I was hoping to get some design advice/suggestions for a situation I have.

First, I live in Tampa. I have a back patio that looks over my detached garage, so I am trying to improve the view. The garage is a butter yellow with side-boards, so it is very cottagy looking. The flower bed that I have built to "screen" the garage faces southwest and has reclaimed drip irrigation for water. The length of the bed is 20 feet by 4 feet deep (but I can make it deeper if I need to.) I have a white arbor placed in the middle of the bed with two-year old climbers growing on it- Pinkie and Viking Queen (who is so tiny, but is disease free and hanging in there!).

My question is that I would like tea rose hedges flanking the arbor and the climbers to fill up the rest of the garage wall space. We are talking about 6'feet on either side of the arbor to work with. I would like the hedge to be no more than 4'-5' feet tall and thick foliage is more important to me than flower form or scent. I want it to anchor the rest of the things I will plant in front (herbs, cottage flowers, other small scale roses like SDLM), to create a cottage garden look. It must be roses because I don't want to deal with a lot of roots in the rest of the bed, and I love them anyway. It also must be pretty disease free, since I don't spray (trying to attract bees and other polinators and am close to water).

I have been growing roses on a limited scale for 25 years, but because this is a new house and a unique situation, I am a bit stuck and want to do it right from the get-go. I was thinking about Old Blush (the ARE website says it makes a nice hedge), and liked it at may old home where it grew as a single specimen, but was thinking about others like Papa Gontier, Mrs. B.R. Cant- but maybe these get too big. If anyone else has experience with some other teas that would look good as a hedge and in this situation, I would greatly appreciate it!

I got mine from Seminole Springs Farm in Eustis about 3 years ago and it is just about 4 to 4.5 feet tall. It might get a little taller but it's been moved twice (so far lol). Truly a carefree rose, doesn't need spray or much attention. Nice spicy tea scent.

this photo taken a year ago from walkway below so the bush looks much taller. It has also filled in quite a bit since then :-)

Denise

Ingrid

I have several other teas that are really densely leafy: Bermuda's Anna Olivier (fat pale yellow flowers in abundance), Enchantress (supposed to be a small tea, magenta flowers), Souv de Francois Gaulain (don't know how big he'll be yet, magenta flowers with silvery reverses), Jean Bach Sisley (a Tea/China, lovely foliage, gorgeous pink flowers, sometimes in cooler weather quartered), and last and probably best, LeVesuve (a totally wonderful rose and plant, heavy bloomer, big luscious flowers, pink with dark pink somewhere so you get a bi-color look after the flower is open for a while, didn't mind summer heat and lack of water, kept on blooming big flowers, no BS.) I have three now and the climber.

I would say with 6 feet on each side you have room for one Tea rose bush on each side unless you choose Enchantress. Then maybe two, I'm not sure since mine is only 8 months in the ground. Mrs B R Cant will probably be too big unless you want to enlarge your bed to 8'-10'. I don't think she would give you the right look. At minimum the others will be 5' across, maybe 6'. I don't know how much 'hedge clipping' Teas will take. Probably not much. They'd be better in a situation where they can just be what they'll be. Chinas can take trimming and shaping, I'm told, but I have not done it myself. It seems like if you extended your hedge beyond the ends of the garage you could have 2 bushes on each side which would have a really nice look when they're mature and grow into each other some.

Don't forget to keep us updated photographically.

Sherry

- of the Tea style of its bloom shape, much more exquisitly formed than the simple rounded shape of most Polyantha roses, though I'm also a big fan of that class of rose.
- beautiful foliage, each leaflet is a very dark green, almost a forest green, and there is a great abundance of it.
-smooth stemmed. Few prickles make it easy to trim.
-fragrant, a blend of old rose, with a hint of spicy black pepper.
Two forms of M.C.B would be good for hedging:
The original form grows to be a dense plant of 5' tall or just under, where I live in Northern California, because it naturally remains at c. 3 feet + a few inches wide, it would not need much trimming to keep it within a narrow bounds, because it is not very wide.
The spray version of M.C.B grows much larger and can cover an area of 8 feet in every direction. A plant near my home is grown as a hedge. It is kept at 6 feet tall by nearly as long and 3 feet wide to marvelous effect, but this would need regular trimming to keep it narrow. It blooms far more often than the climbing forms of M.C.B..released in the 1900's.
The blossoms of 'Mlle. Cecille Brunner' appear especially lovely when gathered in a 2 inch tall bud vase.
I would also try hedging these lovely Tea roses;
'Mrs. Dudley Cross' is a dense grower with few prickles and could be hedged, but because it is naturally a wide bush, would take more work to keep it a narrow hedge.
'Etoille de Lyon' which has been kept just under 6' tall, by 5 and 1/2 feet wide, here. Not many prickles. Light yellow roses have a delicious fragrance, like honeysuckle and cream to my nose.

What climbers are you considering?
Luxrosa