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tips/tricks to combining roses with roses?

I would LOVE to hear you alls tips/tricks/experiences for combining roses with roses. Like, what classes do well together?

I have several noisettes and HMs coming. I'd like to keep them near sitting areas. Is that a good idea?

What bloom types? What growth habits?

I have several once blooming singles and I'm curious what remontant roses will go well with them?

Do you put the once bloomers in pots and then shuffle them off after bloom?

I have two white pets, two pink pets and two Marie Pavie coming. I thought they might look nice together with smaller teas?

Apricot/yellow seem pretty with the crimson/purple/lav/mauves

This is why I'm seeking pictures.

Also, Mutabalis--is it eventually a hedge?

Do I plant larger roses further away? Obviously the smalls will need to be along paths or near sitting areas...

Oh dear...I'm overwhelmed.

Thanks!

Susan

Comments (6)

  • ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
    11 years ago

    Susan, I think everyone probably has their own way of arranging their roses based on their tastes and what kind of look they're trying to achieve, and it may also vary in different parts of the garden. I can only tell you what I did and what pleases me.

    After several false starts I found out that strong colors didn't appeal to me and looked too artificial against the hilly and rocky background. I took out yellows and strong apricots, although I still have Cl. Lady Hillingdon growing against the house wall and the soft apricot Miss Atwood in my row of tea roses that flank a walkway. Generally speaking I mix singles, doubles and semidoubles. My very large Mutabilis is against the house wall with shorter roses like Souvenir de la Malmaison, Potter and Moore, Sister Elizabeth, Mme. Dore, Mr. Bluebird, Blue Mist and Burgundy Iceberg in front. These are interspersed with sea lavender, cerise pelargoniums, day lilies and reblooming irises in various colors. Keeping the colors soft and harmonious allows me to have variety in the shapes of the flowers and different heights of the roses, and everything blends quite nicely.

    In the back of the house I have an area where the roses are various shades of lighter and darker pinks and lavenders such as Bishop's Castle, The Dark Lady, Pretty Jessica, Baptiste Lafay, Leveson Gower, Mme. Dore and Mr. Bluebird. Other plantings include two lavender crape myrtles in the back, four junipers flanking them to give some substance when the crape myrtles lose their leaves, reblooming irises and sea lavender.

    What's important is to be clear in your mind what kind of feeling you want your garden to have and then to plant according to that theme. It takes trial and error (much error in my case), but it's also fun and challenging.

    Ingrid

  • melissa_thefarm
    11 years ago

    I tend to group the once-blooming roses of European origin together, and the warm-climate roses together. In the case of hybridized classes--Hybrid Perpetuals in particular--it depends on which side of their ancestry they lean towards. Portlands look very much like the Europeans, with their rough matte foliage, as do such HPs as 'Reine des Violettes' and 'Marchesa Boccella', and so they go with the Gallicas, Albas, Damasks, and so on. An upright smooth-foliaged HP like 'Baron Girod de l'Ain', on the other hand, that bears a distinct resemblance to a Hybrid Tea, I could place with either group. Hybrid Musks and English roses, with their smooth stems and leaves, look best with Teas, Chinas, and most ramblers and climbers. So I like best to keep foliage types together, but mix different habits (upright, arching, thicket-forming) and colors. Whether a rose is once-blooming or repeat blooming doesn't matter that much to me. Oh, yes: I think your Polyanthas would go well with Teas--I place mine together.
    Like Ingrid, I like to mix different bloom types, singles, doubles, and semidoubles. I like to mix colors, though I tend to dislike hard contrasts, and of course not all colors go with all other colors.
    People have different tastes in color, so I can't say anything about putting red roses next to white ones or combining yellow and pink, but there are a couple of things I have found out. One is that combining roses of the "same" color is risky: there are many different reds, for example, and two red roses side by side have an excellent chance of clashing horribly. And too many roses of rich hues together give an unpleasantly heavy effect. I found this out when I planted a line of Gallicas, with leaden results.
    This is elementary, but I could see myself making this mistake: keep your smaller roses in front of your taller ones, and place small roses where they won't be overwhelmed, visually or physically, by the behemoths.
    I adore the once-blooming roses and have a lot of them. I can't think of many of them, if any, that could be comfortably grown in pots. For seasonal interest I rely partly on companion planting, such as bulbs in spring, perennials for texture and variety of flower. I always found that I loved the whole cycle of growth of the once-blooming roses: the new growth in spring, the development of the buds, which are often fragrant in their own right, the ripening of hips and a certain modest fall color afterward, the naked canes in winter. These are plants to be appreciated as shrubs, and not only for their flowers.

  • bart_2010
    11 years ago

    Ingrid and Melissa have given excellent advice, I think. I myself am still in the "trial and ERROR" phase,but I've discovered a couple things that I'll pass on ,though they are probably just re-iterating what these two ladies have said already.
    I agree that it's best to avoid two "reds" together. I put the word red in quotes, because this colour is difficult to define (and photograph, for that matter). Some people define certain deep pinks as red,for example (I believe that on HMF, John Cabot is defined as "red",yet for me,it's a luscious deep purply-pink. Or, for example, on the Vintage site,Alexander Girault is defined as "true red",, yet for me, there again, it's a unique and very beautiful deep pink). I made the mistake years ago of putting Super Excelsa near Barni's Pretty Pink (this latter is,to my eye, more a carmine pinky red than an actual "pink" in colour)...AWFUL!!!
    Another hideous mistake I made was: I thought to make a warm orangey-yellow zone, and I put Westerland in amongst some Teas.Dreadful! In this case, it wasn't really just the loud, modern colour of Westerland that was out of place, it was the style of the plant; amonst the graceful and delicate bearing of the Teas, it looked like the proverbial elephant in a china shop.I've moved Westerland up on a hill, in a corner,surrounding it with Clair Matin (my sister's idea) and Climbing Mrs Sam Mcgredy,hoping that these two will soften it's effect. I am beginning to think that I am not too fond of bright oranges; I've always known that I don't care at all for "cardinal", "fire-engine"-type reds.It can be very difficult to forsee the actual effect that two colours will have together in real life,so don't worry about it too much. Roses are easy to move, really, as long as you do it when the plant is dormant, so do your best at guessing what you'll like, and if something doesn't work for you, move the offender out next autumn! regards, bart

  • Poorbutroserich Susan Nashville
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks for the suggestions. You all provided good information. At this point, my primary goal is to have the fragrant roses near sitting areas--elementary--and harmonious color groupings.
    I appreciate the tips on foliage, hips, and Reds!
    Susan

  • harmonyp
    11 years ago

    I think the best tip is to try to find out for your zone, what size each rose will mature to. Perhaps easier said than done, but at least get some idea. My top reason for moving roses has been size mismatch for the area or surrounding plants.

    Color combos are so personal. If you have enough room, it's fun to play with different combos you think will work. Personally I love Red/Orange/Yellow combos (which is why I'm starting to love mixing them up with Canna Lillies). For me, Lavendar goes with just about anything - with peach/apricot, yellows, pinks. Pinks look good with one another. Blends are fun to bring two different colors together. But in the end, now, when I have a new rose, I just feel lucky to find a spot to put it in, and a spot is a spot is a spot. Planning out the window.

    Singles, doubles, high pedal counts - to me they all look wonderful in any combo. I think it'd be hard for me to be displeased with any combo though so perhaps I'm not a good judge...