Gardeners Tips

We have got over the season of Christmas Roses in boxes of chocolates at least! Passing over Helebores we consider many types of rose that can be grown in an ordinary English garden.

Wild Roses

These roses have 5 petals, a mass of stamens and produce large hips. There is a large range of size, scent and flower colour. There are approximately 150 species of wild roses.

Gallicia Roses

Amongst the oldest cultivated roses for the scent and medicinal properties. The plants are suckering with dark green leaves and bristly stems.

Damask Roses

The petals are distilled to make Attar of Roses perfume. Summer Damask flower once whilst autumn damask flower twice a year. The colour is generally purple fading to washy pink. They are grown in Turkey and Bulgaria for commercial perfume manufacture.

Alba Roses

Alba roses may have been cultivated since Roman times to form large shrubs with arching stems. The plants are very tough and can survive in neglected gardens for many years. Large volumes of white flowers show over a short flowering period.

Centifolia Roses

Dutch paintings of the 16th century often features these rounded double pink roses.

Moss Roses

Often depicted on crockery in the 19th century these roses have stems and sepals with a dense mossy cover in green or brown.Little or no pruning is required.

Portland Roses

A small group similar to Gallicias but with repeat flowering in bright red or pink. A tough and hardy rose.

China Roses

China roses have smooth leaves and less scent but the flowers have thick petals and smooth shiny leaves.

Tea Roses

With few thorns and smooth shiny leaves the yellow, apricot and pink flowers are graceful plants in a warm climate.

Noisette Roses

Originating from North America these plants combine the good scent and late flowering of Musk roses with the larger flowers of China and Tea roses.

Bourbon Roses

The rounded flowers in sprays are usually well scented were popular in the 19th century. See also

Hybrid Perpetual Roses

Coarser and leafier than teas these plants are prone to mildew but with strong colours and good scent they are popular for late flowers.

Climbing Roses

These roses are bred for climbing and need plenty of water to excel. Varieties may flower only once or twice per year depending on the parentage. They need support and pruning to get the best flower display.

Ramblers

Distinguished from climbers by the masses of small flowers in one flush. Generally they are originally a cross from a white climbing wild rose.

Ground Cover Roses

Developed to fill the need for trouble free spreading and weed suppressing with long flowering periods. Try Flower Carpet, Grouse or Nozomi.

Hybrid Musk Roses

One of the best small groups producing scented flowers in white, cream or pale pink.

Rugarosa Roses

Grows well and relatively trouble free in poor soil to produce single flowers and large decorative hips.

Shrub Roses

This is a catch-all grouping of wild crosses that do not fit other rose categories.

Hybrid Tea Roses

The traditional and popular type of cultivated rose bred for the tall bud and larger blooms.

Polyantha Roses

Repeat flowering small plants that have been bred to produce the floribunda varieties. They are often confused as miniature hybrid teas.

Floribunda

Masses of coloured flowers throughout the season they became a dominant type of rose through the last century.

English Roses

David Austin inspired old roses crossed with disease resistant modern varieties have produced some stunning plants.

Romantica and Generosa Roses

Meilland branded roses with scented double old fashioned, HT or climbing roses. Generosa are branded from roses developed by Guillot in France

Miniature Roses

All parts of these original roses are small and they are now grown as dwarf pot plants. I am trying several miniature roses in my rockery to add colour and interest.

Whilst you decide which roses to grow why not eat a Roses chocolate or two?

I have grown this sweet smelling plant for several years thinking it was a Sarcococca but comparing this photo to others on Google images I am now having doubts.

Sarcococca Hookeriana aka “Himalayan Sweet Box” is evergreen growing and flowering in light shade.

Sarcococca Confusa aka Christmas Box or Sweet Box are evergreen shrubs with simple, leathery leaves and tiny, fragrant creamy-white flowers in winter or spring, followed by red, purple or black berries.

According to Thompson & Morgan ‘The winter blooms of Sarcococca hookeriana humilis emerge against a backdrop of lustrous, dark green leaves, with a powerful honey scent that will stop you in your tracks. The white, spidery flowers are followed by spherical, glossy black berries. Once established, this versatile, evergreen shrub needs little maintenance and tolerates a wide range of conditions – even difficult spots in dry, shade. A useful plant for borders, shady woodlands, and containers, or grown as a low, informal hedge. Height: 60cm (24”). Spread: 100cm (40”).’

We are familiar with Cotoneaster horizontalis in urban gardens producing masses of berries to feed the birds in late winter.
The larger shrubs and trees also provide a similar avian food supply and look very good in a larger garden.

Cotoneaster species number over 250 and the section devoted to larger trees and shrubs is called Chaenopetalum.
The flowers are produced in corymbs (flower clusters whose lower stalks are proportionally longer so that the flowers form a flat or slightly convex head.) The blossom has more than 20 floweras together. The creamy white petals open flat.
Many species are evergreen and generally larger shrubs but Cotoneaster frigidus are small trees up to 50 ft tall.

Small Tree Species
Cotoneaster Cornubia watereri group has red fruit that can weigh down the branches
Cotoneaster hybridius pendulus with glossy leaves
Cotoneaster watereri are a group of strong growing plants with orange – red berries loved by birds.
Cotoneaster ‘Exburiensis’ like many other species have leaves that turn red in winter.

Not to everyone’s taste but Ivy or Hedera species are the most frequently grown, year round, climbing plants. Try these alternatives.

5 Top Evergreen Climbers

Solanum crispum ‘ Glasnevin’ is a shrubby climber that needs to be tied in to wire supports. It will repay with prolific blue blossom with yellow stamen during summer and autumn.
Lonicera henryi has purple flowers followed by small black fruit. It is a good twining and climbing plants to grow up vertical supports.
Lonicera japonica variety Halliana is another honeysuckle this time with scented yellow flowers. It will only loose the leaves if the winter is exceptionally harsh and cold.
Trachelospermum Jasminoides is heavily scented when in flower. It grows aerial roots and like most scented climbers prefers a warm south facing wall.
Clematis armandii flowers in late winter and covers a large area such as a wall or fence clinging with twisting leaf stalks.

Evergreen Ivy Tips

Try a variety other than common Ivy such as Hedera colchica ‘penata variegata’. You get better colour or leaf form but retain all the benefits.
Ivy provides food and shelter for wildlife and a year round backdrop for your garden.
The aerial roots should not damage a sound wall but the young rootlets may loosen bad mortar.
The leaves can be plaited to create wreaths or used as a filler in decorations.
Ivy can be grown on steep sloped as ground cover that protects soil from erosion.

Photo credit
Kew 056e by Michelle Bartsch CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Ivy by R~P~M ‘Ivy leaves at sunset, Lower Salden Farm, Mursley’ CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

With knobbly fruit that are all dimpled and uneven Arbutus unedo is a group of trees and shrubs that fruit with strawberry like red berries.

Variegated Arbutus unedo
Variegated shrubs such as ‘Ukigumo’ are successful grown in shade.
Fruiting is less dominant on variegated forms. The round knobby fruits gradually ripen to strawberry red.
The evergreen glossy foliage can be quite beautiful. The cinnamon-colored bark is also attractive.

Arbutus unedo ‘Compacta’, Killarney Strawberry Tree from Thompson Morgan
‘This striking shrub makes a superb focal point for year-round interest. Its leathery, evergreen foliage and peeling, cinnamon brown bark form a superb backdrop for the clusters of small, white, urn-shaped flowers in autumn. The dainty blooms give way to scarlet red fruits that only fully ripen in the following year, as a new set of flowers emerge. The edible fruits of Arbutus unedo ‘Compacta’ have a sharp aftertaste when eaten raw, but can be made into jams and preserves for a sweeter, guava-like flavour. This neat, compact variety is an ideal specimen shrub for a sheltered position. Although perfectly hardy once mature, Arbutus will appreciate a layer of fleece for winter protection when young. ‘

Arbutus andrachneor the Greek Strawberry Tree is less hardy in the UK as it is native to the Mediterranean.

Photo credit
Arbutus berries by GerryT CC BY 2.0
Arbutus unedo by Xevi V CC BY-NC-SA 2.0