Graham Porter’s gardening column talks roses

Jun 30 2009 By Graham Porter

Modern roses are divided into nine different groups, usually indicating growing habit.

Since the heady times of pre and post-war Britain when bush and standard roses dominated our thinking and our gardens, a whole new set of hybrids have emerged that are more relaxed in their habit, often highly scented and able to fit into almost any style of garden that you can think of.

This is to a large extent due to the hard work and dedication of growers such as David Austin who has used features from many of the old-fashioned roses in his breeding programmes to produce a new generation of English Roses.

You can visit David’s nursery and gardens at Albrighton near Wolverhampton. Call the Plant Centre on 01902 376334 or visit the website at www.davidaustinroses.com.

Do you fancy one of David Austin’s English Roses or you are looking for a new climbing roses to cover a wall or archway, a new ground cover rose to cover a bank or a traditional hybrid tea rose for a flower bed? Well, help is at hand with a website call www.findthatrose.net. You can order a copy of the 26th Edition of the Find That Rose book by writing to Find That Rose, 303 Mile End Road, Colchester, Essex, CO4 5EA – the book costs £3.60 and the CDROM costs £1.90.

To get the full story of the Rose in all its thousands of species and cultivars, you will need to study the RHS Encyclopedia of Roses (ISBN 978-1-4053-3511-9) and probably visit the Royal National Rose Society gardens at St. Albans in Hertfordshire (www.rnrs.org or call 01727 850461).