Six on Saturday: March of the Roses

These Rose Color Houseplants represent the famous hue of rose in the magnificent shade of red-pink. Grow them in your rooms for the awesome colors!

Perhaps not known for his greenfingers, it seems apt to quote the musician Paul Weller, who in 1978 gave us the great lyric ‘No matter where I roam, I will return to my English rose’. Because no matter how many other garden plants come and go, the popularity of the garden rose never seems to diminish. You might not see many in a Chelsea Flower Show garden but us gardeners know some good plants when we see them and roses regularly top polls for the nation’s favourite flower.

Set back on an 11-acre property in Surrey is the faded-brick Arts and Crafts house that once belonged to the influential British horticulturalist, garden designer and writer, Gertrude Jekyll VMH, Munstead Wood. Gertude was the first woman to be awarded the Royal Horticultural Society's Victoria Medal of Honour – the most prominent of awards for British horticulturalists – following an illustrious career during which she “transformed horticultural practice and inspired others to become gardeners through her books and more than 1,000 articles,” says the National Trust. Designed by her frequent collaborator Sir Edward Lutyens, the house is a charming emblem of classic English Arts and Crafts design and, thanks to Gertrude's own talents in gardening and floriculture, the house's garden is a “horticultural gem.”

Roses love the sun. Find a location that receives as much sun as possible. A couple of hours of shade in an afternoon or a spot with light shade might not hurt the plant.

Although I say it myself, the garden is looking pretty glorious at the moment and there is a lot of standing and staring being done; in the overall scheme of things, however, I have but a small part to play, as the roses, the clematis, the annuals, the dahlias and all the other plants in the garden go about their business more or less independently. Despite a floriferous fortnight or so and a massive thunderstorm last Sunday, the roses are still looking wonderful and should still be on top form next Sunday, when we open the garden for the NGS. Their impact is augmented by a gradual  injection of colour from the viticella clematis, which are just coming into bloom, as in the above picture where ‘Lady Emma Hamilton’ (lower left), ‘Crimson Glory’ (pergola) and ‘Rural England’ (a mass of pink froth in the apple trees) are boosted by Clematis ‘Margot Koster’ and ‘Madame Julia Correvon’.

Roses in Aberdeen generally grow well. I have found some of them in the past to be a bit of a hit or a miss. 

If only plants could talk, they could tell us that they aren’t feeling well.Your grapevines could warn you that

The National Trust has acquired the home and gardens of pioneering horticulturist Gertrude Jekyll, “in order to secure it for public enjoyment and benefit”. The Grade I listed property, Munstead Wood, located in Godalming, Surrey, is one of the earlier designs of Sir Edwin Lutyens, who was a relatively unknown architect when Jekyll enlisted him to design the property in 1896. The house has been in private hands since Jekyll’s death in 1932, yet the gardens and the house have remained remarkably unchanged. Jekyll’s practical workroom, the pottery cellar, and a ‘shop’ area where she sold cut flowers have been beautifully preserved.

Head gardener Neil Miller could be described as one of the country’s premier rose devotees. Over his almost 20 year career at Hever, he has spread enough compost over the Rose Garden to cover Wembley football pitch 10 times over and has deadheaded an estimated one million roses!

If you don’t have a sunny garden but still want to grow roses, then fret not! Here are some gorgeous Roses that Bloom in Shade for you!

The Peggy Martin Climbing Rose is a gorgeous and hardy plant that blooms profusely in pink from spring through fall. It is also easy to maintain, even for beginners!

Roses are a symbol of romance and passion, but did you know this plant can also be a source of nutrition?Rose hips are the edible a