Category Archives: Climbing Roses

Roses & a Few Favorite Friends

Climbing Roses, Fragrant Garden, Fragrant Plants, Garden Design, Perennials, Roses

Plants are like people in the sense that they thrive in communities, and they tend to shine brighter in the company of good friends. This June, our Rose Garden at the farm provided a glorious illustration of the power of harmonious relationships. In a long, meandering border planted with roughly 70 Roses, each variety is enhanced by its proximity to perennials that provide complementary or contrasting color, form, and texture. As the garden hit its peak in June, it offered visitors a textbook example of how to plant Roses and their preferred companions for best effect. While the peak has now passed, the garden will continue to provide rolling waves of bloom, thanks to the perennials that keep company with all the Roses. If you happen to live nearby or are in range to make a visit, we hope you’ll come by and take a stroll. In the meantime, we thought it might be helpful to showcase some of the perennials that do such a great deal to bring magic to the Rose Garden. We hope they inspire you to plant some of your own.

The red spires of Lupine ‘Red Rum,’ the lavender-blue spikes of a Nepeta, and stands of dark purple Salvia ‘Caradonna’ provide contrasting colors amid the white blossoms of Rose Easy Spirit™.
The golden blossoms of Rose Easy Elegance® Yellow Submarine are enhanced by the blue flowers of a Campanula, which have the charming habit of intermingling with their neighbors.
Rose Easy on the Eyes™ finds flattering company amid mounds of Baptisia australis (rear), red-leaved Penstemon ‘Dark Towers,’ lavender-blue Nepeta Junior Walker™ (left), and the felted gray foliage of Stachys byzantina ‘Fuzzy Wuzzy’ (Lamb’s Ears).
The airy, creamy plumes of Aruncus dioicus (Goatsbeard) form a lovely backdrop for two pink-flowering Roses, while an Iris creates a dreamy pool of lavender-blue.

Click through to the Rose Companions section of our website to find more perennials that serve as excellent companions for Roses, and consider adding some to your garden.

SHOP ALL ROSES

Climbers in the Garden

Clematis, Climbing Roses, Garden Design, Vines

Elevate your garden design by incorporating climbing vines and plants into beds and borders, or by using them to soften fences, walls and wellheads. Smaller climbers, including some Clematis varieties, can be used to add vertical interest to container pots or to skirt the trunks of deciduous trees. We offer all of these plants for fall-planting because autumn’s mild weather gives them a chance to settle in under stress-free conditions. They develop root systems before going dormant for winter. When spring comes, they’re poised to begin growing above ground, and they have a nice head start on vines and climbers planted in spring.

Clematis Rosemoor™ Gardini™

When you hang the name of a Royal Horticultural Society garden on a new introduction, it had better be good. Clematis Rosemoor™ Gardini™ is better than good. It comes from Raymond Evison’s superb breeding program on the Isle of Guernsey. Its showy 5″ purplish-red blooms appear on old and new wood, which means flowering is almost nonstop from early summer to fall.

Dawn & Dusk Rose & Clematis Collection

Stunning aerial liaisons can be arranged by pairing two different vines or climbers. We especially like deep purple Clematis ‘Etoile Violette’ with the blush pink, double-flowered Climbing Rose ‘New Dawn.’ The Clematis clambers up the Rose’s thorny canes and obligingly places its flowers next to those of its host. When the two are at their peak in early July, the display is pure magic, and both generally offer some repeat bloom through summer. ‘New Dawn’ is sweetly fragrant and disease-resistant, especially to black spot, the bane of many Roses.

Clematis Petit Faucon™ Gardini™

Unusual blossoms made up of 4 slender, twisting petals in vivid purple blue with contrasting yellow anthers appear over a long season on this compact, non-clinging vine. At a mature height of 3-4’, it’s ideal for containers, or for climbing over shrubs. Winner of the RHS Award of Garden Merit.

Climbing Hydrangea

Hydrangea is a valuable genus of some 100 species of shrubs and vines grown for their large and very showy flower heads. Hydrangea anomala petiolaris, or Climbing Hydrangea as it’s more commonly called, is a vigorous deciduous vine from Japan and Korea whose heart-shaped foliage and large white clusters of June flowers make it an attractive covering for a wall, fence, or large tree.

Rose ‘William Baffin’

Climbing Rose ‘William Baffin’ has yet to receive the attention it deserves. It bears semidouble, deep pink flowers in abundance in late June, with recurrent bloom well into fall. It is also exceptionally vigorous and hardy, the only recurrent climber available to gardeners in Zones 3 and 4. It’s destined to become one of the most enduring Roses of our era.

Wisteria Lavender Falls

Wisteria is a genus of deciduous vines whose lovely, fragrant flowers and almost overwhelming vigor make them useful in a wide variety of settings. Wisteria Lavender Falls, originally grown in Oklahoma, is an outstanding variety that has blue-violet, 9–20″ cascading racemes that have the scent of grape jelly. The really exciting part is that they reappear several times during the summer.