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Mid-summer roses of distinction

© Graham Leatherbarrow

At last, real summer weather arrived here in the middle of June. Sunshine in abundance and high temperatures combined to bring many flowering plants to their peak of perfection. Floppy hats and shorts appeared as if from nowhere, pale bodies were suddenly thrust into the mid-day sun's glare, quickly turning as red as some of the roses in my garden. Gardeners in England are well known for complaining about the weather and I am no exception. After barely a week of dry, hot sunny weather, my nerve broke and I started to pray for cooler temperatures and some rain. My fretting was not for long though. As I write, the mid-summer heat wave has finished almost as quickly as it started with heavy rain and more usual temperatures for an English summer, helping to keep my plants and me happy.

Mid-summer in my garden is roses all the way. The intense heat and light brought them on with such gusto that even I gasped at the wonder of it all. Such intense colours and scent at every turn that leaving the garden at all was akin to a crime.

Seated in a comfortable chair in the late evening, drinking in the scent of honeysuckle, listening to the screams of the swifts chasing the myriads of insects high above, surrounded by a virtual kaleidoscope of colour and observing Sophie, my cat, gently snoring is indeed heaven on earth. All this splendour and contentment is not achieved lightly. Why is it, that when I sit down finally thinking all is done for the day, something always waves at me to attract my attention! A guilty conscience is a gardener's constant companion.

All my time of late has been taken with staking, feeding and dead heading spent flowers. This summer maintenance is very important for the continued display of any garden. Growing, as I do, a few of the old fashioned roses helps to keep these jobs down to more manageable proportions.

One such is Alba maxima, sometimes called the Cheshire rose. It is a gorgeous sight in early summer, covered from head to toe with clotted cream blooms and is about as tough as any rose could be. Thriving on near neglect and even tolerating shade. She despises fussy gardeners being quite able to look after herself thank you very much. Throwing her head haughtily skywards looking down on mere gardeners tip-toeing around, secateurs in hand. Alba roses are in fact good subjects for trying places in the garden. Dry shade is, as we all know, one of the most difficult situations to accommodate successfully, she takes it all in her stride. Flowering for a good six weeks, she is by any standards a superb adornment for any garden.

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