I tie everything together with purple/blue perennials. I'm not a huge fan of orange/peach but I wouldn't be without Lady of Shallot or The Lark Ascending, both beautiful and prolific. Penelope is white but her buds are the most beautiful peach fading to yellow like a sunset, she has a quiet grace about her and a wonderful fragrance. I tend to lump similar colors together to get a large clump look, like Ebb Tide, Purple Lodge, Dark Desire and Plum Perfect or Abe Darby, Shropshire Lad, Penelope, Moonlight in Paris and Princess Charlene de Monaco. It makes it interesting and like Kristine said "You can always move things around".

Penelope below

Susan, I think I am firmly in the ”riot of color” camp too. i like almost all the colors with the exception of some orangey reds and reddish oranges, so restraint is hard to come by.

Nola, apricot roses are a personal favorite of mine, and both Lady of Shallot and Lark Ascending are on my wish list. They look like georgeous roses. My only hesitation is that they both seem to get quite large! blue/purple perrenials really do marry the different colors together beautifully!

Kristine, I often forget or misremember where I’ve planted things and end up with a lot of surprise combinations! Some of them are beautiful and if they aren’t, it’s easy enough to move things around. :-)

Mischievous Magpie, I love the contrast of light and dark. It adds depth and dimension. Have fun experimenting with finding the ratio of llight to dark that looks best to you!

Oursteelers, I really like warm pinks, but I do find them a bit of a conundrum too. i think Nola’s method of using blue/purple perennials to blend and buffer is a good approach.

Always remember it's your garden. Be free to use the colors you like and change your mind when it doesn't work. In a lecture, I remember Penelope Hobhouse going on about how much she detested the all white garden movement that was popular at the time. Her comment was 'I just want to put a big red poppy in the middle.'

Hugogurll, I love that! I remember that trend well and I’m more of a red poppy kinda gal too.

Maybe it's the heat and drought, but I just seem to want cool colours. I have too many deep pinks/carmines. I want more very, very dark purple/red/black roses, but they seem to tend to be either only once bloomers or rather picky.I'm afraid of roses described as "peach" or "apricot" because I'm afraid that they'll turn fiery orange at some point ,and I can't stand that colour. I don't go for whites or yellows; there are so many wildflowers in these colours, and besides, the bright sun reflecting off of the leaves gives me those colours anyway. With a huge garden like mine,the over-all effect of the plant when seen from a distance is of great importance.

But this topic is yet another reminder of how anxious I am to get rid of my pot ghetto so I can start in with companion planting in earnest. This autumn I'll be putting out about 26 or 27 potted plants :3 trees, 2 clematis, the rest roses. I want to move about 4 or 5 other roses, so that means I'll have over 30 new implants to water next summer, plus about 10 others that I want to "coddle",so it'll be like this summer,with about 40 or so plants to water. Hopefully, the following year I'll be at a point that I'll have much fewer potted plants to put out, and I'll be able to start doing perennials. My limited resources demand that I pace myself carefully.

Holy Moly Bart, you have your work cut out for you.

But isnt it going to be glorious when it's done

Im taking out a few white/creama few a few golorss and replacing with deep red

I was thinking yesterday about what is a color that I didnt think would work, for me, and I think that red next to Sweet Mademoiselle would be icky. Sweet Mademoiselle would work with a few colors but not sure that any shade od red would be pretty.

Kristine I have Sweet Mademoiselle at the base of a raised bed next to Double Delight. I wouldn't call it 'classically pretty' but they are dramatic and different enough that they don't clash. The raised bed is made from cream colored roofing tin so it is a nice neutral between them.

I like orange and warm colors but I do tend to group them in certain areas. I also like white, blues, purple and bronze foliage in warm color beds. Soft yellows can go with pinks fine I think. Teasing Georgia is one that is usually a soft shade . I like some really bright colors together no matter if they clash...clash just isn't a problem to me sometimes. Like right now by my mailbox I have orange marigolds, mahogany marigolds, lavender pink zinnias, purple zinnias, white and salmon zinnias, Dusty Miller, and rudbeckia. It's a crazy mix of color but pleases me. On the wall right above my computer I have a painting of an orange with some slices in the skin that show the paler whitish layer, and a segment on the table with the light shining though it. An orange in any other color just wouldn't taste as good I think! Orange juice is like liquid sunshine! I know...some people who don't like orange roses may well like orange oranges. This is just in praise of orange.

When I was a kid my favorite Golden Book was The Color Kittens. I just loved all the colors of the paint cans. When I made a quilt for my son I couldn't decide on the color scheme so made it out of a rainbow of colors. Now I think limited palettes are much prettier in a quilt, and I do like some areas in my garden to have a cool color scheme. But it's not like I don't like bright and warm. White with white to me is lovely like this foxglove and rose, Moonlight. But I wouldn't want my entire garden white..it would be sensory deprivation to me.

Your mailbox garden sounds beautiful, erasmus! My own fixation does seem kind of odd to me, because I like hot colours in other people's gardens, it seems. I remember a photo of a garden I saw that was all oranges and reds, with strong orchid-purple flowers for contrast-gorgeous. I think one possible explanation could be that maybe I don't like orange or fiery red ROSES. Again I realize how impatient I am to be at a point where I can move on beyond roses so I could play around more with colour. I note that your list of flowers in your mailbox garden does NOT include any roses; mostly all annual, right? I could definitely see experimenting around with adventurous colours in annuals.

@erasmus_gw Those white on white flowers are soooo beautiful. I love it! I could never restrain myself to an all white garden, but I definitely feel like I could seriously enjoy walking through someone else's. I do get the appeal. I get sensory overload at times and I can imagine the serenity of the white and green garden helping with that. Especially if it was in dappled shade. Hm... I'm getting ideas for my shade garden... lol.

I think a white garden would be beautiful at night. That being said, I'm totally into color for my garden. I've just never been attracted to the light roses (after I just bought 2 Moonlight in Paris, 1 Eustacia Vye, Bolero and Princess Charlene that fades to white). They all are beautiful roses and I'm sure I'll enjoy them up close.

Bart, yes , annuals would be great to experiment with. No great loss if you find you don't like the colors. If you buy a pack of mixed seeds you can blame the seed packet for the riot of color. In my mailbox bed, which is a lozenge shape, I do have two roses, Peggy Martin and Dr. Huey.

Peggy M is back in the shade of a maple tree and reaches out long canes to the sun. It drapes around nicely. Dr. Huey is an old rootstock, and I like the color. Neither of these are blooming right now with the annuals. I used to have a perennial candytuft plant out there by the mailbox but the town's sewer pipe got clogged up and they dug up my flower bed and dug deep down under the street to fix the problem. They brought some subsoil up to the surface when they put it back together. Strangely enough the subsoil is very hospitable to these annuals.

I have never seen an all white garden in person but I do think it probably can be beautiful. Just the variety of pllants all in one color, and the cool of the green.

I try to get roses that go with my other roses. I like whites, bright colors and pastels. The ones that I've gotten that don't fit with my colors scheme are Neil Diamond and Denver's Dream. They are pretty but have a dusky look to them. I also have a presumed Dr. Huey that is growing through my Fourth of July. Here they are all in a dish together looking fabulous with each other.

If these two (Dr. Huey and Fourth of July) were compatible colors this would look pretty but they aren't and it doesn't. The Dr. Huey is too dark.

One way I evaluated them was in the green house I took around a band of a rose I had already grown and liked with a bloom on it and held it next to potential purchases. If they looked great together then I thought it would go. Some very obviously clashed so I didn't get them.

My main rose bed is a mixed color. The roses have alot of visual separation but even so I don't like having ones that don't look harmonious together.

I have a garden bed in back that is all perennials. Would love it if it were an all white with just a few pops of orange but I couldn't find enough interesting white plants of the right height that bloomed at the right time when the garden was being populated. As a result it is white, purple, pinks and orange.

May 24th purple ajuga.

So this is it during it's second color on July 5th (Shasta Daisies).

Here it is with a photo bomb doggie (July 27th).

Here it is today with the marine and pink garden phlox along with Orange Mango Red Hot Pokers.

In the fall I will have pink, white and purple asters. It took alot time to get this perennial bed to have all season color.

Mmmm12, well done! Your yard is looking fabulous!!

My garden is so shady that I need gaudy colors to brighten my gloomy garden: Below is Christopher Marlowe, Pat Austin, and Radio Times .. Austin roses can bloom in 4 to 6 hrs. of sun. This is the shady north side with Japanese Maple tree (doesn't invade roses like other trees).

This is the shady west side with Lady of Shalott, Crown Princess Mag, Aloha, Lagerfeld, and Zepherine Drouhin, Gruss an Teplitz, they get 4 hours of evening sun, Prairie Harvest is chopped off but blooms best in partial shade.

I also have the east side (4 hrs. of morning sun) but have to dig up that pic. The south side (more sun) is the most work with most watering.

My garden plan started out with only white roses, but after a while I discovered that white roses are terribly susceptible to thrips here, and some I tried turned out to be yellow, and many were not fragrant or turned ugly in the heat. I also got sucked into the vortex of rose options. So then I tried dark red roses, which were much worse in the heat, and pink roses, the ones I planted didn’t seem much better. So then I’ve been trying to grow anything fragrant that will take the climate here. It’s resulted in a hodge podge of colors that doesn’t really do it for me but it’s getting better as I get rid of the ones that don’t work as well, or that don‘t make me happy. Some of the early ones that didn‘t look so good at first have gotten better as they have matured. It’s not what I originally intended, but its okay.

Wow Markay! I don't think japanese beetles could even get into those gorgeous blooms!

Straw, you’ve got me thinking that maybe I could plant some roses on the south side of my house where it gets a lot if dappled shade from trees. I’d written it off as too shade. But then again, that’s also where we have moles.

All kinds blended into a green-backed madness!

I have no scheme or grouping. It's rather full, messy, and cottagey with herbs mixed amongst the perennials and roses.

Steven

Nola, it’s thrown out these long gains with clusters of buds on at the ends. it’s a crazy looking thing, but I just planted it this spring so we’ll see how the bush shapes up. This is how it looks from above! It is trying hard to encroach on Earth song and Hermosa.

Markay: I love your bush-shot, very informative. thank you.

Love to see these garden shots...very pretty, Straw , and mmmm. Beautiful Earth Angel, Markay. As far as color combinations go, that Earth Angel is just too pristine and lovely to have orange next to it or anything that shouts. Seems like it deserves a frame of something that would set it off such as burgundy , purple, blues or whites. Roses like that are why I tend to group my brighter , warmer colors.

Straw, I am admiring your Pat Austin, it is much more peach than orange like I've seen in the commercial photos and that combination in that bed is beautiful. It has caught my eye several times over the past years and I think I'll make the leap of purchase. Is it a good rose for you in z5?

Markay, Love your Earth Angel! Have you thought about possibly putting it on an obelisk? I have Penelope that has decided in this 2nd year to lay flat against the ground somewhat like your EA. I hope this is not how it's going to proceed in the future.

Nosometer, it's funny how our gardens evolve and plans change. I haven't gotten rid of any roses yet but my Blue Boy by Interplant is on it's way out of the garden and into a pot until it can decide if it wants to stay.

Pat Austin likes it shady, wet, and alkaline. I gave away of my 2nd Pat Austin since it fried badly in full-sun. I break many rules in color-combo since my garden is too shady .. I organize roses according to the amount of sun they need. Below are some bad combo of colors in own-root roses, grouped by how little sun they need !! First combo in 4 hrs. of morning sun is Sweet M. (5' x 4') with Moonlight Romantica. Below pics. are taken this July:

Combo of Evelyn and Munstead Wood in full-sun, southern side:

Combo of Evelyn with Orchid Romance (fades and fries badly in full-sun) .. I should had planted Orchid Romance in partial shade.

Combo of Crown Princess Mag. and Gruss an Teplitz in 4 hrs. of sun. Should had planted Gruss in more sun !!

And the worse combo possible: Rouge Royal and Baronne de Rothchild. Both are tiny & need evening shade & like alkaline pH so I put them together:

Another bad combo of color (red and pink) is Tess and James Galway, both can take 4 hrs. of morning sun:

Here's a better combo of colors when they were 2nd-year own-roots in hot full sun: White is Mary Magdalene, orange is Pat Austin, and pink is Radio Times. Now they are 11th-year own roots and I moved them to shadier locations.

Straw, your roses are doing so well! The combinations seem fine to me! That Orchid Romance is a beautiful rose. I am looking for the impossible rose to go behind Twilight Zone which is 3' tall, so I need something 4' with large, fragrant, continuous blooms and hopefully disease resistant. I'm considering Ancient Mariner, PAOK or something pink/mauve. Any suggestions?

Straw, I love your roses, but Evelyn is just the best. No one grows her better. Actually, I like the Tess and James Galway combo. I hope your Rouge Royale grows and thrives--I'm finding RR is a great rose for this climate, though it suffers lots of crunchy blooms. RR produces so many that there are still plenty of blooms left over for bouquets. And the blooms last, whereas my poor big bloomer Munstead Wood has gorgeous blooms that shatter when I cut them. So frustrating.

As far as my color palette goes, it's not very restrained and only occasionally planned. I decided on a purple/yellow combo years ago in front with pink as a supporting cast--sort of. I also have two good sized pastel rose beds, and a wine red/purple bed. So I'm all over the map. Here are a few photos from the recent past. Diane

Straw, Interesting, I found all of your combinations quite nice. Your Crown Princess Marguerite and Gruss an Teplitz is beautiful.

Diane it is always such a pleasure to see your gorgeous purple yellow combination.

Nola, how about Memorial Day. It is a tall pinky lavender with big blooms and a wonderful fragrance.

Diane, those yellow and purple combos are stunning!

Straw, Pat Austin was my favorite rose at yhe botanical garden near my office, but she was removed at some point during the pandrmic shutdown. i don’t know if she died or was replaced as they editted the collection. i was very sorry to see that she was gone, but she will live on in my camera roll.

Diane, your roses are a sight for sore eyes! Just stunning and healthy! What is the lavender in the first picture? That may work for me!

Kristine, Thank you, Memorial Day is 7b and warmer, I'm in z5a and am a zone pusher but I'm skiddish of z7. lol I was thinking of maybe Sweetness. It can get tall but in my zone I may not need to worry. I have Poseidon, Violets Pride, Quicksilver and Plum Perfect for lavenders. I don't think Charles Rennie Mackintosh will be tall enough and it does BS. Right now there is Turtleshead (rose pink/mauve) behind it and the combination is gorgeous when in bloom, but I'd like something that will bloom during the summer as well. I did consider PAOK, Ancient Mariner, Olivia...

Kristine, thanks, and boy, is your Memorial Day gorgeous. You grow roses so well that hate me--ha. The blooms remind me so much of Frederic Mistral's. You should try that one, too, because I'll bet he will do well for you. Oh, I forgot--you're like me--out of space.

Markay, how sad that the garden removed the beautiful Pat Austin. What a pointless thing to do. Have they replaced her with something else? Thanks for you comment on my purples and yellows. Below is a different take on my colors, and one I like just as well. Diane

Diane, I think maybe they are no longer spraying and so they are changing up their collection to be better suited to no spray. a lot more landscape roses, more Kordes and very few Austins remaining. The roses looked pretty rough to tell the truth, but it provided good insight on blackspot resistance in the DC area.

Diane,

Are those amazing pictures from right now? With all the heat and smoke? Or maybe you are located in an area that isn't getting it? I'm sure you've posted your location but I don't remember where it is.

Diane, we have some of the same roses and mine are 3ft and yours are 10ft. There must he magic beans in your water

mmmm, Those rose photos are not from right now. We are having a heat wave that's basically lasted since June 9, and it shows. This is a desert and our air is as hard on things as the heat. I have a lot of photos from May-early June that I'll be posting soon. I garden in SW Idaho in the desert hills outside Boise.

Kristine, but you have room for more roses. I like most of my big roses, but some are ridiculous and take up too much room in crowded spaces. Like a huge Love Song. I don't know what to do with that thing.

Markay, that reminds me that we may have to water constantly and put up with dry air, but no black spot here or spraying. A little Karma for the poor rose grower. Diane

Nola, thank you. Your post just showed up on this thread for me, something that happens fairly frequently. I think you're referring to Young Lycidas, the purplish rose in the first photo. A second photo is shown of YL below your post. It's fairly large with lax, graceful canes that I let lean companionably on its neighbors. It's not aggressive like PAoK, and has large, lovely blooms. You mentioned Sweetness, and I have to say that Sweetness did not work for me. It grew OK, if I remember, but didn't bloom much, and the blooms couldn't take our heat and dry air--but that's not a problem for you. This was a long time ago, and I don't even have a pic. Below is Young Lycidas again. Diane

O, Diane...your photos of YL have convinced me to move mine to a better spot...that is incrediblly beautiful!

WOW Diane! I can't wait for mine to get big! It's beautiful!!

Finally, here are a few from this spring and early summer. Diane

Diane, when I see those I just can’t believe it has been a bad year for your roses. If kine looked like that it would be considered the best year ever!

Thanks, oursteelers. When the heat struck, Colette started shutting down. She had begun blooming way before any other rose, so I had time to get a lot of pics. Julia was fine until the heat got to be too much, and she actually "rested" way more than usual. Other roses totally have been shut down since June. Still others have bloomed through all of this: Rouge Royale, Munstead Wood, Tamora, and others. Now, most are up and running, but the last of our heat wave will be around for a few more days. The smoke is horrible, rolling in late last night. It's depressed the temps a few degrees--ha. Did I mention I managed to snap 1200 photos? Insane old woman that I am. Now my granddaughter and I are working through them, filing, deleting, cropping etc. We're only about 1/3 the way through. I posted these photos below last night on the seasonal forum: Abe Darby, Augusta Luise, Evelyn bouquet, and also here's Rouge Royale. Diane

Note that when I photograph RR, I'm right next to an ugly desert very steep slope straight down to the gully below. It's tricky. Diane

What a treat, Diane! These are new to me, so your girls must have been busy getting your photos transferred to your computer. Thank goodness for these grandkids!! I had a few phone and computer questions I had been saving for my grandkids. I wish I had taken more photos before the heat hit, but was busy getting ready for houseguests. The heat and the company arrived at the same time and no roses to speak of since, but looks like we might get blooms soon if the weather cooperates. Thank you for the gorgeous eye candy. I hope you get an outstanding flush before the season ends. Maybe we'll go out with a bang!

Here's Bolero, who had been doing pretty well in spite of the heat, but she finally just threw in the towel. Kind of pretty, though. I had to follow the stem back to the bush to be sure who she was. There are only white and pink roses in that area. The smoke in the air had something to do with her color, which isn't quite that yellow in person. Have you seen the blazing orange moon lately?

Yes, we have that orange haze too. I’ve tried to get a pic, the sunrise was wild this morning but it doesnt photograph well. Fall and rain can’t come soon enough for me.

Diane, what is the fragrance on your Ascot and RougeRoyale?

Red has never been my color but I’ve been so impressed with the coloring on TwiightZone, EbbTide and MunsteadWood I think I might try a few more. Alfred Colomb is also one I’m looking at