The Rose Garden's Understory

Flowering plants, creeping herbs, small shrubs all show off well at the feet of roses. A more-the-merrier attitude is just fine with the Queen of Flowers. 

The first three images are from the magenta section not shown in Part 1.

Wise Portia mingles with salvia Greggii, calibrachoa and sage.

More of the annual calibrachoa, a furry oregano, parahebe, thyme, and brachyscome.

Purple sage, origanum rotundifolia and a shiny new light in the garden's first year.

Dark leaves of huchera enrich the tales red roses will soon tell.

Rumex (love this plant, cut it back and in no time it regenerates) and strawberries under red roses.

Diascia comes in rose tones and is replanted each spring.

Double Delight

Even red hollyhocks join the story up by the climbers.

Josep's Coat and Golden Wings make the climb together and top off a mix of oranges, yellows and peaches.

Peach calibrachoa, orange diascia, perennial poppies-- does it get better than this?

 

Lime thyme, my favorite herbal ground cover, Pink Panda ornamental strawberry and Tournament of Roses.

The elegant cool whites ruled by Sally Holmes on the trellis.

The small rose arbor was installed after about three years.

When I visit the garden and see it looking like this I can barely contain myself.

P E A C E

Designing a rose garden is a detailed and delightful process. This is the first of a two-part post documenting the many phases of one special project located on a hilltop in Lafayette, CA.

My client wanted all colors of roses in a new garden

that would be situated on a slight incline with a full, ideal-for-roses, eastern exposure.

Since my garden was in full bloom at the time, its roses inspired a graduated color scheme

that I presented with the above sketch. My clients loved the design and I was 

soon planning for and acquiring its many roses, as shown in this working sketch. The original plan called for a center arbor that was nixed in favor of continuous planting.

The final color scheme became a progression of white, pink, yellow, peach and red between the two stairways, and magenta in the bed to the far right. After three years, my client wanted more color in the white section. So we added a few pink roses in the first tier and both a red and pink rose in the top tier.

Here's the original rose list 

and said roses patiently awaiting planting day.

BEFORE AND AFTER

The original space.

Instead of replacing the fencing, we camouflaged it with custom trellis work, good for climbing roses. Aren't the moss rock retaining walls magnificent?

One year later the garden is thriving.

Here's the garden last spring as the roses are just coming into to bloom.

In Part 2 I'll show you the magenta section and some of the companion plants.

At Rose Place Garden Design

we love promising you 

a Rose Garden.

A rose garden with roses as your garden's enduring and valued shrubs,

growing in harmony,

whether the palette is pastel,

monochromatic

or a multicolor extravaganza.

We ask clients, "How do you picture your rose garden?"

Romantic Country

Private and Personal

Bold and Dramatic

Quietly Elegant

or Formal with an edge?

We'd like to know your garden's purpose. 

Do you need curb appeal,

privacy,

a patio garden?

Do you want to attract butterflies

and bees?

Do you want cut flowers?

And what about companion plants?

Horticulture bows to roses in great abundance.

Contrast

Variety

Texture

Drama

Years of experince trying to acheive an exuberant association with plant companions to roses has led to a sure knowledge of what works and what doesn't. And we are always looking for new and more creative approaches.

ROSE STRUCTURES

Since roses long to reach their growth potential and provide gardens with showstopping focal points, we've designed structures to help.

Enclosures

Fencing

Arbors

Some ask, "Do you design gardens without roses?"

Of coarse,

and with pleasure.

The aim of Rose Place Garden Design is to harmonize a client's garden and design needs with dependable, long lasting and gorgeous plants. We especially enjoy structuring a garden with roses. They are underrated when it comes to good garden shrubs. Companion planting is our specialty and these include deer and drought tolerant plants.

One client might want to redo a small condo courtyard; another requires a full-scale garden plan for a new home; and yet another simply needs her garden beds updated for a special event. Then there are those who dream of rose gardens– classic, contemporary, small, medium, or large– there are endless possibilities. We also design gardens for corporate settings.

Rose Place services include

• Custom Designs
• Conceptual Planning
• Working Drawings
• Planting Plans
• Plant Scouting and Procurement
• Horticultural Advice
• Project Management
• Design from a Distance*

Garden and plant consultation is available by the hour.

Send us an email with your needs and questions, or give us a call 925 323-7708.

*If you live far away, of course I'll fly to you for a consultation, but if that's not in the budget I've designed wonderful gardens through email, photography, and private client blogposts. Even the sky is not the limit at Rose Place Garden Design.