In no time at all, masses of roses are now gracing the garden with their beguiling perfume and blooms galore: Carmagnole, Tangles, Princess Charlene de Monaco, Sally Holmes, Iceberg, Mme Alfred Carriere Clg, Belle Parfume, Graham Thomas, Quatre Saisons Blanc Mousseux, Ballerina, Australian Beauty, The Fairy, Olivia Rose Austin and Mother’s Love amongst others that were flowering earlier. The planning, waiting and hard work are forgotten in the moment of fruition.

The roses of Carmagnole are beautiful, with ruffled bloom form, but sadly, they do not have fragrance. Judging by the number of buds, they will be prolific performers. It grows centre stage of our inner garden as a tall standard, looking magnificent with so many buds that I lost count. The buds open to deep cream petals that will fade to white as the rose ages, and each one has pink blush edging.

Carmagnole is a sturdy, strong rose that requires no special attention except to be careful and protect oneself—the thorns are enormous. I’ve not grown this one very much before because the rose growers’ description warned me off: “well suited as an impenetrable hedge row.” This is the reason I’m trialing it as a standard rather than a shrub—it may be less dominating.

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.

Marcus Tullius Cicero

André Delbard-Chabert, in France, 1990, was the breeder of Carmagnole, a hardy and very disease-resistant Floribunda rose from the Delbard Couture Collection. Carmagnole was named after a lively French Song sung by rebels during the French Revolution in the 18th century. The song is mentioned in A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy and plays a role in The Song at the Scaffold, a novella written by Gertrud von Le Fort.

“Wild roses are fairest, and nature a better gardener than art.”

Louisa May Alcott

Another rose that has enriched the garden is Princess Charlene de Monaco, growing by the edge of the driveway in the front garden. It is a show-stopper. On returning home more than once, I found someone stopped for a closer look in the driveway and to smell the perfume of this incredible rose.

“The redolent perfume of roses mingles with the aromatic scent of lavender“

Fatima Hijazi

Each rose has a perfect double, ruffled bloom in an exquisite blend of pastel shell pink and peach. I’ve noticed the colours are a more intense salmon pink on opening, fading to a delicate shell pink. What is also gorgeous is that the foliage is bright and glossy, which frames the superb pink, peach, and salmon-coloured petals.

Princess Charlene de Monaco is easy to grow and very rewarding with intense sweet perfume, good disease resistance, stunning colouring, old-fashioned bloom form, rain tolerant, vibrant, glossy foliage, large ovoid buds, and so attractive as a cut flower with its pretty ruffled petals. It will grow to 120 cm, but this example is a 90cm Standard.

“We may think we are nurturing our garden, but of course it’s our garden that is really nurturing us.”

Jenny Uglow

Princesse Charlene de Monaco® Rose is named in honour of Princesse Charlene, the wife of Prince Albert 11. Like the rose, it is a synthesis of her classical beauty and contemporary style. It is a Grandiflora Hybrid Tea Rose bred by Alain Meilland in 2010 in Germany and introduced into Germany as ‘Duftjuwel’, then in Australia by Corporate Roses in 2017 as Princess Charlene. Before her marriage, Princess Charlene was an Olympic swimmer from Zimbabwe, South Africa.

 

The blooms of Princess Charlene de Monaco Rose are almost peony-shaped. A 2015 postage stamp highlighted this remarkable rose, which also won the People’s Choice award for fragrance at the 2011 Saverne trials.

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“A profusion of pink roses bending ragged in the rain speaks to me of all gentleness and its enduring.”

William Carlos Williams

Rosa Graham Thomas is also beginning to unfold in soft, deep yellow blooms that, over the season, will range from deep bright yellow to a more subdued golden-pale yellow. It is a gorgeous David Austin Rose that has remained in the oversized terracotta pot as it was cracked when we moved, and I did not want to risk further breakage. The removal guys placed it in this position against the wall of English Ivy when we first relocated, and it has stayed there doing just fine in the sheltered, sunny courtyard.

The Graham Thomas Rose, AUSmas, is part of the David Austin English Rose Collection and was bred in the UK in 1983. It is described as a shrub rose but can be trained to climb, as it is bushy and upright. It will cover a fence or garage, so I’m told. Mine has now stayed about 120 -180 cm in a large pot, which will slow the growth a little. Already it is billowing out of the pot with masses of buds and loving the climate of the courtyard. I’m happy to see this rose to survive so well. It has never looked so luxurious.

“Going out to the garden is to go on a holiday; when you travel amongst the flowers, your body touches heaven and your mind tastes the secrets of ataraxia- serenity”

 Mehmet Murat ildan

Graham Thomas OBE VMH, 1909-2003, was an English horticulturist known for extensive work with garden roses and stewardship of the National Trust gardens in the UK. He also wrote many gardening books that are classics today, as well as garden designs and illustrations. Graham Thomas is considered one of the most influential gardeners of our time.

“Perhaps out of pure heavenly goodness the spring came and crowned everything it possibly could into that one place.”

Frances Hodgson Burnett

Another one of my favourites is the Paul Cezanne Rose. What I love is how it epitomises old-world charm in the shape of the ruffled bloom form yet is also contemporary in colouring- divine shades of pink and yellow changing over the life of each bloom and playing in the garden light.

“Light is a thing that cannot be reproduced, but must be represented by something else – by colour.” 

Paul Cezanne

Surprisingly, this year when my new Paul Cezanne rose opened as a bare root rose the flowers were only a soft yellow but now the new blooms are outstanding – true example of a Delbard Painters Series of Roses with brush strokes of cream, soft yellow and pink.

The combination of good organic fertiliser in Sudden Impact, the conditions of the courtyard, and the use of premium potting mix has enabled this rose to flourish. The Paul Cezanne Rose has extraordinary, distinctive mid-green foliage and petal shape. Now, in the second flush, it is a richly coloured and beautiful to view from inside or out in the garden.

“Come out here where the roses have opened. Let soul and world meet.”

Rumi

The Paul Cezanne Rose, along with Graham Thomas, Mme Isaac Pereire, Mme Alfred Carrièree, and Pierre de Ronsard Roses, are highlights in the courtyard garden. It is a sheltered, profoundly green space made possible by a high wall of English Ivy. Soon, a newly planted wall of Apple Blossom Clematis and the white climbing roses of Mme Alfred Carrièree will create a walled garden of sorts—a protected private sanctuary that becomes an integral aspect of our garden green room.

“I feel as if I had opened a book and found roses of yesterday sweet and fragrant, between its leaves.”

L.M. Montgomery, Anne of the Island

Courtyards are assets to a garden, providing a hidden sanctuary that is protected and private yet visible from inside rooms. This one has plenty of light and morning sun without the harsh afternoon sun exposure, and it is sheltered from strong winds, creating an engaging outdoor room—perfect for growing a few roses.

“She walked away, slowly thinking. She had begun to like the garden” 

Content and Images Di Baker November 2024

Title quote by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Closing quote is said by Susan Sowerby the mother of Martha, Dickon and her twelve other children in the novel ‘The Secret Garden’ by Frances Hodgson Burnett