Oh you are reminding me why I love MW so much, it's definitely my favourite Austin. Does it burn in the summer? The advantage of my potted one was that it could be moved out of the afternoon sun in summer, but I'd love to have one in the ground.

I love the form of the Jupiter's Beard as well as the colour (especially in that top photo). Definitely going on my list. Thank you!

This is when I really miss my pics.😥

@dianela7analabama Gosh, you have a gift for gardening, that's for sure. Your photos are just incredible.

Wow! Your garden is impressive, Dianela. Thank you for sharing it.

About what goes with red- The biggest problem I have with red is that it tends to disappear in the shadows. White shows up red when planted side by side but to me, it can look stark. A sort of creamy apricot and pastel violet blue can make reds pop and soften their appearance at the same time. These three colors together in the garden are especially pretty in the evening.

I think yellows or bluish purples are pretty with scarlet. I'd do russian sage, catmint, lavender, yellow yarrow, goldenrod, maybe rudbeckia or sunflowers as well.

Dianela, I think that your garden is just breathtaking as it is. Very pleasing to the eye.

@Diane Brakefield As always, I LOVE your plant combos, Diane! I Googled both Dara and Orlaya; are these the same things as the wild flowers Queen Anne's Lace and Bishop's Weed,or are these less "weedy" relatives? because I love both of them,and would like to track down seeds,if possible.

I am swooning at your photos, @Diane Brakefield. I bet it smells incredible when they're all blooming.

I also love your ideas of violet blues @AaAaron and @Kes... geranium, nepeta, scabiosa, lavender. And you are so right about the creamy apricot Kes. I forgot used to have Munstead Wood in a pot next to Sharifah Asma (which was never very pink for me, more like peach) and they looked stunning together. You have got me thinking about creamy apricot/pale yellow microphyllia salvias.

I've been thinking about layered red a lot since starting this thred and now I'm wondering whether a munsted wood and a dwarf pomegranate (red fruit obviously, but also tiny 'pops' of orange flowers) could go somewhere in the vicinity of Paul's scarlet if softened by violets and creams...

Thanks, Bart. Dara is the wild purple carrot. I find it quite manageable and the same for orlaya, which is not of the Queen Anne's Lace group. It's just orlaya. I gather seed from both of these plants. I purchased my Dara seed, and Lisa sent me some of her orlaya seed. She's grown it for years in California, and uses it to great effect in bouquets. There are a number of seed sellers here in the US who sell Dara and orlaya. But I have no idea about Italy, of course. Select Seeds and Hazzards Seeds sell these seeds and there are other sellers.

Mina, thank you and good luck layering. Diane

@bart bart I bought some "Dara" seeds just last week online from Bloomling so they're definitely availble here.

Oh, good. You'll love Dara--just sow the seeds directly.

Here is some lavender along side an Ascot rose. And then there's the snowball. The rose has gotten so large since this photo that the snowball bush, which has also gotten enormous, grow next to each other. The poor lavender had to be removed, but another is a little farther away. I grow lots of lavender. Our climate is quite Mediterranean in some aspects. No rain for months in summer and hot and very dry. No fungal diseases. Diane

our dry hills out back

That's quite some view, but also quite some contrast with your lush garden! And everything you grow is enormous!

I love that huge lavender. I stick it everywere as it grows so reliiably here, paired with rose it's a hard to beat, I think.

Thanks for the tip, MinaLoy. I never heard of Bloomling before-looks very interesting!

I have a bed of reds and have pure white (drift rose), limelight hydrangea, and some dwarf globe arborvitae (also lime colored).

i really like the bright green and white contrast against the much darker red roses and their foliage.

Yes, I agree that balance of dark and light looks good. I don't know that hydrangea but the photos on google are stunning.

I love the dark and light combination. Pale pink, almost white Sarah Bernhardt peonies look wonderful in contrast to dark Munstead Wood. Too bad this is for a short time only since peonies don't last long here. Diane

That might be the perfect combination! I absolutely adore SB peonies. But they don't last here either and my garden is small so space is too precious for things that don't bloom for a decent period.

By the way, your photos have convinced me to get Munstead Wood again, DA should pay you commission. ;)

Thanks, Mina. I understand about the lack of space, but I do have some peonies. I just have to have them. Some have said Tantau should pay me a commission, too. Last year it was Rouge Royale (Meilland). I think these companies should pay all the Rose Forum members commissions. Diane

Yes dear Diane, I have a Rouge Royal coming because of your stellar reviews and pictures

Seeing the deep red with white makes me excited for the RR and a white clematis combination

Kristine, I'm sure your white clematis/RR combination will look better than my poor rose leaning out over the slope. But this February I'm going to transplant that poor thing, and I hope I don't kill RR in the process (or myself). Which clematis will you be getting? Can't wait to see your photos. Diane

Wow. Diane and Daniela, you gals have some impressive roses. Glad to see how you are combining Mustead Wood, Darcey Bussell and Benjamin Britten since I have these three roses coming this spring.

Diane, I started some Jupiters Beard seeds. Hope they do well here in humidity central.

Mas, I'm sure your Jupiter's Beard will germinate well and grow. Too well, probably. In year round warm climates like parts of California, it can become invasive. I've said that in zone 7 it's fine, but much warmer than that, and Jup needs to be watched closely. Thanks and I know you'll love Munstead Wood. Diane

Thank you Mischievous magpie, Kes, Kristine and Maslovesroses. Growing roses and working and working in the garden has really made me a happier person.

Diane I love all your combinations! Those dry hills behind your house are simply breathtaking also, what a beautiful landscape. I wish you were my neighbor so I can walk by your house every day and look at your gorgeous roses. Your lavender looks amazing, I have tried it here but I guess our soil just gets too wet and doesn't drain enough.

Thank you, Dianela, and needless to say, I love your combinations so much, and am amazed at what you've accomplished in so short a time period. How do you do it, given your demanding profession and being a new mom? I hope you family is doing well, and you are enjoying your professional work. Do you now live at the lake? I'm a little mixed up. And what is your garden like there? You wouldn't want to walk through my garden now in the depth of January. It's quite ugly. Our pretty snow, if we have any, is never very deep and disappears so fast, leaving behind icy spots and mud. Diane

Diane we have been dividing out time between the two properties (they are only a couple of miles apart so that makes it easier). Last year my husband did all the pruning and fertilized my roses at the beginning of the season and that is all the care they got. The good thing is that it let me see what plants did well even with extreme neglect. My garden looks terrible this time a year also, but that is part of what makes spring so gorgeous. With everything being so crazy right now our plans to move permanently and sell this house have been delayed so at least for a while longer I'll have this garden to work on. I am having the opportunity to work part time right now and I feel very blessed to stay home with the baby the rest of the time. I am really enjoying my new job tho I have to admit it is a lot tougher than I ever expected. I don't have much time to garden these days so last weekend my parents came to visit and I used the chance to start pruning my roses. Normally I wouldn't do this until late February, but I won't be able to prune them all unless I start now little by little. I feel like most of my roses are completely cane hardy here so they should be alright.

this is what my front bed looked like before I started pruning. I pruned everything in this bed down to maybe 1-2 feet tall. I also dug up my Faun/fawn roses and potted them to move them. 8 beds to go.

Dead stuff in my garden. i see some rose is hanging on at the bottom. This was in late fall. Diane

Dianela, boy, do you have alot on your plate. I really admire the all that you are doing. What a super star!

Dont you just love The Faun rose. ? It is just such a pretty little thing that loves to bloom.

I actually think that I will start prunning too. With weeks of 60 degree weather everything is starting to pop.

I am working the space for Quietness, lots of roots and rocks but the soil is really workable.

Then the last rose that will need a place is Rosematic fuschia.

I better go out and take a before shot.

@Kristine LeGault 8a pnw Wow I can't believe you're going to be getting into the "spring" pruning work of things already! In January! I feel like I've got an eternity until anything can be done outside. Are you feeling lucky, or are you feeling rushed?

Kristine thank you!

I love the Faun rose, she is a wonderful blooming machine with the nicest blooms. I am actually afraid I killed them by potting them up. The same evening I placed them in pots our temps started plummeting down to 18 degrees so we will see.

Getting weeks of 60 degree weather sounds wonderful and definitely a perfect time for some spring pruning. I would like to try Quietness some day since I have heard so many good things about her and pale pink is one of my favorite colors. Rosematic fuschia looks like a very nice deep pink rose, her color in Palatine's picture reminds me of what Fiji looked like in my yard.

Dianela, Quietness is a great rose. Poor thing, This will be the 3rd move and each time she shrugs it off and gets right back to blooming.

I hope your Fauns make it. There is just something so pretty about those blooms and the fact that I never have to deadhead is such a bonus.

My fledgling rose garden (newly built home and garden not filled up yet) is square and I’ve planted a border of blueberry lavender that is a wonderful contrast when in bloom. We do trim it back like a hedge after blooming as my husband favors a formal neat look. The center of the garden has an urn on a pedestal surrounded by Red Kew Lavender, which reblooms more often than the Blueberry. I love the Mediterranean contrast.

Here’s some photos from 2021 with Olivia Rose Austin in the urn… a slow grower she’s since been moved. The yellow rose is Eternal Flame.

Here’s Just Joey and Lady of Shallot against the budding purple lavender.

A few photos of a hummingbird feeding on the lavender. They LOVE it!!! So friendly, they let me get a foot away from them and are very playful. They’ve almost flown into me a several times! Their wings are loud.

Sorry here’s the hummingbird photos…

Lara, never apologize for your hummingbird photos--or any other. I love your roses. You have made a great start. I love lavender, too, and grow lots of it. Hummingbirds like penstemon very much, and also butterfly bush, among other attractors. Here are some hummingbird photos taken by a friend (mom feeds babies). Diane

Lara your rose garden is absolutely beautiful!!

Diane and Ashley thank you so much for the compliments and encouragement! This is really my first time since a child gardening with my mother that I’ve truly gardened. Lots to learn and open to everyone’s advice and suggestions.

Diane - your friend’s hummingbird photos are so precious. I’m hoping some will make a home on our property. Short story… My mother used to have a hibiscus 🌺 outside our kitchen window when I was a child in New York. I used to sit on the radiator while she did the dishes and watch the hummingbirds feed. I can still hear her calling me, “Lara the hummingbirds are back” and I would come running. It was always my dream to have hibiscus outside my kitchen window when I had my own home so I could watch the hummingbirds. Well, turns out my hibiscus aren’t growing so well, probably due to my heavy clay soil and lack of acidity. Strange because my camellias do well. Anyway, the hummingbirds love my lavender, so that’s a blessing. I LOVE lavender too. If I could I would have it everywhere.

CoincidentallyI am considering getting some butterfly bush.

BTW your roses are beautiful. I love your Munstead Wood. Mine is almost 3 and very slow growing. I get a strange long cane here and there that stick out like a long arm. Hoping it will fill out more this year. Fingers crossed. He’s such a lovely rich color and I love his texture.

Lara, your Munstead Wood is gorgeous and doing very well. It's one of Austins best, for me at least. But it is known for the occasional long wonky cane, especially its first three years. I was interested in what you had to say about hibiscus. I grow the hardy type, and I'm sure your mother did, too in NY. In your current zone, you can grow tropical types, and I wonder if they would do better for you. I wish I could grow the tropicals since they have such wonderful colors and bloom structure. I feed hummingbirds as well as rely on flowers as food for them. Do you do this? Here are some hardy hibiscus. The soil here is alkaline. They grow amongst roses and everything else, though my aggressive Augusta Luise is really messing up one, as is Ascot. Diane

Diane, Thank you for your reassurances and kind words about my Munstead Wood, even as the runt of the litter he’s one of my favs. Most of my Austin’s are taking some time to get going.

I don’t have a hummingbird feeder. Would love to get one but am nervous about getting one because our area has a big ant population, we eco spray for them regularly… also, some of the hibiscus get white fly from time to time so I don’t want to attract any more unnecessary bugs.

Regarding hibiscus, your blooms are flawless and the colors are so rich, just beautiful. Yes, my mother’s was a hardy as well. I also realize that I misspoke… I always forget to preface that I actually have all tropical hibiscus…10 in total. I find i gravitate to the tropicals too and coming from the winters of the east coast I just prefer plants that aren’t deciduous. I have 3 next to the house that get afternoon shade and they are absolutely lush and full of buds, some open some don’t. But the ones that are planted in full sun and don’t get shade are stunted, bloom little to none and have sparser misshapen leaves. I did use some tropical hibiscus specific fertilizer this year which helped them to leaf out a little more and boosted blooming but the ones always from the house still struggle and are not good to look at. I’m wondering if I need to amend the soil some to make it more acidic I think the 3 next to the house do so well because the lye is leaching into the soil and making it more acidic. Just my best guess. I don’t have any pics of the struggle one at the moment, I’ll take some tomorrow and post. Here’s a few of my good ones.

Here’s my tropical hibiscus that are struggling. I’ll post to the garden forum for advice later as well.

I was just going to post to tell you how much I love your tropical hibiscus. The color variations and ruffles are wonderful, and you are doing such a great job growing them. Have you ever looked up Cajun Hibiscus to see those amazing things? The blended colors and bloom structure make me want to move south so I can grow them. I have alkaline soil, and the hardy hibiscus don't seem to mind it, nor do my roses. I've grown hibiscus for about 15 years, so these are mature plants. If you have cement leaching some alkalinity into the soil, the leachate would be calcium carbonate and similar compounds, not lye, NaOH, sodium hydroxide, a powerful base. Once a year, I use a fertilizer called Lilly Miller Organic Granular Fertilizer for acid loving plants. I do this mainly for my Ballerina rose, a hybrid musk. They are known to not like alkaline soil and their leaves become chlorotic. This fertilizer has helped that a lot. My other roses could probably do fine with any kind of fertilizer. I also use this fertilizer on my hibiscus, peonies, hardy geraniums (cranesbill), and other special plants. Your hibiscus above are not chlorotic, but they do have thin stems. Is this normal for the tropical type? I see smaller leaves, too. You could try the fertilizer above or something similar. I wish I could suggest more, but I don't know much about tropical hibiscus. You've made a wonderful start. I wish I were in zone 10 about now. Diane

Diane, your positivity is a confidence booster! I’m nearly at my wits end with some of our plants. Back in NY the soil was decent enough that we didn’t have to worry about amending soil or plants not doing well in the ground… just plant them and everything grew. Here my hibiscus, some of my tropicals and all my citrus look like they’re barely hanging on. On the positive side, my roses are my best performers! I appreciate and value your advice about the hibiscus and the cement, and am going to take a look at the fertilizer you recommend. I have heard the name Cajun Hibiscus but confess I don’t know too much about them. I did a quick look and they are stunning. I’m going to look into them more as well. You can definitely grow tropical hibiscus… in NY I grew them in pots outdoors in the summer… then I trimmed them back and brought them indoors for the winter. It’s a bit of task, but no more than caring for roses. If you do it, I would suggest putting your pots on a plant stand with wheels. I do believe that some people even grow them indoors but I don’t know if they flower the same or not. Here’s a link on the website of the company I purchased my fertilizer at last year, they give a brief into into wintering tropical hibiscus indoors. https://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/care/winter.htm

Also, the thin stems on new growth is typical. Older growth gets thicker and woody. The struggling one are all spindly.

Is that a bird of paradise bloom I see in the last photo, Lara? ❤

Why yes it is, Ashley! Great eye. We have several, the ones in full sun took a few years to establish and get going. They seem to like some afternoon shade or dappled sun more than all day sun. However, once established they’re very reliable and problem free, and there are never any issues, even in our extremely heavy clay soil. If you’re interested, I think they would take to growing indoors.

Lara, you have some gorgeous plants. Btw, peppermint oil works great to deter ants. They just scram when I put a few dots in the kitchen or anywhere when they appear.