In re-designing my front and side yard, I have very limited mixing of OGR's with moderns but the modern must have an old fashioned bloom or form. I cannot seem to wrap my mind around a hybrid tea standing at attention next to a nodding and ever so charming Tea rose or even an Austin....but I am new to the Antiques that I am enamored with.

Have you found a pairing or grouping of these roses that really works visually?

Lynn

Since I wasn't sure how well HTs would fit in, I deliberately bunched a lot of them together in their own subsection in the middle of a larger bed. I made a Perfume Path right through the middle of that bed--curving path of stepping stones with highly fragrant HTs lining the path. As you move away from that path on each side, the mixtures tend toward floribundas, shrubs (including Austins), and minis.

The back bed is a combination of shrubs and Austins and hybrid musks and a rugosa.

In the area between the hydrangeas are 3 polyanthas; on the other side of the hydrangeas are Austins and shrubs and minis.

In another narrow bed I have all pastel colored roses: a bourbon, an Austin, a floribunda, a shrub, and several minis.

Another strip along the driveway has several HTs (or maybe one is a grandaflora) plus a couple hybrid perpetuals. Then there is a white decorative archlike seating structure, with 3 Austins on the other side.

I tend to look at smaller sections of the plantings--such as the strip along the driveway, and there, very modern colors (including hot pink) mixed with older shades of medium pink (hybrid perpetual) work great. I can see, however, that if I had lots of OGRS I might be reluctant to mix in the occasional modern color or shape. But my gardens are mostly modern with a few older types mixed in where they look pretty good.

I also have perennials and bulbs in my gardens--I think having roses and perennials/bulbs mixed together probably also gives me more lee-way to mix different types of roses together. At any rate, I like my mixtures.

Kate

I am fairly satisfied with my shady white bed, or rather, my pastel bed. Madame Plantier is the centerpiece with Louise Bugnet to the far left and three Karen Blixen at the right end. The polyanthas Katharina Zeimet and Marie Pavie are in front of the Madame. The perennials behind and between are pale blue delphiniums, the pale blue viola Bolton Blue, astrantia Roma, pink geraniums, pink phloxes and sidalceas, echinacea Magnus, London pride and darkleaved heucheras. In spring there are Delft's Blue hyacinths, white and blue muscari, alliums and camassias.

In general I'd say the Austins are designed to mix well with OGRs, since they were bred to carry over those OGR characteristics into repeat blooming flowers.

Cynthia

Seil... LOL

Mariannese, do you form a triangle with the three moderns or place then side by side?

Cynthia, this summer I fell for the antiques and a whole new world of roses has appeared... well for me. I immediately planned a re-design of my front and side yard with fragrant OGR's. My backyard has vibrant, lively colors; like a Joseph's Coat Climber. The roses are so healthy and I cannot rationalize removing them, but I would love to mix Austin's, bourbons, or teas with these moderns. The couple of moderns that I have mixed in another area have a more old fashioned bloom. I am having difficulty visualizing mixing the old roses with moderns that have a modern look.

Companion plants can definitely help to blend different kinds of roses together, but what counts for me is how a rose makes me feel, and many modern, highly colored and more stiff-looking roses don't please my eyes and heart, and I'm content to leave them for others to enjoy.

Ingrid

I believe that every rose likely has its place. I find that modern hybrid tea roses look great in formal gardens and other settings. The deep classic reds and yellows etc. also look great when the home or formal structure has a color that creates a nice complimentary back drop for the roses. The Whitehouse rose garden is one that comes to mind.

Lynn

I don't have a photo of the whole border but I'll add one of the rose I forgot to mention, Jacqueline du Pré, here with astrantia Roma. I like to mix roses of all shapes, doubles, singles, big and small, old and modern. This border is near the house so it must look good from spring to fall. Good, but not perfect because it is a little too jumbled with flowers from the entire season crammed in. The violas and the geraniums are the only flowers that last for the whole period.

Yesterday I noticed a combination of two roses which were both blooming, planted next to each other more by chance than by planning. One was one of our old HTs growing in a pot, and the other was my favorite tea rose, growing in the bed right next to it. They looked fantastic together! I think it was that both had similar size fully open blooms at that moment, and they were sort of "blousy" looking. Also, one was a pale pink, and the other was a pale buff yellow at that time (it varies), and the colors went together great - not just the colors, but that they were both very soft hues. The pink one is La France (HT - 1867), and the buff one is Anna Olivier (tea - 1872). So, in this instance the HT rose is actually older than the tea rose!

Jackie