Of those mentioned, I only grow Munstead and Benjamin, tho what I know of the others, I feel like the colors would be harmonious as they are all red/ pinks.

My only comment would be the height. For me, Benjamin is very tall. He is standing about 4' tall now after winter pruning. This is an own root, btw.

I have them next to Lady of Shallot in the back of a bed.

Adrianne

Most of the roses we have planted were done with the intention of contrast. I had not even considered a bed of reds and pinks and that may solve the color problem for the bed I need to fill in quite nicely. Lady of Shallot would look beautiful with both roses but unfortunately is planted in another area with Boscobel and that bed is filled. Thank you for the suggestion, now I need to run it by DH.

My Benjamin Britten (two of them) are about 7 feet high and bloom like crazy. I have now under planted them with a "hedge" of Harlow Carr. We shall see what it looks like this summer.

I think nik's advice is perfect. I had to get rid of Julia Child and Queen Nefertiti in an otherwise cool-toned bed of pinks, mauves and whites and suddenly the whole thing looked so cohesive and pleasing to the eye. On the other hand I've seen pink and yellow grown together to great effect, the difference however being that they were not plunked in the middle of a large garden bed. Each situation is unique but I think overall the rule of cool versus warm is an effective and very easy one to remember.

btw there are cool and warm pinks (bluish vs redish if you like), cool and warm yellows (greenish vs orangeish) as well as cooler or warmer reds (bluish-magenta vs purple, flame or orangeish reds). Also people's idea's about what's cooler or warmer tend to differ in the 'boundary' cases. Ingrid is very right in implying that this 'rule' is there to be judiciously ignored, in many cases, to make a statement but 'judiciously' is the key word. Colour saturation and intensity play a big role in that case but we are delving into deep water here which I'm not qualified to do in a comprehensible manner.

Thank you, all. I think I will spend time studying the colors this year and try to figure out for next year so I can place it right the first time instead of having DH dig multiple 2 x 2 holes which he hates to do.

Or do as I do and pot the rose for a season moving it around to see where it fits.

Now there's a great idea, Nic. I can't do it since potted roses take one look at me and die, but for most people it would be a very graphic and accurate demonstration of what looks good with what.

Potted roses do pose a problem in warm and dry climates. They may need daily or even bidaily watering during the warmer seasons (depending on the conditions, the pot material and the substrata used) and as a consequence will need to be fertilized very often. Provided one can provide these, which I agree is not a given fact, there's little reason they cannot thrive (only real issue is when conditions are extremely hot so the roots suffer - fix for that is double potting or afternoon shade).

I too was thinking more of the warmer whites or creams or apricots to try to blend in. Lady Emma Hamilton, Ambridge Rose, Tranquillity, maybe Sweet Juliet?