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

There are not different "clones" of 'Cardinal de Richelieu' but there may be mislabeled plants out there, masquerading as the Cardinal. Its blooms are an unmistakable "Concord grape" purple. It has a paler mauve petal reverse, especially evident when the blooms are starting to open. The new blooms have a way of forming a tight rounded ball of petals that unfold suddenly, all at once. The new shoots have a distinctly pepper-like scent when rubbed, and the canes are generally thin and willowy, with relatively few thorns. These characteristics as a whole should help you determine whether you have the correct plant or not. Regards, Paul

Hi Alana, yes ma'am, heavy soil can help inhibit suckering types just as it can inhibit budded plants. When I planted Fedtschenkoana in the Newhall garden, I put it where the soil was heaviest and it helped prevent it from eating the hill. It suckered about ten by ten after three or so years, but never ran yards as I have seen it do in lighter soils. How "temporary" would depend upon just how heavy the soil is with the associated lack of drainage and ability to permit water to pass in to and through the soil. Planting them in pots of potting soil should, eventually, help produce larger, wider suckering plants, which should then have a much easier time colonizing some in your heavy soil. Once they have sufficient root balls and cane/foliage mass, I would expect they should flower well for you back there. Richelieu flowered reliably in the Granada Hills garden (now shown as on the cusp of 9b - 10a but which was a solid 9b in the early to mid 80s), while the ONLY way for me to obtain ANY flowering on Mills was to pack him in ice as has long been suggested for the more cold demanding lilacs. I grew weary of both of their obsession with eating the whole garden, so after several years, both were vigorously ripped out, potted and shared with any and everyone who would take the chance on one.

This is the closest I can get to the colour on my phone but it is still a deeper purple. I never saw either in person but those are the only ones in the rose catalogues over here. As I said, it can possibly be something else as well, as many of the plants in the area were imported by a keen gardener more or less at the beginning of the 1900s or a bit later. The garden has many rare azaleas, rhodendrons, cammilias etc. Imported from the china / japan and us also famous for flowering cherries and crabapples that are quite rare in SA.