Looking for compact pink rose to pair with Bliss and Vanessa Bell
Hello again everyone,
I had posted a few months back about which roses to plant in my front yard and you all were incredibly helpful in recommending Bliss Parfuma, Vanessa Bell, and Olivia Rose Austin. I was about ready to hit "purchase" on all three when, after doing a bit more research, realized that Olivia is not nearly as compact as I thought she had been and likely won't work in the space I had planned to plant her, which was flanking the entrance to the house (see rendering below). Even 4' would be a bit of a stretch, but some accounts of Olivia had her growing to 6', which definitely will NOT work.
I know BP and VB are not small roses, but from what I've seen, both can be kept to about 4' with regular pruning, which is okay given their location in the garden.
This brings me to the question of the hour: what suggestions do you all have for a light pink rose (that will pair well with BP and VB) that is a showstopper (given its front and center location) but more compact (3'-3.5') and resistant to black spot? Does one such rose exist?
Comments (17)
3 months ago
3 months agoQuietness is an awfully nice rose. Not tall , blooms a lot abd is super healthy
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Comments (45)Thank you to everyone on this thread for your great suggestions and inspirations. I took the day off and headed to Otto & Sons today, still undecided but ready to get out of my head and into the nursery! In their display garden, I got a feel for Young Lycidas' large and languid habit, so well described by @Diane Brakefield—he drapes like an antique rose might drape. He does sneak into the pink-purple camp, as @oursteelers 8B PNW so aptly put it. One of the gardeners also snipped a bloom and gave it to me to take home, which was extremely helpful, since the color is so rich and vibrant that photos can't capture it. So I fell in mad love with this rose ... and it's out of stock until at least March. Young Lycidas looking like a red rose, because my camera couldn't capture that incredible color @BenT (NorCal 9B Sunset 14)'s top pick, Scentuous, was actually paired with Love Song in the display garden, and the colors are just perfect together. Yet just like at the Huntington, Scentuous only had one bloom. I asked one of the nurserymen, and he said that it really doesn't bloom all that much for them. Maybe it's a zone 10a thing, because Otto's definitely feeds all of their roses via a constant infusion of fertilizer in their drip system. I've had my eye on this rose for a while, and never seen it approaching what it looks like in Ben's beautiful garden. Love Song with Scentuous Back in the rose yard, several different roses temporarily jumped into my cart—notably, Our Lady of Guadalupe and Sweet Madam Blue. But the one that I finally ended up buying is ... Pretty Lady Rose! To my eye, her big, blowsy blooms are a match for Love Song. Hopefully, her habit will be more bushy than the typical hybrid tea—Cori Ann was pretty convincing on this score on some older threads about Pretty Lady Rose. And I found her fragrance to be pretty intense, and my car smelled wonderful on the ride home from my Otto's rose adventure. =) Love Song with Pretty Lady Rose Young Lycidas in a bud vase (left) with Pretty Lady Rose...See MoreEdmund's Roses has their new 2023 rose listing up
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3 months agolast modified: 3 months agoI think unless you get something more like a groundcover rose most roses in a zone 7b will require pruning to keep it at 3 to 3.5 feet. The roses that are this small usually have smaller blooms also. I really like the Fairy.
Many Austin’s and All Kordes I have tried here have gotten way bigger than the stated size. I do think Olivia could be kept at the size you need with pruning just like Bliss will undoubtedly require in such a warm zone.
I kept 10 Olivias at around 3 feet tall by prunning then twice a year. In winter I would take then down to 2 feet tall.
3 months agoOursteelers, yup, I was about to suggest Tamora. Be adventurous, IBD, and choose a light peach/apricot rose that I guarantee does not get large. My Tamora came from Pickering many years ago, so is grafted on multiflora, and she does stay small. My Austins get very large as the whole. Diane
Tamora is a continuous bloomer just under 3X3 feet. Below, in July
In late September
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I was going to suggest the Faun/Fawn also as the clear pink blooms are wonderful and she is a great little rose. She is definitely on the smaller size and probably closer to 2 1/2 feet tall without pruning after 3 years. I think it could get to three but it would take a while.
My Silas Marner was in a pot the first year and I loved it. I just put it in the ground last year so not certain how it will grow. Olivia seems bushier for me but it is just speculation since I haven’t had much time to prune and see how Silas will shape up.
The Faun/Fawn at the front of the bed. I sold my house in October and the Faun was one Of the few roses I dug up and took with me as well as the Olivias. Here you can compare their size to Boscobell and Darcey Bussell in the background.
Silas Marner
- 3 months agolast modified: 3 months ago
Sorry I forgot to mention, yes I prune late winter and midsummer here to keep things at the size I want, specially since I plant my roses very close together.
Another rose that may not be something you may want but that has been great in my garden is Sweet drift. The pink may be darker than you want but her size could be kept at 3 feet without issue and her bloom power is superb.
My bliss is too young to tell how tall is going to get but all Kordes grow very large here and I don’t expect Bliss to be the exception, tho I would love for her to be a smaller bush. For example Earth angel gets to 7 to 8 feet tall here if not pruned. It isn’t a problem for me, I prune her and keep her at 4 to 5 feet tall. I enjoy pruning and don’t mind the extra work but if you don’t want that kind of maintenance sticking to the smaller varieties is your best bet.I won’t be of any help trying to choose between Silas M and Olivia. I really like both varieties so far. Olivia seems to have a more rounded shape and Silas definitely has the stronger scent. Actually David Austin says Silas should be shorter and wider than Olivia so my observations may not be true after both plants are established.
Both have beautiful blooms (Silas M has probably the prettier blooms). Olivia seems to have the better resistance to black spot but mine are older so they may just be more established. Good luck choosing they are both beautiful.
- 3 months agolast modified: 3 months ago
3 months ago- 3 months ago
It really depends on variety but a lot of my shrub roses are planted around two feet away in a triangle. This gives me the illusion of a single bush with many blooms. It does require regular pruning or you end up with a giant ball of a rose that’s a big mess.
lichfield angel clump (you see the two on the front here)
3 Bordeaux
Overall look of a bed planted like that
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Kristine LeGault 8a pnw