Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => General Gardening => Topic started by: Pony Girl on June 04, 2014, 18:30
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My circular bed is starting to look a bit gappy now the forget me nots and iris have gone over. I've planted out some cosmos but think it could do with something to give it more depth. I love the cottage garden look. Do you think either a standard rose or a shrub rose would look OK?
It is next to a bed with an obelisk of sweetpeas and lavender so don't really want another obelisk.
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I always think that standard roses are a lot of work with the pruning they need to keep the right shape, and would opt for a shrub.
The David Austin roses make nice sized shrubs ;)
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Many shrubs can be grown and trained as standards, such as some varieties of Viburnum, cotoneaster. Chamaecyparis, Eucalyptus gunnii, Bay, and Willows such as Salix Hakuro-nishiki. Have a google and see what you think will fit in best for your cottage garden (which looks lovely by the way) and also whether you want an evergreen one or not. The above-mentioned willow has bare red branches, then catkins, then variegated leaves in summer. The variety of Eucalyptus also mentioned above is evergreen with lovely silver-grey-blue oval leaves and is best kept pruned to keep these young leaves being produced. It also has lovely flaking grey, cream and brown bark.
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The trouble is, lovely as many of those are GG, they all (except maybe the cotoneaster) develop a very large root system, which is a problem in a small bed :(
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Thank you Goose Girl. :-) It's my first real garden (moved here nearly two years ago) and I love it. OH thinks I'm slightly obsessed but it keeps me out of his hair!!
I think I've got my heart set on a blowsy David Austin English Rose at the back with maybe lavender in the middle and a smaller rose at the front. Hmmm now what colours?!! So much choice!
Can you transplant roses at this time of year?
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You can buy them pot grown now, but they are more expensive than waiting for bare-root ones in winter.