Early Rose Plantings
The two archways along the house-side of the Septic Tank Garden look like they were always meant to be here. The garden with its narrow dividing grass path is the perfect shape to be 'archwayed'.
Early Photographs
But my early garden photographs can be deceptive. The original pink rambling rose, seen here on the back archway, endured a horrible death one summer, dying back completely over a couple of months. The arch now has a Phyllis Bide rose planted on either side.
Red and Pink Rose Archways - Archives
The red rose in this archive picture is the small well-behaved rambler Bloomfield Courage. Alas - it has never quite flowered as well as it did in these early pictures. This Bloomfield Courage is growing on its own roots, and therefore is not particularly agressive. Its flowers and its growth are modest at best.
house-side garden in early summer 2004
It's so disappointing when part of a garden looks worse as the years go by! Aargh!
Archway Roses
Other roses which have been tried in this garden (and which have failed) include several recycled standard Rhapsody in Blues, and some assorted old-school hybrid teas which I rescued from a friend's suburban garden. I don't really know what went wrong. Blame the gardener? Usually when roses are shifted in winter they hardly notice the difference...
Roses roses roses
The other roses were much happier once. This early photograph features the pink Bantry Bay on the first archway. The chunky white rose bush in the side garden is the beautiful hybrid musk Prosperity. It's definitely lost weight since this picture was taken. On the near archway there's a mystery rose to the left, and the cherry red Bloomfield Courage to the right. A second archway up the back (partly obscured) supports Phyllis Bide.
White Prosperity Roses
Prosperity roses are hybrid musks, and have two distinct flowering periods. I believe they should be grown more often - the white rose Iceberg usually gets all the votes.
An Even Older Photograph...
The path through the house-side arches gets quite interesting in late summer when the yellow Heleniums have burst into flower and flopped over everything. Below is a late summer picture from the Archives - everything looks really low to the ground!
house-side garden in late summer 1999