Plant a climbing or rambling rose for low maintenance Summer-long scent, colour, nesting & food for birds & plenty for pollinators too! This month Adam shares his top three roses that tick all the boxes..

I have to say I have never understood the allure of a rose, I would often curse them, never would I stop and smell the roses, simply because many roses were not bred with scent in mind any more but big blowsy petals. So I have never been a rose growing conoisseur however, of late what with Bantry House Sunken rose garden becoming a big restoration project, I found myself researching many roses that would suit our Irish climate with ones that need little care apart from a good organic feed.

Now a rose to me must be pollinator friendly so not too frilly with a bad strong double form but more so they must have SCENT. A rose without scent is like a Cornish cream tea without the cream. And with recent breeding we are now getting roses with scent and good for pollinators.

Roses have a history of being used in flavouring food and for medicinal purposes. A real bonus is a rose that produces fruit aka a rosehip. Packed full of vitamin C & anti inflammorities, it was highly used during the Second World War as other fruits were not available.

 So whether you want to grow a rose near your house in a border, up a wall or into a tree. Here are my top three roses with links to suppliers we’ve used ourselves if you want one for your garden:

1. Rosa ‘Rambling Rector’– A very vigorous rambling rose which is great for going into a tree where it could add extra interest and scent to that tree.
2. Rosa ‘The Generous Gardener’– A tough very fragrant pollinator friendly rose, we have just got one ourselves to grow up the new rhododendron railings on the house.
3. Rosa ‘Gentle Hermione’– A rose that ticks all the boxes! You will love the strong scent & the bees will thank you for all that pollen.

If you’re quick you should still be able to get hold of these roses bareroot at a fraction of the cost of potted! Happy Gardening 🙂