pergola. (The path was just covered with Nepeta... :oP)

(To be continued... ;o))

Thank you for sharing your creation. I just wish I could stroll down that path and take in the beauty first-hand.

Kate

It appears you have an innate sense of design, will look forward to reading and seeing more about your gardening.

Allison

patricia

Yes, the surrounding area looks familiar. Those could be the hills I look at from my own garden -- that could easily be our chapparall. So the contrast is all the lovelier.

It's not just a garden.
It's a work of art in progress.

Jeri

Yes, I was young, but since then I was decided to become a designer... a garden designer. 10 years later... I'm an engineer and landscape architect ;o) grown up with his garden.

But let's come back to the garden! The "Rose Garden" was the start. For many years I've experimented here with Roses and plants combinations, in a pure "cottage-like" english stile. The Roses are mainly Old and Austin's, mixed with every sort of perennials and self-sowing annuals: you can see Nepeta x faassenii 'Six Hills Giant', Salvias, Hemerocallis, Helichrysums... and in some pics the tall Papaver paeoniflorum and Verbena bonariensis.

Another vista, take to the fence the last year:

As I grow up, I've changed a little my way to gardening, tryng to understand more the genius loci, in a sort of personal "english-mediterranean" way ;o)

Bit by bye, year after year, I've stole all the space to my father :o))). The begin of this garden-eating was the entrance to the house: a boring double border paired with Melaleuca armillaris. The wind come to pull down the first tree, then I've pull down the others, and make two mixed borders. The "North Border" have much more balance in his design, because the space was totally empty wen I've start to plant it, in 2001.

The tree in the center (Cercis siliquastrum) was trasplanted here from another corner of the garden, 3 meters high!! The "yellow" Rose is "Buff Beauty", a great favorite. The colour scheme, in apricot-yellow and blue, is developed with Teucrium fruticans, Artemisia arborescens (a native plant here), Nepetas, Felicia amelloides and the mauve-flowered Lantana sellowiana. This border have a peaceful appearance..

The "South Border" is quite different indeed. Here, my father had planted Hibiscus, Lantana and many other plants in a "random" arrangement. I had the absolute prohibition to dig up anything... so the plantig was more difficult. I've tried to soft the clashing colours in a "bold" colour scheme: first are crimson reds and silver (Rosa 'Sanguinea' with Senecio leucostachys, Pennisetum, purple-leaved phormium, crimson Salvias...), ten magenta, then purple and gold ('Mutabilis' in the front of Prunus cerasifera 'Pissardii'), then yellow, then yellow/orange and blue with a touch of white...

In this border I grow a group of golden Austin's, including 'Teasing Georgia', 'Pat Austin'(see the photo, with 'Sombreuil' in the background and Helichrysum petiolare 'Limelight'), 'Graham Thomas', 'Abraham Darby' and 'Charity'

Ciao!
Maurizio

I am also aware of how many of our plants at Mottisfont originate in your part of the world - Graham Stuart Thomas designed the walled gardens to be able to cope with intense dry heat and no watering, and indeed we still do not water.

Thank you for showing us the lovely garden you are creating - it should serve as an inspiration to us all!

Best wishes
Jon

Thank you for sharing photos! It's all very beautiful, very inspirational!

Thanks!

MichaelAT

Your garden is simply ravishing! What a paradise. How on earth do you manage to keep it so green in your climate? I live in Israel, where the climate is similar - so rain April-October, no frost and high humidity.
I have just planted some Austins for the first time and am waiting with baited breath to see what happens! What are your top few tips for managing the roses in the heat? How much to you water? I have been told 12 litres 2-3 times per week, but hopefully with a good mulch I can cut this down. What to you fertilise with?

Please share your secrets!!
Joanna

ENCORE!!!!!

Randy

Truly an amazing experience just to look at your pictures----I can't even begin to imagine how wonderful it would be to walk along your garden paths with all the roses spilling in all directions.

Absolutely amazing.

Thanks so much,

Florence

Jerome

@ Jon: Do you work at Mottisfont? WOW!! I've visited the garden the past summer... It was a little too late (3 July) for such a dry and hot season, but... what a beauty. I've fall in love whit a Rose I've never seen (and never heard) before: 'Sultane Favourite' (I'll ask you about it in another thread...). Last October I've had the real pleasure to meet Charles Quest-Ritson (I LOVE this men!!) in Caserta (Naples), and he has invited me to come back in England to visit more Rose gardens with him. I hope to do it very soon!!! :o)))

@ Carrie, the path is average 1 meter wide (3'1/2), and beds vary in width from 1 to 3 meters (10'). I think that 2 meters works well, if you don't have very large Roses: you can see the details of flowers and enjoy their fragrance at best. Look at the second photo: behind the bed to the left, there's another path that you can't see(a "service" path) and then a fence, with Roses ('Léontine Gervais' -salmon-, 'Albéric Barbier'....) and vines. I've tried to vary the hight of the Roses, and their shape: most of them are arching plants, so you need to "set up" the shapes with a more erect and vertical variety. Trying to give an apprearance of distance (the "Rose Garden" is much more smaller that you can imagine....), I've disposed at intervals the same perennials (look at the Nepetas...) to give a sense of progression. Poppies and Verbena bonariensis provide more vertical accents

(Roses are 'Barbara Austin' left and 'Sea Foam'right)

Another pic, showing one of my Austin's personal favorite, 'Saint Swithun', to the left foreground. In the background, all over the pergola, is 'Iceberg Clg.'

The grass in the paths is a Cynodon cultivar, know as "Uganda". It make a really beautiful lawn, but it require too much water and fertilizer, so I'm going to replace it with Paspalum vaginatum (Seashore grass ?), wich also retains green colour better than Uganda in winther. Vertical thin flat stones prevent the grass escape in the beds ;o)

@ Simona: è un piacere sentire qualche parola "familiare". :o) Sto facendo una fatica immane a scrivere in inglese -sarà pieno zeppo di errori ovunque!! :oP - ma è davvero un enorme piacere scrivere qui, dove ci sono così tanti veri appassionati. :o) Se torni in Sardegna vienimi a trovare!

@ Joanna: Drought is a big problem here. Last yer we've had no rain at all from March until October! In early may, mown in the fields was yellow straw, and in June the "macchia" was burning in the sun.
So, you must to have an irrigation sistem. I've also noticed that Roses dislike competitors (trees, big bushes...) in their neighbours: they remains small and weak. So, try to give them the right space and sufficient distance from these "all-eaters" (subtropicals are especially voracious). I water my plants as if every day in summer, but I have a light, granitic soil, and the planting is a real "overplanting" :o))). If you have a more heavy soil, you can water 2-3 timer per week, but deeply. Fertilizing is done 2 times at year: December-January, a slow release NPK+ micro and a tick layer of organic matter (manure, compost...); then in September a more fast release NPK fertilizer, to promote autumn growth and flowering.

I'll proceed and share some other pics... ;o)

Carol

I believe you also convinced me, a second-year old rose fan, that I must have Buff Beauty. I hope you continue to share more pictures with us!

Ciao!

What a wonderful garden. Thanks so much for sharing, I'm spellbound. You have created a bit of heaven.

Every time I feel tired of winter or want inspiration I look at your photos, read your descriptions, and feel refreshed. Thanks for so much loveliness.

What is the source of your water? A well?

First... Redbirds, you can't remain without 'Buff Beauty'!! If you have any doubt... look at this ;o)

Berndoodle, luckly we have a well, so we can easily water the garden, but I try more and more to use as less water as possible. Sure I have Teas, I only regret to have not planted them early!!

Another chapter of the story... ;o)I've told you that my garden it's an "expermental" one. Many Roses have come, many are still with me, some other ones no any longer... For many years "my" garden was just the "Rose Garden" and the entrance Borders, but I was looking around to conquer new lands :o)))

In 2003, I've convinced my father to pull down an awful Pinus canariensis groove 20 years old to make -litterally!-room for another piece of the garden. Here I've designed the so called "Mediterranean Garden" in blue and white colour scheme. This is I think the most dry and hottest corner of all the garden, with a poor, light soil. Fascinated by the amazing Beth Chatto's Gravel Garden, I've dreamed to have my own gravelly one. This is a sunken garden, round shaped to make a sense of enclosure. The colour scheme is in white and blue to emphasize a sense of freshness during summer evenings. I've used here few Roses, but they looks very good in the mixed planting, based on grey and silvery foliage plants, such Artemisias, Westringia, Helichrysum petiolare, Romneya coulteri, Vitex, Melianthus major,Echiums, Salvias etc. The garden it's on his peak from mid April 'til October
Here's a vista

the main entrance

and some plant's combinations

The Roses...
The best old style Ground Cover Rose I have ever seen, 'White Meillandécor', with Sisyrinchium striatum and Centranthus ruber 'Albus'

I'm growing here two climbing Roses as a hedge (they make the -thorny!-back to stone seats), trained horizontally over an iron frame: 'Lamarque' (with Nassella tenuissima)

and.... (how a gardener can be masochist?? LOL) ... 'Mermaid'! (Nobody seems to take a seat here... :oP)

Last fall I've planted also a 'Park's Yellow' (the Beales, "climbing" form) in front of a small Quercus ilex hedge near this garden ... we'll see next season!

Ciao!
Maurizio

I am going over the photos, looking at the companion plants as well as the roses. But the harmony of all is the most amazing.

When you have a small garden (1500 square meters... less than 0.4 acres) you must to work in the "in-bethween"... planting in every corner you can do it! So, I have Roses planted in every spot I can have space for them.
Near the house, there's an old, beloved 'Clair Matin', covered every spring with an amazing mass of flowers

In the front of the house, we have a large pergola covered with grapes. Why do not add a 'Mme Alfred Carrière'? Take from cutting two years ago, she's going to be more and more large. Few weeks ago I've also grafted a branch of the grape with Vitis vinifera 'Purpurea', the purple-leaved grape (...ssssssst!! Don't tell anything to my father!!). It will make a good combination ;o).

The last, big effort in the garden has been the creation, the past year, of a water feature just in front of the house. Here, I would like to create a sort of landscape scene, blending the garden itself and the surrounding landscape. Planting here is much more graphic and contemporary, with many grasses glistening in the evening light, shrubs from Mediterranean areas throughout the world, and a selection of Teas and Chinas: 'Mme Falcot', 'Mlle Franziska Krueger', 'Mme Lambard', 'Solfatare', 'Odorata', 'Safrano', 'Le Vésuve', Rosa chinensis 'Spontanea', 'Archiduc Joseph', 'Baby Albéric'... The colour scheme is a particular arrangement of bronze, pink, peach, salmon, whit just a touch of grey and purple.... it's difficult to describe and can seems to be strange, but it works!
A vista, with the pond in the center and a large Olive Tree in the background

Another one taken under the tree...

And the Roses:
'Safrano' with grapes and cardoons in June

'Mrs Foley Hobbs'

'Mme Falcot'

And the lovely 'Mlle F. Krueger'

Ciao! :o)
...

2. Do you have plans to open the gardens to visitors?

Sunny

Jerome

Rosefolly

Oh how I wish you were here to help inspire me to figure out what rose combinations to plant in my 2 "island" beds! I'm not so sure I want to mass plant all the same roses now. I just ordered 12 Archduke Charles china roses, which will ship out on Monday the 5th. Now I'm not sure I did the right thing, and I am sure it is too late to change my order! Perhaps I can split them between both beds instead of just one, and then figure out what other roses would look good mixed between them.

I've always thought all the roses had to be the same growth habit in order to mix them in a mass planting, but your gardens prove that idea to be wrong. I love how you have different sizes and shapes together.

You should publish a book someday, with a lot of pictures of your gardens. I would be one of your first customers.

Sandy

Randy

Trish

@Sunny: yes, we have a drip (that's right?) irrigation system for beds and borders, and sprinklers for lawn. We live here only in the week ends, and if you consider the number of plants, the lightness of soil... you can easily understand that we really need to have it.
The garden has been included "honoris causa" in a national collector's garden tour, so it's open to visitors. And I really like people come to visit my garden, I think gardens are made to share, and my garden have also bring to me my best friends :o)

@ Jerome: you must to have 'Mme Falcot'! :o)

@ Sandy: Don't worry, I think that your beds will look beautiful. There's no just one way to create gardens, and that's funny! It depends from the space you have, the surrounding plantings... if you'll see that it doesn't work well, you can change a little... gardens are never ending works ;o) and changing maybe it's the most exciting part of it.

If you have any other question, I'll be very honoured to (try to) answer ;o)

Ciao!

Wonderful job, I can only imagine how proud and happy you must feel to have created such a thing.

Stefan

Eduarda

Thank you for posting.
Carla

Please continue to post your pictures, and tell us what changes you are making, and what roses you've discovered this year. Thanks again.

George

Linda

From Italian roots.
Sonbie

I just noticed Clair Matin----I love that rose and hope mine will someday look like yours.

You live in Paradise.

Florence

I so enjoyed seeing your beautiful garden. Thank you for sharing it.

Andrea

Congratulations Maurizio,

Patrick

Absolutely breathtaking!

Thank you....I am struck speachless at the beauty of your rose gardens!!! I can't even begin to explain the sheer beauty that you have shown us...Thank you!

I am sooo glad that I have Buff Beauty growing in my rose bed. I only hope it grows as beautiful as yours. You have roses stuck everywhere!

You are a master at designing beauty!!! Thank you again!!!

Deb

I'll proceed soon with some other pics... but maybe it's better if I'll do it in another thread, ok? ;o)

Then comes the Rose season: from mid April until mid May is definitely the best time of year (as you can see in the pics). All the garden is pure joy.

Summer is time for Daylilies, perennials, grasses, and also waterlilies and lotuses in the pond, but few roses have good flowering this time (I left them going to sleep...)

In autumn, from September to November, there is another beautiful Rose time, with rebloomers joining grasses, Salvias ..and much more ;o)

Ciao! :o)

Maurizio, please post some more pictures for us to savor. Thanks in advance!

Do you prune Clair Matin? If you do---when and how much do you take off. I want my Clair Matin to look like yours.--
Thanks,

Florence

I've never been there but looking at these beautiful pictures make me long to travel. Please post more pictures.

I just found this and also keep going back and looking again and again at them, dreaming of sitting in a chair under that olive tree. Can't wait to show my husband.

Thank you for sharing.

Florence, my 'Clair Matin' was a cutting take from a neighbour's garden. My father planted her maybe 25 years ago. She do not resent drought, drooping many leaves in summer, but always covering her branches with flowers in spring and fall. This is a semi-climbing variety or big arching shrub, but in a hot climate, like mine, she grows more slender and rampant than in a colder one. I prune her every year in february, removing older canes and carefully arranging the new shoots she takes every year from the base. Left unpruned, in her no favourable position, she will became quickly a sparse branched, poor flowering octopus!
Laterals are shortened to 3-4 buds to have a compact growth, and a much more impressing flowering.

Ciao!
Maurizio

Rosefolly

Ciao!
Maurizio

Thank you for sharing your creation with us. It is a thing of genuine beauty.

Ronda

Carol

Thank you so much for posting this.

Please do share more fabulous pictures in future. It must be wonderful in every season.

A big hug to all, I miss you. :o)
Maurizio

Thanks,Florence

For those who can't read Italian, GOOGLE has a TRANSLATOR feature - just type GOOGLE TRANSLATOR in the search, and you will be amazed with how fast it can translate the post. Although the translation may not be accurate, but at least you can understand something.

Ingrid

Masha

If everyone want to know more about something, a design solution or some companion plants or the Roses ... or everything else, please feel free to ask.

Ciao!
Maurizio

One of my favorite posts....

*bump*

I am thoroughly enjoying your beautiful garden photos from the link of your Italian forum. What a treat for the eyes!

Please stop by the forum often to update us on the progress or changes of your garden. You have been an inspiration to us all!

My very best to you and yours,

Audrey

Rosefolly

Sherry

Rosefolly -- how do you find him on Facebook? I couldn't find his full name here...

I'll try to post some new pictures of the garden, soon. It has changed "a bit" since this first post!

Ciao!
Maurizio

p.s. It looks like you have many David Austins in full sun. I find I can't do that here as they seem to bleach out. Do you have that problem too, or is it simply a matter of establishing a mature plant?