Apricot/Peach/Cream planting scheme
Hi,
So I like the following David Austin roses:
Tranquility, Roald Dahl, Lichfield Angel
I'm struggling to find other colours that I think will go with these. Purple, Blue, Red seem too bold and contrasting, maybe pastel shades of these (apart from red) might work ?
Has anyone got these roses, if so what have you planted with them? Or if you have seen them, what did they look good with?
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i love apricot, peach and cream colour scheme. The only other colour I would add is green i.e. Achilles mollis etc
Having said that here is my bed which is peach apricot and cream and deep purple
Sorry pics still not working
Maybe some deep russet or copper roses such as Summer Song to offset the paler ones and you could pick up all those colours with bearded irises too as they have a good range in the peach, cream and copper spectrum and that would give you foliage contrast.
There are also some geums and potentillas in this range if you pick them carefully and, rather than alchemilla mollis whose acid yellow flowers I find jarring in any setting, try for some of the coppery toned heucheras for ground cover and foliage contrast. In mild winters these should look good all year round.
Extend the season further with some peach, cream and copper tulips and maybe even hyacinths for spring and then maybe dahlias or chrysanths for late summer.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
Hadn't thought about copper coloured foliage, that's a great idea
extending the season is definitely of interest, sadly it seems that the longer flowering plants are in bolder hues - I love geraniums, Mavis Simpson, Rozanne and Brookside are my faves but I'm just not sure the colour matching is there with those.. likewise with nepetas and salvias. I know there are white and pale pastel versions of both those (I have a racemosa amelia which is great) but they don't seem to flower as long. I might be missing a variety though of any of these if anyone can suggest any.
Snowdrops, Hederifolium cyclamen (white), native primrose, crocus, paler daffs, I think can definitely all work there.
Incase it helps, this is for a completely new border. I do also like Scepter'd Isle and Olivia Austin - so I had considered splitting the border in two with a larger evergreen shrub (maybe a choisya?) and having it in 2 sections, one with peach the other with pink. Shame the photo uploads don't work, I've a pic of the area I'm sure would help.
Heucherella Sweet Tea, Geum Mai Tai, Kniphofia Painted Lady, maybe Achillea Salmon Beauty?
I wouldn't put Sceptr'd Isle anywhere near apricots. It's a lovely pink but would clash horribly. I grew mine with Gertrude Jekyll and William Shakespeare and assorted clematis such as Sunset and Princess Diana.
There are several peachy and coppery achilleas. Good plants. Heucherellas like shade so be careful with those. Geum Mai Thai is lovely. Don't know the kniphofia.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
We have Lichfield Angel - it's a stunning rose and very reliable.
Very lax habit though - the flowers droop over, so they're suited to a soft, cottage-garden look.
We have lavender planted around the edge of the bed, but we have to replace it fairly regularly due to the nature of our soil, which is a silty loam and not very lavender-friendly.
We're now thinking of underplanting the roses with ferns instead, due in part to the fact that fern sporelings keep self-setting there and also it's a way to find extra space for my ever-growing fern collection!
Dryopteris erythrosora is a beautiful copper-toned fern, but of course it depends on what soil type/aspect/light levels you have.
Dryopteris dilatata 'Lepidota Cristasta' goes well with roses too - oh, I'll have to shut up about ferns, or else this post will just turn into a list of them!
Aquilegias - we have them in myriad colours and they keep hybridising and self-seeding, so we get new colours or patterns pop up every year. Soft pinks, mauves and the double hybrid 'Green Apples' look great. Although they'll be over by the time the roses are out, if you cut back the Aquilegia leaves after flowering, they produce lovely fresh ferny foliage, which is attractive in itself.
Clematis - some lovely ones - don't forget the herbaceous kinds as well as the climbers.
Anthriscus sylvestris 'Ravenswing' is quite a stunner.
I'll try to upload a few photos from my garden this week - the Lichfield Angel are just coming into their own now.
Have you tried asking David Austin Roses themselves for ideas? They offer design advice completely free of charge.
I once e-mailed them for advice about a planting scheme and Michael Marriott himself replied practically instantly with some really helpful information. See the website for more details http://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/rose-garden-design-service
pbff
Tulip 'La Belle Epoque', clematis 'Freckles', achillea 'Terracotta', stipas, bronze fennel, verbascum 'Helen Johnson', digitalis 'Milk chocolate' (bit weird but I like it), iris siberica 'butter and sugar'
You should have a pootle about Sarah Raven's website - she does a lot of colour themed collections and whilst you may not want those plants, particularly, it does help you see some combinations and what else might work with them. She tends to use smoky blues, slate greys and pale lilacs with apricot and cream. So if you wanted a geranium maybe some of the paler pratense ones or geranium renardii would work?
Here's the site, if it helps ...
I'm struggling a bit with the sun aspect, as it changes depending on the season. Spring there is decent sun towards the front, drawing in as you get closer to the house. Autumn it gets afternoon / later sun, summer it gets a good amount of midday sun, a bit dappled from the magnolia as the day goes by about 5pm, winter I really don't think it would get much if any as the sun's too low to come over the house.