Very pretty! I find that most of the albas and gallicas complement each other nicely. The drama of light and dark blooms commingling is stunning!

With own-root gallicas, don't forget to space them far enough apart to avoid a spaghetti bowl. Stolons here, there, and all around. Eventually, it will be time for shovel pruning and sharing. Cardinal d R does pop around! My albas get around, too. All are own-root.

What a wonderful bed this will be!

You might enjoy the information about Richelieu in this current thread here on the Antique Rose Forum. Kim

Here is a link that might be useful: Richelieu

It is a truly gorgeous rose. What an amazing color it has! Mine unfortunately died. I really do not have the appropriate climate for the OB-OGR's of European origin, not enough winter chill to make them happy. I have promised myself that my recent purchase of grafted roses (3 gallicas, 1 rugosa, 1 alba) will be my last venture into this territory as long as we live here. It's simply not fair to the roses to plant them and watch them dwindle.

I am an advocate of growing own root roses, but I do think a valid argument can be made for grafted roses when they have a thicket-forming habit. Sometimes I call this wanderlust. Unless you have a semi-wild garden and can offer these runaround roses as much territory as they will take (a great deal), you will be very frustrated at constantly digging up and cutting off root suckers. And then doing it again next week.

My other favorite gallicas are La Belle Sultane, Tuscany Superb, and Rosa Mundi.

Last season, I planted that same combination in my backyard...Cardinal de Richeleu with Duchess de Montebello alongside. Neither bloomed last year as small own-roots, so I am hoping to see their colors side-by-side this spring! In the back row, I planted albas Mme. Plantier and Blanche de Belgique alongside rugosas Magnifica and Purple Pavement. A deer made its way every once in a while to nibble them until I covered them with a chicken wire cage. Hoping to see them bloom for the first time as well.

Vicky that's gonna be amazing!! That purple with those big white Albas wow.

I have two beds using Gallicas, where they will be free to spread but are restricted from the rest of the garden. One is bordered by pavement, the other is raised from ground-level and is bordered by railroad ties. In both are limbed-up arbor vitae, so those Gallicas were chosen because I figured that their vigorous roots would be able to compete with those of the evergreens.

In the first bed, from left to right, are 'Rosa moschata' single-form, "Sissinghurst Castle", 'Tricolore de Flandre', 'Tuscany Superb' and 'Reverend Seidel'. 'Buff Beauty' will be planted in the rear, just off-center, and will be trained to climb against the fence.

In the second bed, from left to right, are "Secret Garden Musk Climber", 'Charles de Mills', 'Georges Vibert', 'Cardinal de Richelieu' and "Darlow's Enigma". In this bed, the climber (not the Tea) "Sombreuil" is planted in the rear, just off-center, and is already trained to climb against the fence. I was going for "light against dark" with regards to flower color.

In front of the second bed is another bed, separated by railroad ties and about six inches lower in elevation, with shorter-growing repeat-blooming roses (as of now...companion perennials will be coming in Spring to fill in spaces between everything). In front and to the right of 'Cardinal de Richelieu' is 'Souvenir de la Malmaison'. In front and to the left is 'Golden Buddha'. So I'll be seeing that nice purple against pink-striped-white on the left, white on the right, golden yellow in front to the left, and pale pink in front to the right, with a bit of a backdrop of white against the fence. I tried repeating that idea of framing the dark-flowered roses with lighter-flowered roses throughout the garden, so each sets the other off.

:-)

~Christopher

I hope there's pics in the future. I know that a camera can not capture it perfectly. But it's better then nothing.

I am in a very different zone 5b but my Cardinal is much shorter than Duchess de Montebello, one 4.5 ft, the other 6 ft tall, even taller if I'd let it. Both are 18 year-old grafted plants.

Love it but does not seem to be that cold hardy. Seems to be chloritic here. Has stayed small-ish in zone 5. Got a grafted onto multiflora and I am beginning to think that could be a problem for me as I have had several roses just croak out for no reason. Love it still though. Do not detect a scent.
As for purples, I have much better luck with Belle de crecy and Hippolyte for the gallicas. Our soil is alkaline here.

SC_Gardener, I'm wondering if being on multiflora rootstock might be why yours isn't doing well. From what I remember, that rootstock (and own-root roses heavy with multiflora influence) don't do so well on alkaline soil. Perhaps you can raise the soil level and hope yours sends out roots above the graft -- unless, of course, you're hoping to avoid that and the resulting spread.

:-)

~Christopher

Mine is own root, easily arches out to over 4', and we are acidic here (blueberries do great without additional, also anything with rugosa heritage). Never thought about acid/alkaline and gallicas, and the ones I've had have done well and had no problem with our winters.

A bit past its prime, but you get the idea:

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:226266}}

Thank you, Paul! Gorgeous! Kim

"Past its prime"â¦as are many of us, yet I maintain my position that even past its prime, this is a beautiful rose. Aging gracefully.