Thank you, all of you, for the thoughtful, challenging, and occasionally eyebrow-raising replies. It's a curious thing, how much easier it is to make border decisions when no one’s watching — and how much harder (and more rewarding) it becomes when you invite in your chums.

Special thanks, of course, to @NollieSpainZ9, whose return has brought both insight and fire. Your words gave me pause — as did your righteous takedown of DA (still chuckling about that poor Gertrude who dropped her canes one by one like fainting Victorian aunts). And you’re right: three years is no small investment.

But I’ve decided on a middle path — equal parts triage and theatrical rewrite. Think Florence Nightingale with secateurs and a bottle of RoseClear, humming Blood Brothers.

🌿 THE REVISED PLAN:

• The weakest Zéphirine Drouhin is being removed. I attach a photo, but fair warning: she looks like a ghost who haunts a bad garden centre.

• The surviving ZD gets a reprieve. She’ll be cut back hard, fed like royalty, and sprayed early and often. If she performs, she stays. If not, it’s curtains in 2026.
• Madame Alfred Carrière — the current wall tenant — is being reassigned to the back of the GNB (Great Northern Border), where her twin already lurks in quiet shame. Let them battle it out or rise together like Lakmé’s Flower Duet.
• And in the centre, flanked by the departed and the demoted, comes the star: Rosa mulliganii.
  The White Widow.
  A single once-flowering rambler with a ghostly veil and steel in her stems. She’ll be trained laterally along the 18m wall like a slow-moving storm.

🗣️ TO OTHERS WHO SPOKE - MY THANKS:

@ElbFee— Your point about digging deeper into the site’s history struck a nerve. I plan to excavate more thoroughly and review the soil structure as I move the MAC. And you’re quite right: one rose across 18m is bold — but that’s the point. The border will handle summer with lilies and salvia in riot. The rose? Just the opening act.

@Marlorena— Your “life’s too short” line was the final nudge I needed. Thank you for your calm, practical encouragement, and for reminding me that even five-year climbers needn’t hold us hostage.

@Ingrid_vc zone 9b, San Diego Co. inland — You guessed correctly, it is Rosa mulliganii. You’re safe from embarrassment, and I’d never let you down like that.

@sylviaww 9a,hot dry Inland SoCal — The White Widow is Rosa mulliganii — a Sissinghurst ghost of a rose, arching and spectral. Thank you for asking. She’s not famous yet, but she will be. Thanks for the patience too, my head does seem to think in strange ways at times. I am aware, but like the inner monologue.

@Eustace_Oxf_UK_9a— I’ve taken your suggestion quite literally: keep what’s blooming for now, then review once the new act begins. A garden, after all, is a rehearsal more than a performance.

So here we are.
A recast. A relocation. A resurrection.
No border ever stayed still. And no gardener ever made progress without digging both inward and out.

My thanks again,

The place to go for roses seems to be Japan. I've just got caught up on youtube for an hour, feeling totally belittled, by the Keisei Rose Gardens Spring 2025.. huge, floriferous roses grown to perfection, not a single blemish on any of them.. I've never seen anything like it.

I am consoled by thinking what an awful mess it must be when the first flush is over..

Best of luck with your new rose Peter.. the devilry in me might have gone for 'American Pillar', as the veritable rose snob Sackville-West, hated it, and didn't want anyone else to grow it either..

Talking of Hungary, I don't know if this is still the case, but I read somewhere that DA used to send their EU orders from a nursery in Hungary. So if you order from DA EU, that's where your roses would be despatched from.. Ironically, if you live in Northern Ireland, you have to order from the E.U. website due to Brexit issues, so presumably your rose would come from their Hungarian supplier. Ridiculous.

@Marlorena I also had watched thisvideo on YT a few weeks ago and was completely astounded.

A few photos taken just now - the perks of WFH on a Monday 😉

Munstead Wood

Ebb Tide - sorry for the plastic netting on the way.

Yesterday I had a vase with Ebb tide flowers which were getting slightly burnt - looked eerie to me.

Elizabeth - very fragrant, though it was a wispy branch hanging down.

I have tried to capture Heavenly Pink which is in its second season, already grown to a height of more than 5 ft.

Our Beth

Sweet Honey

Arthur Bell

Loving this Bordure Abricot

This spray is long lasting - Jacky's Favourite. It has been open for 3 weeks now.

Peter, I hope your recalcitrant climbers appreciate the reprieve by rewarding you next year.

I’m loving your Bordure Abricot too, Eustace, I believe others in that range are pretty good too.

I assumed DA had an EU base, certainly post-Brexit, but they need to get a handle on their quality control wherever it is. I have only recently discovered the ease and economy (compared to buying from the UK) of online purchases from NI. I haven’t tried buying plants from there yet.

I omitted to say earlier, Marlorena, that particular Sempervirens is growing along the roadside outside, but there is masses of it around here including on our land. Lots of wild privet, viburnum tinus and cornus sanguineum too. The latter flowered and is even producing berries this year due to the Spring rains.

That came out wrong, about Tuincentrum Lottum. I have ordered ca. 100 roses there and 95% were the ordered plant and perform well. Only Gertrude, who seems to be hardy and floriferous for everyone remains a mystery here. Who else is your go to supplier in NL @Nollie? Just asking for a friend...

I came across Japanese roses in another thread and have since tried to find a European supplier. No luck yet.

Regarding climbers and their speedy or not speedy growth: I planted Laguna and New Dawn bare root in autumn 2023. They are both now at 160cm. Not a lot of blooms yet.

Speaking of White Widows, here is my Sissinghurst contribution. Not white at all. Sourire d'Orchidée, not very hardy, a sweet moderate climber.

And today's newbies part 1

Musquée Sanssouci...remember the hard pruned tiny rose...

On no worries ElbFee, I go hot and cold on TCL, especially cold when I get the wrong roses, but no mislabels at all this year, hurrah! They are my go-to in the Netherlands. I have bought from dewilde.nl before, only because I wanted another of The Prince but it turned out to be WS2000! Lens are Belgian of course, but are good. Mostly I buy from France with just the odd tcl splurge. I especially like Loubert for old roses, Francia Thauvin and Guillot also sent me good roses.

@Marlorena

How on earth do they grow roses so immaculately. It's truly staggering in both scale and perfection. And what's more, apart from the ones growing vertical, I couldn't see any signs of supports. I did find a short video of their veteran rosarian doing some winter pruning though, and he certainly doesn't mess around. Maybe I should start pruning harder.

Thank you @Nollie, looking forward to browsing the websites of your favorite sellers.

PeteS..

I think it's their climate, weather and soil. Makes all the difference. Maybe they spray too, but I wouldn't know. The fact that Lady Emma Hamilton was a huge, rounded healthy shrub, makes me think a combo of all of those ..

Eustace, I saw that video, thanks.. it's by the same people, amazing isn't it.

Lovely roses as usual @ElbFee. 😍

I've seen other Japanese rose garden videos too, where they have impeccable roses filled with flowers and almost all bunches blooming at the same time, creating that wonderland scene. In rose pruning videos, they prune hard and spray every 2 weeks.

Anyway, I'm happy to live with aphids, blackspot and mildew in my no-spray garden. A few pictures from yesterday evening.

Paul's Scarlet

Queen Elizabeth

Chandos Beauty

Royal celebration has become an one legged wonder, still I'm hesitant to remove it.

Super Trouper

I thought it was Handel in previous years; don't know what they are now.

I’ve stopped watching Japanese videos, that level of rose perfection is just too depressing. It’s bad enough comparing my feeble efforts to many on this forum!!

A fair amount of bleaching going on here, LoS and Abe Darby are mostly palid pink..

LoS, crispy edges too:

Abe’s fragrance is highly variable, it currently has NONE whatsoever.

Thank goodness Versigny retains colour in heat:

I was forced to keep OH’s favourite, Super Trouper, but hey, colour!

Golden Zest has been slow to repeat, but a few nice blooms emerging. The cough medicine element of the fragrance has mellowed to leave just the refreshing citrus:

Echinacea always brightens up the borders:

Dicliptera suberecta also firing up. An easy to grow, superbly drought tolerant plant:

Well, I started watching and then realised I had seen this garden in various Instagram reels before. I am very sure that the big bunch of every type consists of at least 7 roses. Just like they do it in Bad Nauheim at Draeger's. Then I watched the pruning video. Just like I prune mine. But, as @Eustace mentioned, they spray every other week. That's a no go for me. I will continue to hide diseased foliage by jamming other plants around my roses. @Nollie, your garden is beautiful, nothing less! And I love that you can grow plants that simply rot in my winter like echinacea.

We had fairly nice weather and here she is, Sophie the ruffled one. Finally properly opened blooms. My first hosta bloom and a bit of thalictrum, a bee magnet.

And a very fine ruffled beauty Sophie is, ElbFee. Well, thank you, but there are lots of problems with my garden and with hindsight I would have done things totally differently. Still, we live and learn. Spraying would always be a no go for me as well.

Oh, absolutely, with hindsight I would have all this hidden maintenance paths that @PeterA recommends and various step stones. As you intend to move, you have the fortune to do better in your next garden. I don't want to leave, ever.

Finally, my 4th or 5th attempt. The good Dr. graces me with a bloom and heavenly scent. Some more first blooms. I particularly recommend Prince Jardinier. Such a strong, lovely scent on perfectly pearly coloured blooms, upright growth.

We should laud your perseverance with Dr. @ElbFee 💪👏

Munstead Wood - it is located under the shade of a tree so that the flowers don't go crispy.

The Lady Gardener

English Miss

Austriana - first bloom, bought it as I liked the single flower form with its yellow centre.

Amaryllis Red Lion

I definitely would never spray either, so it is good to hear you think the same way. Perhaps hard pruning is the way to go though! Glad your very hard pruned lilac/mauve rose has flowered ElbFee! Beautiful Munstead Wood, Eustace.

The heatwave has probably started in some parts of UK?

All my roses have gone over and Emily Brontë was attacked by unknown pests - they ate the seven or so buds that developed before I realised. I have never had that happen before. Does anyone have any suggestions for companion plants that might be in flower in the next 2 to 4 weeks? (I am going to have to buy in some plants) ...Don't think too hard, just throw something out if anything pops into your minds please!

Oh I don’t really want to leave here either, ElbFee, but needs must. All my garden and beds are accessible, with stepping stones incorporated in the deeper ones, but it’s the whole landscaping/structural elements I wish I’d had the hindsight - and funds - to tackle first. Resolving the shallow soil and sloping ground issues with raised beds was expedient at the time, but not a long-term solution in this climate. They just get too hot and require far too much watering.

Assuming there is a next time, it will undoubtedly involve a move to somewhere with a smaller garden. So of necessity I will be growing fewer roses, but hopefully better!

Clematis, sorry to hear of your pesky pests eating the roses. We are coming into the summer flowering perennials season now, things like heleniums, crocosmia, dahlias, penstemons etc. Plently of salvias still flowering, especially the shrubby ones, but the best idea is probably to just go and see whats coming into bloom at the garden centres near you.

Lychnis coronaria is taking over for the next month @Clematis. Cosmea, too. Mine was eaten by the slimers. Feverfew is always in season. Chiming in with @Nollie's recommendation to check your gc.

A view from my sitootery.

Really lovely scenes Elbfee. I was pondering James Austin today, mainly because it featured in a DA email but yours does suggest it is a good one. Scepter'd Isle has always appealed but I do have a lot in that colourway.

You have so many lovely varieties Eustace, I can't keep track.

Nollie, I'm dipping my toes into Echinacea after a previous foray ended due to deer really liking them. Not heard of Diplictera, drought and heat tolerant sounds particularly good right now. I am very pleased to report my Versigny has decided to live, it has one very vigourous cane, I am hoping for more of course.

On my chalky south facing slope that I never water, lavender, Santolina, Helianthemum and Ceratostigma do really well, The Californian poppies refuse to seed themselves where wanted

Many of the pot roses are having a break but these are some that look ok

Pink Martini

Pear

Special Anniversary

Frilly Cuff ,Penelope Lively behind

The roses in the borders are in their stride now

Bathsheba, Royal William and Mutabilis, Twilight zone gearing up for a second flush bottom left.

Super Excelsor, Desdemona

The Generous Gardener

@Marlorena

Berries 'n' Cream arrived today. A good healthy looking specimen, as you would expect from TW, with plenty of buds. Apart from a small cluster of 'proper' thorns round the lower part of each cane, it does seem to be thornless.

@PeteS

Oh very nice Pete, I hope you have a good spot for it..

Lovely garden photos everyone ... extraordinary weather..

'TKR'.. such a charming rose, lovely colour, and sweet scent from the stamens..

ElbFee and Eustace, you two always manage to delight with some interesting and unusual roses.

I look forward to hearing all about your new stripy roses, Pete, see how they compare. I must say I prefer the stronger colour of BnC. I like TKR, but it would probably bleach white here.

Tack, the roses you still have in bloom are looking more than OK! Frilly Cuff is looking particularly magnificent. The dicliptera is also known as Uruguayan Firecracker. I thought it would be too tender for my winters but it comes through every year and seedlings pop up occasionally. My three Versigny plants are now thriving after a similar start to yours. I’m keeping them in 20L pots for now and hoping they will be robust enough to plant out in the Autumn.

Thank you, Nollie and ElbFee. I love Helenium and Penstemon and Lychnis coronaria. Luckily I do have Crocosmia too look forward to at least, I hope to be able to visit a GC, not sure when yet. I did not realise how long Lychnis coronaria can flower and I have always wanted to grow Penstemon Andenken an Friedrich Hahn. Thanks very much for your ideas.

ElbFee I do admire your purple and red combination - looks like Lychnis coronaria there? Also your Katie's rose with those daisies/Marguerite type flowers. Oh maybe Feverfew?

Tack, beautiful garden plants you have put together. Ooh Santolina - gorgeous. I think I saw blue delphinium too (I tried once but the molluscs won).

I have only bought barefoot from TW. I am impressed by your Berries and Cream rose, PeteS. Sometimes plants arrive looking shoddy when it is so boiling.

Wonderful UK weather in a way! Just so hot here....Shade is a must!

@clematiscoastaldorset

Trevor White has been my "go to" choice for ages now. Their roses, be it potted or bare root, have always arrived as strong and healthy plants.

@Marlorena

Berries 'n' Cream

I'll transfer it into a large pot, keep an eye on how it copes with our northern climate, and hopefully, all being well, put it in the ground with a nice sunny SW facing aspect, underneath a new trellis early next year.

TKR is showing all the signs of being very vigorous. It has already thrown up two new robust canes from the base. So far it's a 10/10 for me.

@Marlorena

Spot the difference!

I couldn't help noticing the similarities between the blooms of TKR and BnC, now that the latter has fully opened this morning. I couldn't detect any of the "strong" fragrance though, as described in the blurb.

I expect the fragrance will come through in a while Pete..

..this 'Charisma' has a delicious scent too, quite pronounced, maybe peaches..

Ok, sorry about this but some of my posts are not showing up and I've got really frustrated by it, it's taken me half an hour just to post one photo.. there was something I typed that seems to have been unacceptable can you believe.. this word .. f r u i t y .. so I replaced with peaches..

It's ridiculous and my patience is out..

I'm having a break..

Thanks PeteS, I will have a look at TW. Maybe they can fill some of my gaps!

Sorry Marlorena - there are some weird glitches on here. Do understand... Peaches....😄

Lady of Shalott is having a flush! A modest one, but about the only rose that is:

A couple of blooms on Golden Zest, now much paler but sporting a button eye:

Two new Dahlias are blooming..

Little Swan, a usefully compact variety with pretty blooms and lovely foliage. I think this one is a winner:

Not sure about Catherine Deneuve yet, more reddish coral than the hoped for orange:

Up in the untamed forest, I was delighted to find these Martagon lilies:

[phew, glad this posted.. hope we see M again soon]

Today I repotted The Bee's Knees from the pot it came in to a bigger pot. It was probably not the best day to do it, hot and breezy, but TBK was looking rather miserable so I thought best get on with it. Luckily the root ball came out of the old pot in one piece and it seems ok. It has had a full can of water and is now recovering in the shade.

As for blooms, the two that are doing best at the moment are Pearl and White Fairy. The Country Parson and Blue for You have a few blooms and buds, but everything else is hopefully girding up for a repeat performance.

It's been a very hot few days; the potted roses are looking bad; especially those near the wall and facing the sun. So watered them today morning. Hope they recover.

Bonfire - new this season.

The Churchill rose

Plenty of strawberries and loganberries.

And plums are doing their 'June drop'.

Travelling... who got Raubritter? I saw this today and thought of you.

@ElbFee I love Raubritter Macrantha. There is a glorious one at Mottisfont.

I have one in its second season; this year though it started flowering well, heat spoilt the show with the petals turning as dry as paper.

I think these are cinnabar moth caterpillars. Here they are busy devouring a weed.

An alternative for a fence? Fierce but somehow beautiful, too.

@Eustace_Oxf_UK_9a

I think the cinnabar moth is fussy where they lay their eggs and what they feed on, so I don't think they would pose a serious threat to cultivated plants.

Thanks @PeteS.

It's cloudy today, still the ambient temperature is quite high.

Lots of dry leaves all around.

Till Eulenspiegel - some flowers scorched and some not so much

Same with Kolner Flora

Wild Rover has pink flowers instead of purple. And lots of pollen beetles too.

The Lady Gardener

Crown Princess Margareta

Peach Melba

Golden Celebration

L'Aimant - flowers are nice, but the plant is BS ridden.

It's funny how nice the garden can look in the rain. We've had torrential rain so far today, with not a breath of wind, and very humid. Wet overcast conditions really make the colours pop, especially I think, the greens.

Boscobel standing up very well to the rain

...especially the blooms, totally unfazed

My recent purchase 'Berries 'n' Cream' has certainly passed it's first test, rain tolerance, with flying colours

Love your untamed forest, Nollie. Beautiful Martagon Lilies.

Just a little midsummer update from the garden, where the roses are blooming, misbehaving, and, in some cases, openly feuding. Some are new to the stage, others are veterans with a flair for drama — but all are putting on a show worth the price of a sunhat. Here's the latest cast list from the borders…

Queen of Sweden and Geranium Patricia
A pairing so visually arresting it teeters on the edge of indecency. One upright and demure, the other sprawling and audacious. Scandalous? Yes. Successful? Absolutely. The House of Bernadotte goes to the Moulin Rouge.

Princess Alexandra of Kent and Geranium Rozanne
The picture of aristocratic bliss. Soft pink meets electric blue in a colour duet that feels like it should come with its own string quartet.

Comte de Chambord
He’s finally composed himself after the cosmos wig incident. No longer screaming, no longer flinching — he stands poised, petals neatly arranged, scent loaded. A rightful heir returning from self-imposed exile. There may still be therapy, but for now: he blooms. He did bounce back, @NollieSpainZ9

Stanwell Perpetual
The ghost of a ballerina in pale pink tulle. Ever-flowering, never flustered. If she had music, it would be The Swan by Saint-Saëns.

Dr. William Van Fleet (I) and Munstead Wood (Standard)
High and low, soft and dark — a pas de deux across the summerhouse window. Dr. Van Fleet, all pale blush and light, arches overhead while Munstead lurks below with gothic intent. A duet of light and shade, with strong opinions on literature.
(Munstead only went in this year, but I do see promise.)

William Lobb
A beast in waiting. Mossy. Brooding. Ready for a heavy bloom. There is tension. There is sap. Again, another one that only went in this year.

Lark Ascending
There she is, late to the list but never to the moment. Ethereal, upright, and impossibly graceful, she rises through the green like a violin note above a summer field. A rose not just named after Vaughan Williams’ pastoral masterpiece — but one that is the music.
You don’t look at her. You listen.

While the roses performed, the North Border began to rehearse on its own, quietly…

While the roses courted scandal in the spotlight, I slipped away — stage left — to the North Border. There, beneath softer light and quieter greens, another production has begun. No applause yet. But movement. Rehearsals. The quiet shuffle of roots learning new roles.

Geranium Patricia
Not one, not two, but three — relocated with speed, due to the heat — it felt like choreography. Their holes were prepped with Q4 and water, then, one by one, they were lifted and transferred. Not a sulk among them. I don’t think they noticed.

1. Rheum ‘Ace of Hearts’ — we call her Muriel, and why not.
Centre stage. Newly planted with aquifers installed (underlined with perforated pond liner and 20 ltrs of manure sponge). She’s not the tallest, but she knows where to stand. Glossy, serious, and ready to command attention. Her leaves will clap in the breeze like an audience who’ve had sherry.

2. Hosta ‘Empress Wu’
To the left, and slightly elevated — of course. The Empress does not stand among. She oversees. Planted with ceremony, and with an eye on the whole production. She will be taller than Muriel in time, and has already made that known.

3. Hosta ‘Sagae’
Planted right, a graceful counterpoint. Her lines are softer, her shade deeper. She doesn’t compete. She complements. A sculptural presence that will grow quietly into authority.

4. The Division
To the left: Geranium Patricia and the last licks of colour.
To the right: foliage, shadow, and calm.
There is a point — visible now — where the border changes register. Where summer heat yields to green cool. Where voices hush, and the light slants low. The story shifts.

Odds & Sods
(The afterparty, the back pages, the ones who didn’t fit the main plotline — but turned up anyway, wearing something fabulous.)

Iris sibirica ‘Brian’
A name that raises eyebrows — and flowers that raise the roof. Gifted years ago by a friend’s late mother, this once-anonymous sibirica has finally revealed his glory: over a metre tall, vivid, ruffled, and ever so slightly aloof. We call him Brian, because what else could he be? A presence, a mystery, and an accidental Monty Python sketch.
Yes, it’s probably ‘Caesar’s Brother’ — but honestly, where’s the fun in that?

The Rainbow Border — and the 7ft lilies
Yes, seven feet. Grown from a free gift, these towering lilies are now in their third year and clearly aiming for sainthood or stardom. In the Rainbow Border — already a site of chaotic joy — they rise like cathedral spires in drag. Their buds are tightening. There will be an eruption. Consider this your only warning.

The Department of Works Path
Gravel reclaimed. Soil turned. Liverwort evicted. Once forgotten, now functional, this is no mere garden path — it is the Grand Canal of Municipal Bureaucracy. Slow to move, hard to redirect, but undeniably going somewhere.
My brother calls it “Processional.”
Mum calls it “Too Long.”
I use it to sneak a fag behind the compost.

Posted for @Tack UK - and her inspirational curiosity at projects. Still not finished but getting there.

Lovely to see your roses looking fresh Peter (both Peters actually). No rain here and the foliage is looking sticky and dusty with many blooms crisping and/or not lasting in the hot sun. I think your MW Std will look great there by the window and from inside. I hope your mother is pleased.

I love those Martagon Lilies Nollie, and you have Dahlias already, so nice.

I have the same conditions as you Eustace , here is what should be a lovely flush on Twilight Zone but it is not coping. That Delphinium should be white, don't trust The Delphinium Society seeds off stalls at small gardening shows!

My climbers and Ramblers are coping well though. I don't think I've shown you Rambling Rosie yet

Click here

I received an email advertising the above feed this morning. I may have been tempted, but why are there no details of NPK etc?

Can I swap my parched garden for either Pete or Peter‘s garden now please? I would kill for some rain!

Rambling Rosie looks a really good bloomer, Tack. At least your delphinium is a pretty lilac shade.

My Twilight Zone is blooming sporadically, but same problem. Well, Cooldoc did warn me! Opening blooms like this one look promising in the early morning, then crisp badly:

William Shakespeare north-facing bloom:

Just Joey, resisting heat but still only giving me two blooms at a time:

I actually prefer Abraham Darby’s smaller, antique pink blooms to the large, flouncy and face-planting ones. They still need to be cut to be seen though:

Versigny, the upright blooms are a pleasant change from all the nodders and floppers:

Another new dahlia, Cantarino:

Clematis Etoile Violette is making a valiant attempt, with tiny 1-2” flowers. The bionic lime foliage is the wisteria:

Given Spring has now passed, anyone think we should start a new Summer thread? If so, @Marlorena would you like to do so?

Hi Nollie,.. yes I think so. I'm happy to go ahead with that if it'll post, let's see..

I won't be contributing too much myself, but I'll certainly be looking in and enjoying everyone else's roses, gardens and ramblings.

@Marlorena

Hl Marlorena...It would appear the first flush is over on TKR, but I am a bit confused as to how far down the stem I should start pruning to take out the spent flower clusters in order to encourage more growth and buds. What is going to be your approach to this. Cheers.