The rich red of Tess of the D’Urbervilles, against a tapestry of blackberry and plum tones from the Penstemons, dark leaves of one hydrangea and the cranberry flowers of Pink Annabelle. These might not all be bedfellows in your border, but the colour associations can still be made. Tess is one of David Austin’s Fragrant English Climbers, and I’m thinking of a richly-coloured Clematis viticella…
More roses, while we’re on the subject –
Gertrude Jekyll, with possibly the finest Old Rose scent of any David Austin roseTranquility, a relatively recent introduction, very healthy with beautifully formed blooms with a lemon centre.A Shropshire Lad, a large shrub or small climber, with large fragrant flowers, fading to blush pink and creamA Shropshire Lad grows up…Myrrh-scented shrub rose, Scepter’d Isle. Icy pink frosting with an aniseed fragrance, beautiful sprays of flowers on a compact shrubMore myrrh-fragrance here with English climber, Wollerton Old Hall – the small round buds develop into big goose-eggs with rich pernod-scent…Crown Princess Margareta matures to soft creams, palest coffee, peaches and apricots…Grace, superbly healthy and free-flowering with distinctive petal forms, though for me, without scentA change of pace with this bright charmer, Benjamin Britten. The petals develop a silver sheen with age and the flower die beautifully! What more can you ask?A little China Rose, Perle D’Or, a vigorous slender shrub, continuous flowering with small, pretty flowers
Meanwhile, and for balance, a few flowers that are not roses..
A double poppy, Pink Peony maybe?These I will have to add to the borders in my care next year!Foxglove continue to give a great show – paired with a soft bi-colour Delphinium here…Campanula Pink Octopus – it is winning me over, gradually, and might find a container home for a season, maybe…
Pinks, purple and whites…
Fiery Oranges pale to creams
Blue and whites
Blues, mostly with sharp bare white
and finally,
The giant globes of Allium Gladiator, more than 4′ (1.2m) tall in the Cutting Garden at Petersham Nurseries.
Martin Ogden - gardener and photographer, rose-whisperer and garden wanderer. Loving all things horticultural and learning every day. On the cusp of new adventures in Dorset...
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The Teddington Gardener 