This week, South Africa’s latest rose book, Veld, Vlei & Rose Gardens: Inspiration from South African Gardeners, was launched beside a glorious rose garden at Beechwood, the glamorous Hyde Park garden of Christopher and Susan Grieg.
It has been five long years since South African gardeners last saw the launch of a rose book and the new volume celebrates 26 of the country’s most beautiful rose gardens. Edited by Sheenagh Harris and Jacqueline Kalley, the 176-page book is available at the Otterley Press website (www.otterley.com).
Harris is the president of the World Federation of Rose Societies and this new book comes before the 16th World Rose Convention, to be held in Sandton next year. Included in the festivities is a three-day floral art exhibition (October 12 to 14, 2012), which will be open to the public.
Designing rose rooms
October is the month for roses and a great time to create different “rose rooms” in your garden. “When planning a rose room, start by deciding what kind of garden rooms you need,” says top rose grower Ludwig Taschner.
Do you want an early-morning meditation spot, a family room for children, a companionable space at the end of the day or a secluded fragrance corner for relaxing in the evening? “Roses have an extra asset in that their beautiful and fragrant blooms can distinctly enhance the mood of each garden ‘room’.”
Four rose rooms
Follow Taschner’s tips for creating four “rose rooms” in your garden this summer:
* Dawn meditation
In the days that monks prayed at dawn, a morning meditation room was a place to reflect on the challenges of the day ahead. Screened by roses to provide privacy, a dawn meditation room needs the symmetry of a formal design to give a sense of ordered harmony.
In keeping with the muted dawn colours of the sky, choose roses that are soft cream, white to blush and pale pink. Include Just Joey, Peace, Adele Searll, High Hopes, Tawny Profusion, Snow Queen, Bella di Todi and June’s Joy in the garden.
This dawn effect can be enhanced by including herbs that have delicate mauve-blue flowers and soft, silvery to light green leaves. Add herbs such as catmint, lavender, rosemary and chamomile to provide contrasting texture, colour and form.
* Daytime activity
This is a family space that’s brimming with activity and could be used by the children to play cricket or soccer. Place vibrant, brightly coloured roses in borders around a lawn in shades of gold, yellow, apricot, deep pink, cerise and reds.
Thorny roses can be planted around the perimeter for extra security; roses can be planted next to the swimming pool fence to soften or hide it; and floriferous roses can be planted in containers and placed on a patio to provide a splash of colour.
Use brightly coloured roses such as Stop Street, Goldmarie, Playboy, Camilla Sunsation, SOS Children’s Rose, Little Red Hedge, Fiery Sunsation, Bridget, Compassion, Satchmo, Rhapsody in Blue, Golden Piccolo or Germiston Gold.
* Dusk relaxation
The fragrance of flowers is strongest in the early evening and probably this is the time of the day when we can unwind enough to “smell the roses”, literally.
Studies have shown than fragrance has a powerful effect on our moods, and scented roses can be used to create a sense of intimacy and companionship. Choose the most highly fragrant of all the roses for this garden, including Sharifa Asma, Double Delight, Great North or Mister Lincoln.
The patio area or gazebo is the ideal place for a dusk rose room. Mass fragrant roses in beds surrounding the seating area and reinforce the fragrance by planting scented roses in containers on the patio. Choose fragrant plants such as jasmine (Jasminum polyanthum), yesterday, today and tomorrow (Brunfelsia pauciflora) or gardenia cultivars as ideal rose partners in the dusk rose room.
* Evening white garden
White flowers shimmer like stars in the dark and, when combined with fragrance, evoke a feeling of calmness, serenity and restfulness. Include a secluded bench where you can reflect on the day.
Climbing white roses trained over a trellis or arbour framing the bench will ensure an even greater sense of seclusion. Plant up white, cream and blush roses such as Sally Holmes, Ivory Beauty, Memoire, Elina, Husnaa, Delicate Sunsation, Pascali, Purezza or Water Wise Blush. Good rose partner plants for a white garden are erigeron, Lavandula dentata “Candicans”, Agapanthus, alyssum, lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina), Abelia grandiflora and snow-in-summer (Cerastium tomentosum). - Saturday Star