Jackson and Perkins. Committed to home garden excellence since 1872.
I'm Penelope Hobhouse and I'm here at the invitation of Jackson and Perkins to
look at roses and to look at the different ways you can grow them. I love
growing roses with other plants. I think that's very important to me.
I like growing roses romantically through apple trees.
I like them sprawling over the ground but I love them almost best I think with
what I call companion planting which is putting in lots of bulbs and perennials
to go around their feet.
In my own garden that's what I do and there's some wonderful examples here of
not only roses growing above other plants and through them but clement is
growing through roses and all sorts of very good ideas.
So that's really the secret of I think making a garden and using roses as well
as you possibly can. Some people would call it cottage gardening. It's a nice
jumble but you combine the roses with plants with contrasting leaves like
irises or tall spiky fox gloves and the whole combination is like an English
cottage garden but it really works. It is the seemingly haphazard quality of the
planting which has led to modern garden style being called cottage garden.
At Chilcombe the tall cranberry flowers like a white cloud. On the pergola pink
roses are accompanied by feathery fennel and spikes of fox gloves with
hardy geraniums growing underneath. Apart from the rose these plants are rampant
self-seeders and at Chilcombe are encouraged to look as if they've arrived
in their position accidentally. Of course this cottage garden style
planting really works with companion roses. They are either on walls or
trellis or pergolas behind and above these cottage garden plants.
When you think about growing roses you don't think only about growing roses in
flower beds. You think about growing roses as climbers on walls. This is a
rose called Zephyrine Druin and it's rather a remarkable rose because you can
either use it as a shrub growing it in a flower bed or you can grow it on a wall
and it has no thorns. It's almost the only completely thornless rose but here
you see it growing on a wall but with the companion plant a wonderful dark
flowered clematis, one of the Jack Manny I sought and the colors go beautifully
together and you can see the rose stretching right back and because flowers
really basically are very seldom pure hues. Here there's a wonderful tinge of
blue in all these flowers. We have a very distinct blue pigment in the mauve and
here a deeper blue in the almost valid color and actually if you look around
you see the sweet pea that's got exactly the same color so this has been a very
carefully posed picture using all these different shades of mauve with the blue
which makes it so effective.
And when you're planning for color in the garden you should think not only
about the greens which of course are the foliage background to almost all your
flower color but think about the walls and the walkways.
All of these make a difference to how your color planning works out.
Sometimes it's nice to use just a single palette of color just in one corner like
this. Here we have a peach colored verbascum, slightly paler, almost apricot
foxglove and this whole area is backed by a pink brick wall with another
apricot colored rose on it.
In the yellow border at Hadspan roses are used to give extra structure in the
color scheme. Of course the border is not entirely of yellow flowers. In reality it
is filled with lime green, acid yellow, gray and silver and green leaves and the
overall effect is greenery with yellow incidents. Yellow in its pure form is the
palest and coolest color. Warm it up with orange and add adjacent reds and it
becomes hot and in this border it's used in the coolest sense. It catches the eye
and advances giving the same effect as patches of sunlight, particularly with
for silvery and gray foliage to set it off and link the spots of yellow together.
In one place in the Hadspan border, golden hop leaves, feathery bronze
fennels, Jerusalem sage and alchemicals all weave together with yellow roses in
the background and even the yellow roses are really creamy yellow not pure yellow.
In any yellow border a dash of blue will help the yellows to shimmer but don't use
too much. I think it's interesting to think about color in the garden but
learning color theory as an artist would is not all that much help to you
because in gardening colors are very rarely pure hues. Each flower or leaf has
itself many different shades and tones depending on the light, the season, the
time of day and its age. Look at how a white iceberg rose varies in color from
the creamy bud and centers to the translucent outer petals. Are they creamy
or even slightly pink tinted? Place the rose bloom next to a blue geranium and
the white seems whiter and brighter. Look at the detail of the flower of this
hardy Cranesbill and notice the markings there to attract pollinating insects but
with color variations difficult to define or give a color label. Most leaves
the dull colors in a garden scene are shades of green or gray, silver or even
dark or sometimes mysterious purple but texture of leaves is important too.
Glossy leaves reflect light, hairy gray leaves absorb it with silver foliage
giving out a shine. Silverier ringworms with metallic flowers and leaves
indicate that the plant comes from a hot dry climate and the leaves are able to
withstand hot sun. This is one called Miss Wilmot's ghost which seeds very
prolifically. It will grow happily in a well-drained soil.
Sometimes it's rather nice to have something with a little bit more
contrast and the eye needs the excitement of something bright to make
the paler colors actually more interesting. So here we have a bright
red rose behind these spikes and that just gives you that extra interest and
excitement and I think you can use color in that way as a surprise as an
excitement.
Flowers never exist in isolation and each flower color whether a tint which
is the paler version of the hue a shade the darker version of a primary color
or tone a more muted version each will be affected by colors next to it. Of
course the colors are not really altered it is how you perceive them that is
changed. I believe that you should learn some color book theory just like a
grammar and then put it in the back of your mind it is like eating or reading
or speaking. Allow it to filter through if you are planning a major color scheme
you can work on automatic pilot you'll know what will work with what and will
be able to estimate the effects colors have on each other. Blues and yellows
are complementary colors as different as possible from each other and opposites
on the color wheel. Blue or violet is the deepest color of all. Misty in daytime
fading quickly at night. Yellow is standing out like a beacon in the dusk.
Place blue and yellow together and they will both appear brighter. The eye
perceives them as differently as possible. Use grays to connect and link
your border compositions but remember that they will make the adjacent color
brighter and more glowing. At Hadspen in Somerset bronze leaves link the border
scheme bronze New Zealand flax and dark poppies blend together. In nearby scheme
dark atriplex the purple-leaved form of common aurac blend with red sweet
Williams with wine stained leaves. These strong reds can look garish in our
English light but in the strong Californian sunlight look harmonious.
I'm in John and Leslie Jenkins garden at Wolderton Old Hall in Shropshire and
this is not a very old garden although the house dates back to the 16th century.
Now I'm walking down the really amazing border of shrub roses and perennials and
they really know how to grow these perennials with the roses to set off
the roses and also to cover the bare earth underneath the stems of the roses
come up. We have masses of peonies, masses of Cranesville geraniums. This is
one called Magnificum. Here we have a peony which is double and white very
scented. It's called the Duchesse de Nemours. This is a very windy blustery day
and you can see the peonies have had their heads bashed about really almost
by the rainstorm but the Jenkinses are very cleverly staked these plants with
almost invisible twigs so the heavy heads are held up and don't collapse.
This is another Cranesville geranium this is called the Meadow Cranesville
and it comes in all sorts of different colors. This has got beautiful veined
petals but there are also double forms and darker blues and even almost white
ones. All the perennials in these borders are rather muted colors that they don't
try and attract attention away from the roses instead all the colors weave
together. Some of these ground cover perennials we've been looking at really
will grow in shade but these old-fashioned pinks the Dianthus
really need a lot of sun and they spill out over the edge of the brick. I love
this informal planting in a very structured formal pattern. More roses, a
sage, Salvia officinalis that you do actually use for cooking but this is the
purple leaf form and as we come to the end of this walk this is one of my
favorite perennials. This is the white form of the rather invasive flameweed
actually it's called Epilomium angustifolium album and what is beautiful
about it is that as the buds begin to form and just before they come out they
are pale green and then open to this almost pure white and afterwards they're
covered with white seed heads which float away in the wind and then that is
set off by silver-leaved anaphylis. It really makes a beautiful picture.
This is the flower garden. In this border rather differently from the one we
looked at with roses and perennials there are very few roses but the roses
march down the sides almost in a formal rhythm giving structure to the garden. A
lot of the perennials are in very nice pale misty colors which go well with
most of the roses too. White filarion, pink filarion and a slightly small salmon
red. Silver-leaved artemisias, tall hollyhocks, blue salvias and this
beautiful burning bush which comes in purple and white forms. It's volatile if
you strike a match here it will burn and it has most delicious smell leaves it on
your hands. It's really an oil. Yellow argaranthrums, daisy bush, more white
filarion and a repetition of the artemisia. I think the Jenkins's like to
repeat everything at least once in the border and the finally the border is
framed by two dark flowered roses. This is rose de rest and under planted with
silver stachys which sets off the deep red but also makes a wonderful ending
filling in the earth between the lawn and the paving.
Of course the rose that you choose for your own garden really does depend on
your personal choice and I don't think any garden could really be without roses
because they add such a wonderful quality to every person's garden. Always
remember in gardening that colors of flowers are particularly ephemeral. Rose
blooms probably last as long as any while their neighboring flowers may come
and go. Plan your borders for a flowering succession with roses as your fixed
point and choose your companion plants for their overall habit of leaf and
grace rather than for flower alone. All gardening is a bit experimental
manipulating color is just another way of trying new ideas and realizing new
visions. Don't forget the beauty of seed heads. Look at the beige seeds of
nectar scordon siculum. This was once an allium much easier name to say. It has
dangling plum and cream colored flowers and then forms buff beige seed heads. Grow
it next to roses and admire the seed capsules also of love in the mist.
Nigella damascena which are almost as beautiful as the pale blue flower itself.
We're at Montesfant Abbey looking at the collection of old roses but of course
it's not just a rose garden. It's a garden full of other plants all of which
make wonderful companions. They use the roses with a lot of perennials. Sometimes
low growing perennials that you see flowering almost before the roses start.
And then later perennials that come right up and if you plan to work with
your companion planting in rose gardening you can make the seasons very
much expand because you have early flowering plants and then late
flowering plants like the grey lichness with white flowers. We have blue salvias.
We have lanaria. We have spiky irises and tall white foxgloves all of which
contrast with the flowering roses. So the roses may iris themselves are over
but the leaves of course still give you contrast. The whole thing is very very
carefully planned but for this very gentle assembly of plants nothing is
too formal. We have sprawling shapes contrasting with these taller spikes
and above all just roses and scent and it's really wonderful. I like it very
very much indeed and I think that it's really the way to grow roses today. Try
and mix all these things together and get your muted colors into these
wonderful harmonies. Companion plants for roses have understated colors. They
harmonize with the rich pinks and mauves of old roses or set off and complement
the petals of the newer rose hybrids which are often brighter orange yellow or
even scarlet flowers. Companion planting is all about harmonies seldom about
harsh contrasts. Lavender really a shrub not a perennial is one of the most
beautiful plants to grow with roses. Lavender hedges flowering in mid to late
summer accompany all rose colors at the same time hide the base of the roses
usually their least attractive part. A lot of these perennials are plants that
what we call self seed they just send up volunteers all around and that helps get
this very natural look which Montesvante is so well known for. Clumps of white
lichness spring up between the rose bushes with silvery leaves and also being
a prolific cedar lichness comes in all sorts of colors from red to magenta pink
to white. Although really a short-lived perennial they usually come true from
seed there's no need to grow it specially just allow it to happen. Do a
bit of editing if it comes up where you don't want it or dig up seedlings and
place them where you do. Clary sage and its first cousin
Salvia scleria turquistanica known as the Vatican sage are both really
biennials but may well survive to flower again another year if you cut off the
flower heads before the seed ripens. They are both naturally prolific cedars and
once in your garden not likely to go away. Biennials including these sages
foxgloves mullions tall silvery thistles are amongst the most useful plants to
grow between rose bushes but some plants really perennials like Lunaria behave
like annuals and will flower from seed where the seed falls and germinates but
they will grow happily in sunny spots between the roses. They give a garden a
relaxed look as they go up through the rose bushes. What I love here is the
natural feeling the cottage garden look with roses and herbaceous stuff bulbs
everything flowering and flowing together and I think people don't really
always understand that roses are great plants on their own they have quality as
shrubs they're not only roses that you see bedded out and masked. I love growing
roses with other plants I love them almost best I think with lots of bulbs
and perennials to go around their feet as you combine them with other plants
they look wonderful they just are fantastic plants they have a class all
of their own
we hope you have enjoyed this exclusive Jackson and Perkins video with Penelope
Hophouse and that it inspires you to experiment with roses and perennials in
your own garden. In our upcoming catalogs we are featuring new perennial partner
combinations and pre-planned gardens to help make your garden planning easy. Call
us at 1-800-854-6200 to receive a current catalog.
Here's how you can reach us.
you