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There is a special breed of landscapers who love to use roses. They are always willing to try out new roses, especially if a client is adventurous and over the years they have developed their personal favourites that are super-performers.
Some roses have become their signature, like the three “Granny” roses (My Granny, Granny’s Delight and Granny Dearest) in shades of pink that are always found in gardens created by Karen Gardelli of Creative Containers.
She pots up huge, beautiful mixed containers, using all three granny roses, planted around an Antico Moderno rose like Roberta Capucci or Linda Anne, as well as raised plant boxes that allow the grannies to spill over.
With properties getting smaller and boundary walls getting higher, Gardelli uses window boxes and raised built beds for height. The showiness of the grannies is just what is needed, with their profusion of flowers and vigorous, cascading growth.
Another rose she uses because it is such a strong grower, never gets sick and flowers profusely is the soft porcelain pink Linda Anne, which has large, old-fashioned, quartered blooms and a soft perfume.
The rose was named after Linda Anne MacAllister, who has filled her large Bryanston garden with some 2,000 roses in various pastel shades.
Linda Anne roses are planted close to her house and around the pool area so they can be enjoyed. Garden Queen is the favourite rose of landscaper Shirley Wallington.
“The name is very apt. It is such a voluptuous rose; the perfume is divine, and it is an incredible performer,’ says Wallington.
She has a penchant for roses with an old-fashioned look, like Spiced Coffee. Its strongly fragrant blooms are a blend of pale amber, flushed with lavender and pink.
What intrigues Wallington is how the blooms change in colour as they age, giving it that antique quality.
It is a good picking rose, which is another feature she looks for in roses, adding Addo Heritage, Duet and Oyster Pearl to her list of favourites.
Addo Heritage is an Antico Moderno rose, with huge longstemmed, full-petalled flowers in a soft coral colour. It outlasts other cut flowers and grows into a powerful shrub that holds its own in flowering mixed borders.
A rose that is often used to edge a bed or fill a border is the soft buff yellow floribunda Tawny Profusion, a compact, neat bush, that is always covered with clusters of long-lasting flowers that have a light perfume.
Despite having her favourites, Wallington makes a point of letting her clients chose their own roses from the Ludwig’s Roses catalogue, then view the actual roses to see if they work together.
Liz Steyn is another celebrated Johannesburg landscaper. She was mentored by TV personality and landscaper Anne Lorentz, driving force behind the Johannesburg Garden Club and creator of Roedean School’s gardens.
Not surprisingly, the rose Anne Lorentz is one of her favourites. It is also an exceptional rose: a hybrid tea with large, perfectly symmetrical blooms of exhibition quality that change from champagne to soft pink as the flowers open. The hip-high bush is easy to grow and holds its own in any mixed bed.
Other pink roses she favours are the Antico Moderno Roberto Capucci and tall-growing hybrid tea Duet. Both are exceptional garden performers that produce pickable blooms.
For more information visit ludwigsroses.co.za to browse the online catalogue
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