I forgot to say...the gallicas will still be in the fairy garden (they "magically" change color, which is why I chose them). The garden has a grass path down the middle, with the little arbor against the house for tea and a sunnier half across the path for butterflies, bees...and fairies of course! My nieces are very excited about "their" garden :)

I grow a couple of them in part shade and last year one of my ornamental grasses got so big it completely covered a band I had planted close by in the spring and then forgot when the grass started taking over. When I cut the grass back in the fall, the little gallica had not only survived but had tripled her size.

I only have one Gallica (so far!), Empress Josphine, and she is planted in morning sun only. From 12:30 or so, she is in shade. She does pretty well. All roses prefer full sun, but sometimes we have to make do with what we have!

Judith

Pretty sure most gallicas are rather forgiving of partial shade, especially the lighter colored ones.

Max

Hi All, I have exactly the same setting at my house: in front of the porch, East facing, excellent morning sun till about 1 pm then dead shade from the house, so far the bands I planted last spring are doing pretty well - I looked for some that are kind of shade tolerant.
I just added a gallica (Belle de crecy) and La Reine to the group. Since they are all so young (bands) ill need to give them a while to get some growth. If they dont do well I have plenty of other garden space that I can drop them into (though Ill have to stop growing tomatoes ... hmm..) and put hydrangeas in.

It depeends how much shade. I have little space and a lot of roses, so some of them are in less then ideal location. I have about 30 different gallicas. The ones that get more then 3 hours of direct sun and more sun in spring (beafore trees get leaves)are doing fine. The ones that don't get a lot of spring sun (when they are stting their buds) and less then 3 hours of sun during summer are struggling. They look not so good. The amount of blooms, the strength of canes, bush shape, everything is compromised in comparison with others.
Olga

Thanks for responding...sorry I didn't say so sooner :)

The area where I want to put the two Belle de Crecy and two President de Seize have sun for at least six hours a day. I was hoping they would do well in that area and maybe even last a little longer, since we have fairly warm weather in June.

also,... ashdown roses said that "full sun" he counts as morning sun from morning until noon. so morning sun is actually better and counts as more than afternoon sun? (according to him)... so you should be fine regardless, right? :)

Mine are in part shade; here at least, they seem to prefer it to full sun--we have hot dry summers. I would put them where you describe.

Mine get some shade in the afternoon. They seem happy. I'd love to see your Fairy Garden.

Thank you all for the responses :)

I am planning to put the gallicas in the area, where they'll have the afternoon shade.

Mendocino rose- I will take pictures as soon as I'm finished. I have one bed left to dig out and many of the roses will be here Saturday. The rest (including the gallicas) will be coming in June. They're going to be pretty small for now, but should look beautiful in the next year or two. I am also adding lilacs, blueberry bushes, butterfly bushes, coneflowers, daisies, coral bells, cleome and hollyhocks, as well as ferns, columbines, pansies, violets, sweet woodruff and tons of alyssum. It's really a bee/butterfly garden with roses that my nieces can play in...dressed as fairies if they wish! LOL