The furthest post of the arbor is located at the corner of one of the rectangular beds. Try to picture the garden in a few years, when the 'Queen Elizabeth' roses in that bed are almost as tall as that post and the arbor is swamped by my climbing 'The Fairy', to which I have added 'Climbing Iceberg', 'Climbing Cecil Brunner', and my favorite climbing rose, 'New Dawn'. You can see quite a bit of foliage to the left of the garden's open gate; this foliage belongs to my favorite of all roses, Rosa alba 'Semi-Plena'. This is one of earliest hybrid roses - dating back to the middle ages, if not earlier. While it only blooms during the month of June, the fragrance of the white, semi-double flowers is intoxicating. This is one of the few roses which is attractive without blooms; the tall canes arch like a graceful fountain and the grey-blue leaves are attractive all summer. As you can see in the photo below, which was taken at the end of May, my Rosa alba 'Semi-Plena' is almost as wide as the long side of the arbor and it arches above it. I envision the climbing roses on the arbor draping over the arching canes of this shrub. The effect should be quite romantic.
There is a small lawn within the "L" formed by the two wings of the house. I am not sure how well the aerial photograph shows the division between that lawn and the original part of my garden, but you can probably see a dark green shape of a large shrub which defines the corner between the lawn and the garden, next to the driveway. That shrub is my Rosa alba 'Semi-Plena'; it terminates a long walk which runs along the garden fence, perpendicular with the driveway. My new arbor should draw visitors down that walk. There is a kiwi arbor at the opposite end of that walk which should eventually serve the same purpose. That arbor shows up as a faint rectangle opposite the lower corner of the greenhouse.
 |
 |
 |
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Kirk Johnson's Garden Design topic, please visit the Discussions page.