Plants for ailing rose bed?

[Eric Hardy]

We have been in our house 53 years and one of the first things we did was make a rose bed in the front garden sheltered on the north side by a screen over which we grew climbing roses. After all these years the roses have now  succumbed to untold diseases. We have been told that our rose bed is far too old and we should construct a new one or dig out all the old soil and replace it. At our age this is much too hard work so we have started to put in alternative plants. At the moment we have a pink cistus and two white ones which were grown from cuttings. Any suggestions please for other plants which will be fairly maintenance free?

Our soil is a clay cap over chalk so azaleas don?t like us. We kept horses and donkeys over many years so the bed, at one time, got plenty of manure. Our old mare died at a ripe old age in 1989 so we have not had such a plentiful supply over the past 20 years although we have bought some in from time to time..

Interestingly we have 50 year old climbers which haven?t succumbed like the others. New Dawn seems very sturdy and we have an enormous Alberic Barbier up the front of the house, again grown from a cutting, with a solid trunk of wood about 10 inches across.

Any thoughts would be very welcome.

Eric H

[ideasguy]

Hi Eric
The Cistus are lovely plants, so thats a real good choice.

Heres a couple more, but you will have to do a wee bit of research to see if they will suit your soil:
Have a look at Pauls website (produced with the Web Page Generator you'll see discussed here a lot    )
http://www.ideasforgardens.net/meredith/Blooms_Plants/
Polemonium caeruleum 'Brise D Anjou'
Its "evergreen" so bears that striking variegated foliage all year round. I have it in my own rose bed.

If you want colour, I'd recommend any variety in these favourites of mine:
Penstemon - Hardy as nails, reliable and lovely flowers over a long period in summer
My favourite 'King George'

Fuchsia 'Genii'  - Hardy, lovely foliage and flowers for a long period

Try and find a spot for this
Salvia × jamensis 'Hot Lips' 
Its a real beauty and lowers for months

The next two are a little bit tender, so Anthea may have to take cuttings each year to keep them going.
This one is very easy to root up from cuttings
Argyranthemum
Theres a wide range of colours.
My favourite is the pastel yelllow 'Jamaica Primrose'

Osteospermums are firm favourites of mine and may be a nice addition.
http://www.osteospermum.com/
They flower all summer. You'll find some varieties which are hardy. Even the tender varieties can overwinter some years. Surprisingly, after this this hard winter, I have quite a lot which are hanging in there very well!

For "bones" of the planting, its hard to beat the Euonymus
The popular Euonymus fortunei 'Emerald 'n' Gold'  and Euonymus fortunei 'Silver Queen' look good all year round and would work in a planting scheme. No flowers of significance of course.

[Eric Hardy]

Thanks for your very detailed reply George. It gives us a lot to think about.

I have looked at Paul?s website and the Polemonium caeruleum 'Brise D Anjou' looks very interesting.

I have looked up all the others in our RHS A to Z Encyclopaedia so I have a good idea of what you are recommending. I will have to discuss everything with Anthea because she has very definite likes and dislikes.

I have to go now so need to cut this short for the moment. More later.

Eric H

[ideasguy]

Spirea Goldflame is another low maintenance, yet pretty and dainty shrub:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/gardenerscorner/john/trees_shrubs/john81.shtml

I imagine Anthea probably knows most of these plants already Eric. She seems to enjoy propagating!
That spirea is easy to propagate, if you can find one nearby.
Or pick one from this list:
http://www.rhs.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/273A5F98-8529-471D-8203-CD09F97DD693/0/spiraea03.pdf

How about the small Potentillas?
http://www.halcyonplants.co.uk/index.php?page=browsing&category_id=54
Lovely plants

[Eric Hardy]

Sorry not to have come back to you, George. Life just got in the way 

Potentillas are lovely. We have a beautiful pink one in the back garden. Potentillas are the one plant that Anthea has had repeated failures in trying to propagate from cuttings. I don't know why, she usually has very green fingers.

Eric H

[ideasguy]

I like that pink one! I have the taller yellow. Its over 30 years old and flowers like crazy every year.
Ive looked it up in books and nearest fit is P. fruticosa 'Elizabeth'
Ive propagated it and have three others from it in my garden and one in my sons garden.
I may have grown them from seedlings, or root suckers? Long time ago!

Ive taken photo of that pink one like yours in a neighbours garden. Its a beauty.
I took some cuttings last year. They are deciduous as you know. They were making signs of growth end of season and looked like they had "taken". I think I seen a little sign of life last inspection. We shall see.

Has Anthea managed to propagate Clematis? We have a thread here on the forum where I asked for advice. Its one of the plants Ive never had success with.

[Eric Hardy]

I have told Anthea that you have managed to propagate potentilla and I think you have given her the urge to try again. What time of year did you take the cuttings? No she hasn't tried clematis. I will look that up.

Eric H

[ideasguy]

Last years cuttings were late summer Eric.
I will check tomorrow on how they are doing and "report back"

The others in my garden were taken so long ago I don't recall the details.
I attempt to root up plants all through the gardening season. My dog should be called "Proppy". He seems to know he best time to take cuttings. He smashes up some of my plants when chasing a ball   
I pick up the broken pieces and take cuttings. Surprisingly, most of them take, so he seems to "know" when its a suitable time to propagate.
We do try to remember to throw the ball where there are no nice plants in the "line of flight".
 

[ideasguy]

Had a quick look in the greenhouse (off today - have to take my wife to airport this afternoon to fly to visit our Daughter in Manchester))
I see nice new leaves emerging on one of the cuttings I took last autumn, Eric.
Cold greenhouse over winter, no bottom heat at any time in the process for that one.
It must be simple enough so may give Anthea more encouragement to have another try.

[Eric Hardy]

Thanks George, I think that will encourage Anthea to try again. Perhaps she did it at the wrong time of year, she is usually successful.