When I started growing roses, I read a lot of rose books written by people in the UK, or in the NE of the US. They had LOTS of rules for growing roses. Now it is 25+ years later, and I have discovered that almost all of those rules are useless regarding MY roses, either because the rules were written for HT roses (although they said they were for ALL roses) and I grow OGRs, or because they were written for cold winter climates. In my warm climate, conditions are so different, and my warm loving OGRs are so different, that I had to learn how to take care of them all by myself, and with the assistance of folks on here. So, I do not have a "spraying regimen", I do not hard prune my roses every Spring, I do not pick up every leaf which falls, I do not strip off all of the leaves in the Fall, etc. etc. I have over 100 roses, and they love it here and are happy.

Regarding the rest of the garden (I have a garden with roses in it, not a rose garden), most of the large trees and flowering plants were here when we got here, and grow and bloom every year without more water than they get in our 4 month rainy season. Many have been in our garden for over 80-90 years, so if they are happy I leave them alone to get on with it. I have, of course, added more flowering shrubs such as azaleas & hydrangeas, and warm weather bulbs such as South African natives, iris, and lots of warm weather ground covers. I like yellows, blues, pinks, and whites all mixed up, so that is what I plant. Don't like bright orange so there isn't any. (I did not even know there were RULES for colors!).

Jackie

After viewing images and reading about the evolution of your garden, Jackie, three words come to mind ( respect, happy and love). Respect of family, but there is also a respect for your growing conditions that is evident in your choice of plantings. Your love/respect for both family and the gardening environment has definitely created a happiness that shows in images. I hope someone has captured the history and beauty on canvas. Artwork often remains in a way that I do not believe our digital photography or printed images will...

You also clearly learned what to do with the "rules"...

I don't know that I followed many rules but I was greatly inspired by English gardens, with their informal mixture of different plants and colors. My garden is surrounded by views of hills and valleys, and I quickly learned that loud colors and modern shapes of roses did not look well against that background. I therefore limited my palette to mostly cool colors of white, pinks, lavenders and purples with a few warm but still not garish colors like Rosette Delizy and yellow irises for contrast. The years of drought have taken a heavy toll on my garden, which will have to be restructured this fall to include fewer roses and more drought-tolerant plants. My plan is to have a green oasis that will provide more shade and also shelter for the animals, birds and insects here.

There's one rule that's total horse pucky (reference to Col. Henry Morgan, M.A.S.H.0

It's that roses need one inch of water a week.

Some weeks, when they are dormant, they don't need much at all....I've yet to read what the feeder roots do when the ground is frozen and I have looked.

One inch a week is NOT sufficient in summer. Evapotranspiration rates are much higher than in spring or fall and are even higher when there are weeks with wind....like the past two we've just had.

The easy way to tell if a rose is hydrated is to snap off spent blooms at the abscission layer. If they don't snap easily, the rose needs more water (and it will grow better.)

Instead of following rules, learn your roses and let them tell you what they need. Much better than following a guru who has never gardened in your neck of the woods.

I am new at growing roses . I have a secret garden ,not visible from the street . I randomly bought roses on Fortuniana root stock since I am in FL . the colors do clash ,but I am happy as long as they are blooming . I have Fragrant cloud near Memorial Day , near Perfume Delight near Double Delight near Mr.lincon and so on . also the 1 inch rule does not work here in summer 100 F temps .I also fertilize in summer because I like blooming roses but water a lot too .The other side of the house is visible to the neighbors ,so I am thinking of putting yellows and purples there this Fall .I only have Hybrid teas , I think I will try some floribundas next time .

There are people with excellent color sense but I'm not one with my roses. I follow the rule of warm colors with warm, and cool with cool. A few colors cross over and look well with both groups. I've learned to tack a potential new rose's bloom to the fence or a bamboo stake and stand back to contemplate before planting. Avoid disaster rule.

Another rule I follow is drought resistant plants with other drought resistant. Sounds simple but an experienced gardener put tall succulents with fuchsias (sun tolerant cultivar). One or the other was always suffering. Thirsty likes thirsty rule.

Organic, organic, organic matter to the soil. I had clay and made the mistake of using sand. Semi-cement. This addition rule applies to sandy or heavy soil. I would guess an 1-2 inches of organic matter has been dug in by the end of each year. Once is not enough rule.

Desertgarden - thank you for the nice things you said. We do have a formal painting we had of the front garden & the house, but I also have a sketch which I like better. Here's the story (true). About 2 years ago one of my (slightly paranoid) neighbors called me on the phone to tell me that "someone is sitting and staring at your house!". I looked out to the sidewalk, and there was an elegant elderly lady with a folding chair, sitting on the sidewalk and sketching our house. I went out to talk to her, and of course told her that I was happy she was doing what she was doing. Turns out she lived in a very nice retirement home which is about 2 blocks away. Two days later she came by and gave me a copy of the sketch. She was over 90 at the time. She told me she went for walks by our garden, and liked it, but sometimes could not get that far and back again because she was frail. We have a garden bench near the sidewalk in a sort of little side garden with a circular path with roses on the outside, and a round bed on the inside with a bird bath. I showed it to her, and told her she was welcome to sit there anytime she was walking by to rest a bit. She was happy about that, and did a few times, I think.

About a year later I got an email from her son. She had died a few months before, he said. It turns out she had been a world traveler and artist most of her life. Her family had arranged an art show of her work, and he invited me to it. It was very lovely - many sketches, but also full paintings, etc.

Jackie

Wow, Jackie - that is very special! Thanks for sharing! I enjoy seeing the posts of your fantastic landscape - you have learned what works best for your garden and follow it - it shows!

I agree with you, Ann. I have tried to follow the advice to water less during the heat of the summer d/t the semi- dormant state of the rose. Maybe somewhere else w/ some different variety - but I don't think so.

Probably the number one rule I "break" is planting drought tolerant plants with roses - lambs ear, lavender, salvia, catmint, sedum, yarrow, etc... They are close but do not get watered when the roses are and do very well together. One less thing I have to water!

My number one rule - Don't mess with Mother Nature. If I have to pamper it, I won't plant it. I have many roses and knockouts (ya gotta love em even if the purists say they aren't roses). They bloom profusely and are not prone to diseases. I use milorganite, mulch, and water occasionally (I'm on the God plan...He sends the water). I'm a happy camper.................

I don't necessarily plant all my red roses together, all my mauve roses together, etc. I want the individual roses to stand out. Of course, I avoid matching colours I find displeasing together, but contrast is not a bad thing.

I will spray against fungus and mildew, though I try to keep it to a minimum. Roses that are known to be very susceptible are mostly kept under glass.

I actually fertilize my newly planted roses, even the bare root ones, albeit with a weak solution of liquid fertilizer.

Ut oh, there are rules???!!! Oh crap!! hahaha Back to the drawing board...

Lynn, thank you for posting this topic and your thoughts. Gets me thinking...

Ingrid, I appreciate what you said because I have a red landscape/dirt and not a very green environment so that will be helpful to think about as I work on a garden design.

Lol, what rules? In gardening rules are meant to be broken. What works in your yard may be a disaster in mine and vice versa. You have to just experiment and keep changing and trying things until you get the mix that works for you. As for care and upkeep, I do what I can and don't sweat the small stuff. The roses and perennials seem to do just fine with or without my interference. That's why I laugh so hard when people say roses are too hard to grow. If I can prune, I do, but never as deep as they say. Sometimes I can get out and weed and some times not. I do try to water regularly but I don't spray and sometimes go LOOOOONG periods of time without fertilizing. I don't like rules anyway so I don't bother to try to keep to them.

O.T. .. ... apologies for my typos... I really need to post from a screen larger than my IPAD mini or IPhone. I find my OCD over editing during the time frame it is allowed on the O.P. can often lead to other typos etc.

I don't follow any rules, but one thing has always puzzled since joining this forum. What's with disbudding a new rose for a year, so that it will somehow, mysteriously, direct all its energy to growing roots? If a rose has produced a bud, or many buds, the energy to produce the bud(s) has already be expended. Removing buds just directs the rose to replace the removed tissue--ie, buds. My roses grow just fine their first year without needlessly torturing the plants by removing their buds. Diane

I don't follow any rules except when planting a new rose, make sure the soil is rich and the planting hole should be wider and deeper than the potted plant. I do follow which part of the rose to prune when the flowering is done. Other than that, I don't really follow any of the rules. I love reading what other gardeners advices were whether it is from books or forums.

I don't go by the "matchy matchy" designer looks because I think gardens should be more natural not like the controlled environment of a home. It is not that I don't enjoy the designer gardens but I think it should be a separate sanctuary than the house.

Since I live in a modest urban home, I feel my garden should be personal and reflect my lifestyle as a middle class owner. I am not trying to impress anyone or anyone from high society. Therefore my garden is my sanctuary to my own delight.

I follow the KISS method plus one rule: Grow or Go!
I also don’t worry about animals eating my roses. If they are hungry I want them to eat. The plant can grow new growth…see above rule…

The only "rule" in my garden is, it better be a good looking shrub or it's gone. Other then that I've been using the KISS method in my garden for a long time. Growing roses and other flowering plants is my hobby. It's NOT a life and death situation where I have to do it by "rules". If my garden pleases me, that's all that maters.

I agree with many parts of the above posts. As for colour - I love them all, except really light washed out pinks. I mix them all up. I do not buy 3 or 5 of the same plant to evenly spread in the same spot, to create a large sweep of each colour. This is advice from many garden designers. I would maybe do that if I had a very large property or a commercial business. However, I do try and pay attention to the scale of plants - foundation/base/back of the border to mid size to front of the bed. I also try and plan my garden space according to average size of a mature plant, so that each item has the space it needs to grow. It drives me nuts if things are too overcrowded. Of course sometimes plants don't grow as well or they do too well & things need to be moved. I mix all kinds of foliage, shapes & colours. I have to have perfect edges between the garden bed & the lawn. It's the line that seperates the chaos of the garden from the plainness of the grass. I am also a huge believer in mulch! And no I do not use it make volcanos around trees! I actually saw a house near me where the people had made a 3 foot high mountain of mulch against the city boulevard tree. Later that night (undercover of the dark) I went back in the dark and fixed it properly. They never did it again. I guess I probably broke a rule for that! But it really was that bad!!!

I would hate to live in a neighborhood where they actually enforce rules about what you can plant, especially in your front yard. I think the basic rule I break is "Thou shalt have a manicured landscape." I think most manicured landscapes look good but it's not for me. If I had a gardener I would probably like some well-maintained boxwood borders. I have a profusion of plants of all shapes. This gets me some criticism sometimes and it sometimes delights people. My garden can look pretty shaggy when it's not in bloom. Some ask why I don't prune certain plants more. One lady didn't like the way my potted asparagus fern had roots showing at the top of the pot. I kind of like it that way. I let them not like it and that is what makes it a habitat for me. A space to exercise my own decisions for better or worse. But I do appreciate neatness and understand that having some maintained lines brings some order to it. I appreciate my garden a lot more when the grass is freshly mowed. I think mowing is a nod to the neighbors also, who want the neighborhood to look neat. Maybe it's an unspoken rule, but one I accept.

You are so right Erasmus! I thank my lucky stars that we didn't buy a property down the road where every blade of grass is manicured. I would NOT fit in with my English cottage garden style. It can look somewhat messy close up, but from a distance the profusion of colour throughout the season (even without any annuals) is something to behold. I think I would be very miserable at that place "down the road" and they would hate my garden {LOL}.

Rules that I break? Probably zillions. I sometimes sneak herbs and veggies in with the flowers. I don't really like mulch (although I use it when establishing a bed). I don't like to see the soil, so I plant too close, and I cannot bear to pull up my favourites when they self-seed. One year I ended up with a sea of Forget-me-nots and Johnny Jump Ups and, although it looked pretty, I realized that I had overdone it just a tad!

Rules that I keep. I try to keep orange out of my garden. I don't really like orange flowers, and they clash with pink. I try to plant the tallest at the back most of the time.

Linda

I'm a lot like Linda, I think. I don't care for the true orange color, although peach, apricot, and pink blends are fine. I'm not much of a hot colors person. I lean towards pinks, whites, lavenders, etc. I allow self seeding to a fault, perhaps, but I don't like to see dirt or mulch. Lots of crowding here. I even allow some of my self seeders to spring up in pots. I yank them if they are rude, but have found some very pleasing "pop up" combinations. My homemade compost seeds tomatoes and strawberries all over the place. I let a few stay here and there, if it doesn't look too bad. I consider it free produce.

I have probably broken every rule in the book,(garden wise anyway). Sometimes I get away with it, sometimes not so much. They only regret is maybe the money some of my rulebreaking has costed me over the years. On the other hand, it makes me happy. I'm sure there are worse places to spend money breaking rules.

I do try to keep things more tidy in the front yard. My overflowing style would look pretty out of place in this neighborhood. The backyard is a place that's mine and doesn't need to please anyone but me. And most of the time, it does!!!

The number one rule I break is the use of fresh/hot horse manure and sometimes less than completely composted stall waste. I don't do any other fertilizing or amendments. I do occasionally put some pine bark fines over the manure as mulch to tidy things up, but more often than not I use the partially composted stall leavings as mulch.

Diane I am with you. When I plant a new rose I expect to be cutting flowers for my arrangements in the first year rather than pinching buds off. But then I am in rose heaven so usual rules may not apply here. I break all rules as well. I acidify my alkaline soil with sulfuric acid before I plant my fruit trees. I use fresh clippings as mulch rather than composted material. I grow tropical plants without a hothouse. I grow cherries in zone 10. It's fun to break all the rules and make it work. It's much more exciting this way.

I'm a free-form pruner, I just let the bush speak to me. I grow both old and modern roses and shrubs-- which of course are complete individuals (mutts!).

If a floribunda or hybrid tea seems lacking in vigor I take off very little when dead-heading, and don't but it back much seasonally. The big honkers like Frederick Mistral, Folklore and QE really get whacked. I know I can cut off big hunks and they will rebloom on new growth. I love those great big blooms.

@ halloblondie: No Geoff Hamilton or Olivia Rose Austin for you then? :(

lauriescreams's ideas · More Info

It's okay, we all have colors which we just can't stand. I absolutely dislike brown hues on flowers - Hot Chocolate, Honey Dijon, Kokoloko, etc. I do make an exception for cypripedium calceolus, where the sepal and petals are chocolate brown but the lip is bright yellow.

@lauriescreams, those blooms are beautiful. I just have never really liked light pink flowers. I think part of it is we have such a short season & I want colours in the garden that are bright & summery. While there are people here who can't stand orange, but I love it! The other thing I have found is that many of the light pinks fade to a dirty looking spent bloom. But maybe seeing more of these pics of big pink blooms will convince me to branch out! It is much easier to find hardy pink roses here too.

I actually like the look of honey Dijon, et al, but I've only seen up close blooms. I was curious how the brown roses look as a whole in the garden. Do they also just look dreary or dirty from a far? Anyone have full plant shots of one of the brown tone roses?

Actually, both of those Austins fade to near white before dropping off their petals all at once. But no one needs to justify which colours they like or dislike. I personally don't care for flowers that don't even look fresh at the height of their freshness, hence no brown hues.

I'm a major rule breaker! I plant my roses too close together because I want all the varieties and I hate wasted space. I spray only when I feel like it. I cut off all my flowers and bring them indoors leaving the garden mostly bare (although my dream is to one day have SO many roses that I can have them both in the house and in the garden). I experiment with plants and roses that are not necessarily known to grow in our region, but I do it anyway and even if I get one flush of blooms before it kicks the bucket I'm happy I experimented. I plant roses that are supposed to grow giant in small spaces and hope for the best. I plant own root roses in Florida where we are only supposed to use Fortuniana, but if they bloom for a few years before croaking, so be it. I root cuttings of roses even if they are licensed just to see if i can get it to root (I know this is a big No No, some come and get me pant police!) I'm a wild and tenacious gardener. People visit my garden in South Florida and comment on all the things I grow that they have never seen grow in SLF before. I plant annuals at the base of my rose plants to cover the leggy growth and never worry about root interruption. I plant various rooted cuttings as if it were one plant and don't worry about competition. And sometimes I even let trailing weeds cover the rose bed in order to protect the roots from the hot SFL sun. I over fertilize and hope for the best. I'm crazy!!!

And I love every minute of it! :)

Pics, just for fun:

more pics:

I was not crazy about the idea of a brown hued rose either, but started thinking... Koko Loco definitely has lavender tones and now, two edge my lavender bed. How it appears depends upon the time of year and temperatures. Right now, one of the bushes just completed a nice bloom cycle, but the blooms appeared paper bag tan ( do not have an image) which is my least favorite look for this rose. The 3rd Koko Loco is near the white antique rose, Mlle. de Sombreuil. I was thinking of the antique white color of this rose's blooms, and how the color of Koko Loco could look with it. To me, the Koko Loco brown and lavender color are kind of antique like. Unfortunately, the two roses have not bloomed at the same time so I have no idea as to what the blooms look like together

Little Bush shot of a young Koko Loco - June

April... Many of the blooms have more of the lavender tone you see on the bottom petals.

Someone on GW posted the most beautiful shots of this rose I have seen... do not remember who...

I am definitely one to become bored..... this rose added something "different"....

Very well put nippstress, I am also of a similar attitude towards the roses as you are. If it causes stress, it's not worth having!

@desertgarden - thanks for the pics on koko loco. They are interesting bloom colours. I can see myself liking the unusual in the garden too!