Is There a Place for Roses in Outdoor Living Spaces?

When you turn on the television and look for garden shows it seems everywhere from cable to public television they are talking about moving the indoors outside.  Outdoor kitchens, living spaces, even showers and baths are now part of the landscape…no longer confined by the walls of our homes.  Can roses we love still be part of this plan?  Absolutely, let’s look at some of the ways we can include climbers, miniatures, hybrid tea & grandiflora rose plants in our designs.

Color for the walls

One of the design ideas frequently used in outdoor room design is to separate areas, creating partitioned living spaces.  You could always build a formal, structural wall.  But it can be easier and more attractive to allow climbing plants to cover a trellis or other structure.  Climbing roses certainly add color as they bloom.  Yet, even when not in full glory, the nearly solid backdrop of green foliage and tracery effect of the stretching canes provide both interest and concealment. 

Climbing roses such as the wine-purple Night Owl, the cherry-red All Ablaze or the buttery-yellow Sky’s the Limit all provide a solid color with a background of green.  If you are seeking a bit more flash for these border zones there are many options as well. 

All-America Rose Selections winner Fourth of July lasts well past its namesake month with dazzling red stripes on white.  The blooms open wide to reveal this amazing color and to show off their bright yellow centers.  Candy Land gives swirls of rosy pink and cream.  Our newest striped introduction, Purple Splash, features similar stripes but with a darker, purple color.  Arriving in big clusters, these flowers open up to splash your garden with loads of color. 

Roses for smaller spaces

When dividing a yard into separate areas, the living spaces are frequently not as ‘wide open’ as they are in a traditional yard.  This means we need smaller plants that can work well in a limited space.  One natural choice is to consider miniature rose bushes and trees.  From the light toned, lemonade yellow Lemon Drop to the darker smoky orange ringed in purple Smoke Rings there are many choices to match every color palette.  All a’Twitter is a brand-new mini with an eye-searing orange color that looks stunning in a container or in the landscape. 

Don’t forget that many of our minis are available atop 18” miniature trees as well, adding a touch of height to the landscape or a focal point for a flower-filled container.

Traditional roses work well too

Sometimes you need to separate an area without completely blocking the view.  Using Floribunda roses with a more natural compact growing habit accomplishes this very well.  The ever-blooming Julia Child always draws attention with her beautiful butter-toned, incredibly fragrant blooms without wandering around the yard.  This AARS winner also supplies great contrasting green backdrop color with clean mean disease resistant foliage. 

Cinco de Mayo supplies more earthy hues with a smoky blend of rust red-orange and a hint of lavender, giving clusters of color that can flow with many landscapes.  Topsy Turvy is also a great small space workhorse with bright hues of scarlet & white.  Used en mass along a border this rose, along with many others, creates a natural border that discourages cut through traffic (there actually is a benefit of thorns!)

Take a look at the Week Roses Web site where you can search by color and type of rose.  Each rose has information about height and habit along with bloom size and fragrance.  There are many other resources for the rose enthusiast on the site as well.