spacing between roses and trees...again

bart_2010

9 years ago

After seeing Lilyfinch's thread,I've decided to try once again with my question on calculating spacing between trees and roses. Sadly, when I first started my garden in my open woodland space more than 15 years ago, I had no experience and no computer,so I couldn't ask for help from people on forums like this one! Now, in lilyfinch's thread, somebody gave the excellent advice of saying to plan out the sculptural elements first;i.e., the placement of trees. Well, my situation is/was very different,in that there were already several large/mature trees in my garden space. I had some removed:three trees in the more central area were sickly and dying. I've since been working on this area; I've planted some roses.But I am finding that this area is really something of a problem:soil is lousy,and it gets totally roasted in the summer by the viscious sun of Italy.. I am thinking that it might be a good idea to add some trees in this area,to give some shade,and was thinking of Italian cypress trees,since their vertical shape would punctuate, not hide, the view. To do so I will have to remove some of the roses,but how many? On a similar thread of mine, I asked this and one very helpful person (I seem to remember it was a lady) told me she had an evergreen with roses only six feet away,so In was thinking to try this,especially since I've read that usually one calculates spacing between trees on the basis of the eventual mature spread of the tree in question...any thoughts? and forgive me for re-asking what is essentially the same question, but I like to re-propose it under this slightly different context...just in case! bart

Comments (6)

catsrose
9 years ago
Yes, you want to calculate your distances based on the mature size of the plants involved, in your case, both roses and trees. Also, you want to choose trees with non-invasive root systems. Italian cypress have a fibrous root system close to the surface, but I don't think it is very wide. You will want to plant your roses beyond the limits of the root system.
annesfbay
9 years ago
I think it depends on the root system of the tree. I have five vigorous roses (Miss Lowes Variety, Elisabeth's China, climbing Iceberg, a grafted Rugosa Alba and Arpeggio a floribunda) growing within 7-12 feet of three mature redwoods. Redwoods love water so I make sure to water the roses and the redwoods very well. Definitely not a water wise area of the garden! My soil is clay. I do not believe it is poor--I live in what was once called The Valley of Heart's Delight because of all the orchards. The orchards were replaced with semiconductors and tract housing after WWII, and became Silicon Valley.

Good luck with your new venture!

Anne
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bart_2010
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks, peeps! I read on Internet that ,at least in theory, one can plant stuff together with cypresses (in fact, one of the reasons why this tree became widely used in cemetaries is because the roots don't tend to interfere with the tombs),and they are certainly much less thirsty than redwoods! So,since Anne is managing roses quite close to redwoods (which, again according to Internet, have rather shallow root systems,unlike the cupressus sempervirens,whose roots apparently adjust to whatever situation they have,though they can not tolerate standing water),it's probably ok to try that spacing in my case. I guess I will be making sure that the roses I use for this area are of the vigorous sort, however!
BTW,it's pretty sad: "The Valley of Heart's Delight" being reduced to "Silicon Valley"...bart
rosefolly
9 years ago
In my Gardenweb bio, I still list The Valley of Heart's Delight as my home

Rosefolly
annesfbay
9 years ago
That is appropriate, Rosefolly, since you have your own nice little slice of the old valley! I'm trying to create a bit of that myself but with a smaller and flat space :-)

Bart, I look forward to hearing how your rose and cypress combo work out.

Anne
muscovyduckling
9 years ago
That sounds really lovely Bart. I can just picture a little clearing full of roses, framed by those cypress. We will need to see pictures, of course :)