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Rosa ‘Queen of Denmark’ | Pink Alba Rose

Rosa Queen of Denmark | Pink Alba Rose with long sepals
This old rose has full, flat, quartered blooms

I’m aware that rose cultivars achieve something approaching immortality when small parts of the plant are passed from person to person down the generations, but it still seems amazing to think that Rosa ‘Queen Of Denmark’ has been around since 1816.

Its bicentenary came and went with less fanfare than that accorded a human queen, but the important thing is that people are quietly growing it around the world. You may know it as Rosa ‘Königin von Dänemark’. Continue reading “Rosa ‘Queen of Denmark’ | Pink Alba Rose”

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Beautiful Ways To Train And Support Rambling Roses

Rosa 'Malvern Hills' trained in an arch shape around a door
Rosa ‘Malvern Hills’ trained in an arch shape around a door

A rambling rose will grow against almost any garden structure and can be encouraged to scramble into a tree. Most ramblers need to be tied to, or woven around, their support while the canes are still young and flexible.

If you only check one thing before buying a rambling rose, make it the height, which should be a good match for the structure it’s going to be growing against. A common mistake is to choose too big a rambler: you’ll have to keep cutting away potential flowering stems to prevent your rose from completely swamping the arch, arbour, obelisk or trellis. Here are some ways to support rambling roses that will show off these beautiful plants to their best: Continue reading “Beautiful Ways To Train And Support Rambling Roses”

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Sheeny Petals

Close up of a double apricot rose with sheeny petals
Rose

I loved these petals with their soft, complimentary colours and mix of light and shade. I took the picture at Farmer’s Branch, Texas a couple of years ago and know that someone is going to ask me which rose it is, which gives me a problem. The form reminds me of Rosa ‘Lady Emma Hamilton’, and the colour of Rosa ‘Jubilee Celebration’, but I believe it’s Rosa ‘Lady Of Shalott’, which was looking so good during our visit that I later persuaded my sweetheart to plant one in his garden. Continue reading “Sheeny Petals”

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Rosa ‘Princess Alexandra Of Kent’

Rosa 'Princess Alexandra Of Kent' covered in dew
A dewy Rosa ‘Princess Alexandra Of Kent’

An English Rose that pretty much has it all. The flowers are huge, fragrant, and very distinctive because of their deeply cupped flower form, although you can’t really appreciate the depth of the bloom from this angle. The colour is classic rose pink. It’s a shrubby type of rose, but fairly compact, with stems sturdy enough to bear the weight of the flowers. Continue reading “Rosa ‘Princess Alexandra Of Kent’”