Guest Author - Hellie T.

Roses are part of a traditional English Garden. They are thought to be one of the most lovely flowers in the garden. A beautiful woman with a pale complexion is called an English Rose.

In the fifteenth century two warring factions were known as the Tudor Rose (white) and the Lancaster Rose (red)fought out their differences in the War of the Roses.

Roses go well with many perennials as well as shrubs - here are my tips on combinations that look good in an English Garden. Take time to look around your garden and see where you can fit in several roses.

Constance Spry is a lovely pink rose that is shown off to perfection by plain contrasting plants such as box, yew, conifers and is easy to grow although it does need some support.

If you have a large tree such as a beech or conifer then try growing a rose up into its branches where it will cascade down and the flowers will be more noticeable.
Wedding Day is a vigourous rambler with small fragrant flowers
Kiftsgate is another fierce grower that has creamy white scented flowers

Quick growing rambling roses like these can be trained over arbours, pergolas, arches or used to cover an unsightly shed. Or why not try making one into a standard or use a framework to allow it to casade down creating a weeping rose.

They can also be planted to grow up walls and go well with wisteria or a creeper like a dark green ivy.

Climbing roses doen't grow so tall as rambling roses Compassion has pinky yellow flowers, Shropshire Lad has scented pink blooms, The Pilgrim has soft yellow fragrant flowers, Mme Alfred Carriere has pinky white scented blooms- easy to grow.

Don't forget that roses can be used for hedging - all these roses grow to approx
3.5 - 5ft (1 - 1.5m).
Golden Celebration golden yellow scented flowers.
Mary Rose has pink fragrant flowers
Rosy Cushionhas soft pink flowers
White Pavement white flowers

You can use roses with many perennials. Remember, when you are planning your garden, choose the colours that you like and feel happy with.

To give you an idea of some of the mixes you can use

Complentary colour combinations can be - pink and violet, pink and red,
deep pink with white, cream and lilac.

Contrasting colour combinations can be white and red, yellow and mauve, pink and purple or orange and blue.

Enjoy your garden