Amateur Gardening – 24 August 2019

28 AMATEUR GARDENING24 AUGUST 2019

Repeat-floweringrosesbloomthroughoutsummer

andoftenintoautumn,andnotallofthemneed

full sun – ‘Buff Beauty’ is happy in semi-shade

R

OSESareassociatedwith

theearlysummerbloomof

June,butmodernvarietieswill

flowerformuchlonger.Like

enduranceathletes,theyperform

non-stopthroughoutsummerandinto

autumn,sometimesproducingbudsin

November.In theaveragesmallgarden,

thesearethevarietiestochoose;they

easily earn their place by producing a

continuousshowof flowersthatperfume

theairwiththeirdeliciousscent.

In thepast,themajorityof roses

producedjustoneflushof flowersin

earlysummer.Andwithold-fashioned

rosesthatis stillthecase– although

thereareexceptions.Someoldroses,

suchastheancientDamask‘Quatre

Saisons’andthestronglyscented

‘MadameIsaacPéreire’,havetwobursts

of flowering:oncein summerandagain

in theautumn.Others,includingsoft

pink‘StanwellPerpetual’andthe

intenselyfragrant‘LouiseOdier’,bloom

withbarelya breatherallsummer and

even into early autumn.

Summer-to-autumnblooms

In general,though,forlongfloweringit’s

besttosticktomodernroses,whichwill

keepuptheshowallsummer,withmany

goingstrongduringautumnaswell.

Thefragrant,deepcrimsonDarcey

Bussell(introducedbyDavidAustinin

2006) has a second flush of flowers in

SeptemberandOctober;thewildlife-

friendlyblush-whiteJacquelineduPré

(Harkness,1989)bloomsin summerand

autumn;theyellowfragrantTogmeister

(PeterBeales,2010)flowersnon-stop

formonths;andtherichredsinglerose

PeterBeales(Heirloom,2000)is a great

repeat-flowererforcontainers.

Selecttherightvarietyandyoucan

enjoyrepeat-floweringrosesin shady

spots,too.‘BuffBeauty’is anapricot

HybridMuskshrubthatbloomsin semi-

shade,whilethornless,fragrantclimbers

‘KathleenHarrop’(gentlepink)and

‘ZéphirineDrouhin’(shockingpink)will

flowerformonthsona north-facingwall.

Byutilisinga fewbasicgardening

tricks,youcanmaximisetheirimpressive

flowerpower.Beforeplanting,loosen

thesoilat a generousdepthandforkin

organiccompostorwell-rottedmanure.

Positioneachvarietyaccordingtoitssite

preference,whichwillusuallybefullsun;

plantamongperennials(suchassalvias)

to reduce the spread of rose sickness;

Ifyouloverosesthenlongandrepeat-flowerersarethebestwaytokeepthe

romance alive.Hazel Sillverrecommendsthebestoptionsformonths of blooms

Roses

Non-stop

DarceyBussellis a repeatflowererwith

a second flush of flowers in autumn