Roses in Lil’s Garden – FineGardening

We’re back in Lil Holloway’s garden in Bedford, Massachusetts, and today the focus is on roses.

I love gardening, but I’m now 80 years old and know the time is coming when I will have to slow down. In the meantime, it’s great exercise and my passion. I particularly love my roses!

This is ‘The Impressionist’, a very fragrant rose bred by an American breeder but similar to the style of David Austin’s English roses.

This beautiful rose blooms for a month. It was a very slow starter, and I almost pulled it out! I’m glad I didn’t. I lost the tag and can’t seem to identify it. (Editor’s note: It might be ‘Sally Holmes’. Any GPOD readers want to chime in with their opinions?)

This pink beauty is ‘Zephirine Drouhin’, a thornless climber. It is prone to blackspot at end of the season, but 2020 was her best season yet.

A view of ‘Clair Matin’ and ‘Zephirine Drouhin’ blooming together at the edge of the perennial garden.

These are my plants of ‘Clair Matin’. There are three bushes, and they have been in that spot for 24 years. Disease resistant, they only like a light pruning in the spring. I pruned one way back a few years ago. She was not happy, and it took three years for her to get back to her height.

I don’t know the name of this deep pink rose. I purchased her in Nashua, New Hampshire, from a rose breeder some 20 years ago.

These roses are by the deck. I use Knockout roses in the back to hide the bottom of the deck. In the front are mostly David Austin roses. ‘Passionate Kisses’ and ‘Peace’ are mixed in.

This light pink rose is David Austin’s ‘Olivia’. Disease resistant and with beautiful foliage, she has become one of my favorites.

(If you want to learn more about growing roses, check out our series Roses Are Plants Too.)

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