I would be hesitant to use pink, scarlet and white together; too me it just seems too "commercial" looking and too strong for your lovely garden. For your area I would be inclined to use either all one color, either pink or white, or to intersperse white (or apple blossom) with the softer pink of the two. I think that will look harmonious and lovely without a barrage of color hitting you in the eye.

Ingrid

Several years ago I visited a very beautiful rose garden at the Farmingdale teaching garden on Long Island (I think it is called). The roses in the borders were a bland pink flower-carpet-like rose (I think it was Bonica or Carefree Beauty or some such that was being hyped at the time). But on the ends were the brilliant Red Cascade with tiny scarlet bloooms. The key thing in making it harmonious were the proportions. The reds were like small exclamation points or sparks of brilliance that livened things up and kept the overall, basically pink, picture from being too boring. The lesson here was to use the red sparingly. Red Cascade is terrific when used judiciously. I'm sure this garden has now been altered with the departure of the gardener who created it (he moved to England). So I can't find a picture of it, but I'll never forget it.

At any rate, at the time, there was a separate, white section for the white and appleblossom roses, underplanted with lots of gray and bluish foliage herbs (like plectracanthus, a tropical annual and artemesia) to set off the pale roses and make them sparkle.

I agree with Monarda that the red could be used sparingly and give a great impact. Perhaps change the scarlet-scarlet-white-scarlet-scarlet to white-white-scarlet-white-white sequencing.

Also, the use of a purple companion planting, and a little yellow companion would also give the plantings more life, as well as some more height/interest as you can see in your inspiration photo.

Good luck with your border. I love FC roses and think your border will be beautiful when you get it all planned out.

Thanks very much, this is really so helpful to me. After thinking about your replies, I agree that too much red might make a screaming rather than nice and harmonious border.

Now..please help me if you can, I'm really quite bad at this and want to make a pleasing massed rose border! As for mixing pinks and and lighter tones in the front as the main/dominant theme - and this would be with Flower Carpet roses..

pink
supreme pink
apple blossom
white

For the main pink I would use either pink or supreme pink. What do you think would look nice, for the carpet rose colors - pictures on the web are deceiving and I'm going to dig a lot of holes!

supreme pink with occasional apple blossom
supreme pink with occasional white
pink with occasional apple blossom
pink with occasional white

thanks for your help
growitnow

I think the supreme pink and occasional apple blossom would be pretty. A soft transition, not as striking as pink with white. It's really just a matter of taste. Are you buying these by mail? Or can you find them locally? I bet if you see them in person and can see them side by side, you will be able to make up your mind easily.

Hi, I have pink and a pink supreme and I can't tell any difference in them. Do you think they look different? I compared my blooms side by side and they were identical. But you know I could have gotten a mistagged supreme one. Hadn't thought about that until now. DUH!! Anyways, I agree with Holleygarden, go to a local nursery or a Home Depot or Lowes, and compare the colors together. I get in there and put those babies together to compare and the employees really don't mind. Good luck deciding and post us some pictures when you get those babies all in the ground and blooming. Judy

thanks,

This has really been a great help. I plan on using supreme pink with appleblossom punctuating the row. I might have Red Cascade start the border at 'one' end, and trail it along the fence based on your generous comments.

I just posted separately asking about any recommendations for red climbers --- that are like flower carpet roses (and which would be at back of this rose border. By "like" flower carpet I just mean, blooms a lot and all summer and is an "easy" rose. I've tried good climbers before (Dublin Bay, Zephrine Drouhin [sp?]. And they were great but grew out of bounds. Now I look for something I can hack back every few years to keep in check and don't have to baby.

Thanks, thanks thanks!

As you say, you need to be careful about mixing pinks & reds;

as a rule of thumb, put cools with cools & warms with warms.

If you have salmon-pinks, use apricots, yellows, oranges, & bright tomato reds, & use ivory instead of white-white.

With cool blue-pinks, use other cool tones like lavenders, mauves, deep burgundies or lacquer reds, & white-whites.

....forgot to say, "Do as I say, not as I do."

The advice about dishing out red with a sparing hand was very good.

I once put in a whole row of gorgeous Red Ribbons roses.

They were beautiful, but the red was so powerful that you couldn't see anything but Red Ribbons roses!

I do not find combination of pinks with reds very pleasing. It could be OK if the colors are chosen with great care. Of course that is my personal taste. I would put pinks, whites and apple blossoms in any order and keep the reds to some other place in the garden. Good luck. You can always move things if you are not happy with it at the end.

I could be mistaken, but I think pink and supreme pink are the same color, but supreme pink is supposed to be an 'improved' variety. I'm all for improved bloom and disease resistance! You may want to double check on this. Of course, if they are not the same color, it will be obvious when you are at the store. :)

Whatever you do I would make sure to get "own root" rose bushes. My FC is very dense, prickly, grows all the way down to the ground, and also tip roots. Not something you want to have to climb under to get at suckers! Hortico once tried to sell me some FC that was grafted - I thought they were crazy.

Jackie

First of all, thanks for all this wonderful information on Flower Carpet® roses and design tips on using color in the garden. I am the blogger on Your Easy Garden (www.youreasygarden.com), the corporate blog for Tesselaar Plants (the Australian introducer and marketer of Flower Carpet). Using colors together is always a matter of personal taste and expression, so whatever color(s) make YOU happy are always the best way to go! And if youÂre planting Flower Carpet roses, donÂt miss the great videos by Dave Epstein (host of GrowingWisdom.com) on pruning, planting and mass planting Flower Carpet, along with his fantastic clip on using Flower Carpet with other plants, all at http://newsroom.tesselaar.com/multimedia. Hope youÂll visit me at Your Easy Garden!

I am terrified of mixing ANY colors at all, so I have areas of deep red, white, purple, pink and orange. Each is like a garden room. And from each space, you can generally see only one other color well enough.

It works for me.

I don't know how to post pictures of my garden, else I would.

The most adventurous I can get has been mixing purple (Wild blue yonder, and intrigues) with Queen Elizabeth pink. It looks spectacular, so I have been considering lining a bunch of tall sage along as a border between 6 china dolls, that merge into 15 Gene Boemars that will merge into the sage, which will merge into 6 trees of pink Cherish. But then I am also tempted to plant Love there instead of the sage. Its a deeper pink, but its a rose, not as much of a contrast as purple spikes of sage, although they'd look good I think?

I admire people with courage to mix bold colors....but they seem very unquietening for me...less serene than an expanse of single color...but it may just be me...

HELP!!! I just read this information...my husband and I just bought and planted 25 Scarlet Carpet Roses in a raised bed in front of our house. We chose Scarlet because our house is yellow and we wanted some contrast (Amber Carpet Rose is basically the same color as the house). We have a very large home and the beds are on both sides of our front steps and around the garage. We spaced the roses every 6 feet and 9 feet around the garage. We have also planted a Smoke Tree in one area and Pomegranates and Purple Plums near the garage and an Olive on the other far end of the house. So we a bit of purple, a bit of orange (pomegranate) and green. Our thought was to tie it all together with the red....is that too overwhelming??? Also, unsure of what to plant behind the carpet roses as we have 8 ft beds on one side...any thoughts?

Paso, I would say don't be too concerned. Whenever designing either you either stick with masses of standard colors for strong statement in simplicity or you mix in a haromony other colors. There are so many ways to design its limitless. Personal taste will be different among anyone as well. Masses of reds are done all the time with roses around my area and done quite effectively.

The trick is to use other plants in the areas you have left that will compliment in color the house and roses but will not replicate either of them. Use blue foliage or dark foliage plants. Ornamental grasses can help well because there are many blue colored ones that will also add a relaxed textural beauty to the rigid mass of red. A Russian sage has bluish foliage and blue flowers and mixes well with red rose masses.

I don't know your zone but you could even plant white variegated miscanthus such as Rigoletto to offet the colors. You need bold to go with the bold, don't mix too many colors in remaining areas you have left or they will be lost and clash against the roses. good luck!

It really depends on what YOU like best. My next door neighbor gardens as avidly as I do, but she is always picking bright showy colors that sometimes make me cringe--until I see passerbys lingering in appreciation by her fence. They like the bright colors which carry well when the garden is viewed as a whole.

My taste is a bit more subdued--and peaceful. But I must admit that it works best up close. From a distance, viewing the garden as a whole, it tends to blend together, nothing standing out.

Obviously, many posters here like more subdued combinations, but if you search the Rose Forum for pics by "pappu" of his garden--his bright, even loud, colors (lot's of long bright-colored hedges, by the way), you will see how glorious and exciting a "loud" garden can be. Almost anyone who views his pics raves over his dramatically colored beds.

It really depends on your personality--what makes YOU feel good.

Kate

I would just say that the growth habits of the different colors may vary--one may be a lot larger than another.

Just something to plan for.

Your particular climate also influences color choice. Here where the sun is bright and it is almost always sunny, pale colors look tired and bright colors look entirely appropriate. In more overcast conditions pale colors can look elegant and bright colors can look garish.

Just another thing to consider.