Sunday, March 20, 2016

Mottisfont Abbey - a Rose Lover's Paradise VI

Are you ready to see more gorgeous Old Garden Roses and fabulous borders filled to the brim with beautiful and interesting flowering plants? Well, then you have opened the right post. I am continuing my series about Mottisfont Abbey, one of the most beautiful and interesting rose gardens in England that I know.



The scene above is probably one of the most photographed ones in Mottisfont and some of you may recognize it. And for good reasons, it is is just so lovely! Even though, when we were there, the roses trained on the arches were not in bloom, it makes for a pretty darn beautiful picture. The garden was well visited. I tried hard, but unfortunately I couldn't get a shot without people.



In this part of the garden the paths were made of gravel and often lined with lavender. I really like that and can imagine, in case the drought in California doesn't cease, to take the grass out in our backyard and put gravel down instead.



I also liked the rustic climbing structures very much that they use in Mottisfont. They just fit the space very well.



Lovely blue flowering plant, but unfortunately I don't know its identity.



White, pink and blue my favorite color combination. It never disappoints!



The white bell flower from the last photo in a close-up. Just wonderful!




More nice blue flowering companion plants!




'Gloire d'un Enfant d'Hiram', a Hybrid Perpertual bred by Rose Vilin (France, 1899). Beautiful cupped bloom form in a carmine red color with violet undertones.



'Ards Rover', a climbing Hybrid Perpetual. Another rose that I had never seen in person before I visited Mottisfont. It is bred by Alexander Dickson II (United Kingdom, 1898). The large double blooms in a crimson color fading to a distinct purple tone were just stunning. Definitively one of my favorites in this post!



Another shot of 'Ards Rover'.



I am not certain of the ID of this one, but love the mottled pink color. Very unusual!



Sorry, no ID either! The rose has kind of the same mottling on the petals than the last one. Also really like how the petals fade to a lilac hue as the flowers age.



Absolutely loved this rose! This is rosa 'Dembrowsky', a Hybrid Perpetual, bred in 1849. Unfortunately the breeder of this beauty is unknown. To me the pink blooms with the darker center and the button-eye in the middle are irresistible.



Single bloom of rosa 'Dembrowsky'.



White flowering rose companion plants always catch my attention.



Rosa 'Sidonie', also a Hybrid Perpetual, bred by Frinck Dorisy (France, 1846). The light pink blooms have a very unique charm!



One of the many wonderfully trained climbing roses at Mottisfont. I believe this to be 'Ards Rover', which I featured a few photos above already, but I am not a hundred percent certain.



Again, no identity on this one, but wonderful nonetheless.





I don't have an identity on this one either, but I believe it to be 'Reine des Violetts'.



Another shot of the same rose of the photo before. 





This is 'Comte de Chambord', a Portland, bred by Robert and Moreau (France, before 1958). I always wanted to grow this rose, but didn't get to do it, yet. It is supposed to have a very strong fragrance and I love the color and quartered bloom form when the flowers are fully open.



This sundial I would have love to take with me and set it up in my own garden. So pretty!



Another lovely scene!



Really like this rose together with the purple colored bush in the background.



There were so many different climbing structures in Mottisfont Abbey, something for every taste.





I leave you for today with a combination that is tried and true: Lamb's ear and pink roses! It just works!

Hope you enjoyed this entry in my Mottisfont Abbey series. I still have many more photos, so I will be continuing to blog about this amazing garden in the future.

If you are interested to take a look at the previous installments, here are the links:

Mottisfont Abbey - a Rose Lover's Paradise I
Mottisfont Abbey - a Rose Lover's Paradise II
Mottisfont Abbey - a Rose Lover's Paradise III
Mottisfont Abbey - a Rose Lover's Paradise IV
Mottisfont Abbey - a Rose Lover's Paradise V

Wishing everyone a great week!

See you in the garden!

Christina



I am linking to 

30 comments:

  1. Loved this post! Thanks for taking time to show us all this glory. Happy first day of spring to you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh my god! I want to have this garden. Very, very beautiful

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ah, wieder ein Bericht aus deinem El Dorado! Wunderschöne Rosen. Könnte das blaue ein Penstemon sein? Sicher bin ich eher weniger.

    Sigrun

    ReplyDelete
  4. Marvellous. I really hope I get a chance to visit it this year. Love the lamb's ear and pale pink in the last photo.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh my goodness, thank you for yet another lovely post of this beautiful garden. My favorite photos were those wonderful reddish/purple roses against the brick wall! WOW!

    Happy Spring dear Christina ~ Love & hugs ~ FlowerLady

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lorraine, the climbing roses trained to the brick walls are a real killer at Mottisfont! They do such a good job in training their roses. If you refer to 'Ards Rover', this is my top favorite, too. I wonder, if this rose is available in the US. It is quite unusual for a Hybrid Perpetual rose to be that vigorous. Wonder about its disease resistance, too. But the blooms, the blooms are just out of this world!

      Delete
  6. Lovely! I could almost smell the wonderful scent. Not sure, but the blue flowers look like Monkshood/Aconitum (poisonous if eaten!)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I almost envy you for visiting Mottisfont Abbey, so beautiful. It is already for a long time on my wishlist and this year we are going two times at least to England, so may be we are in that surroundings......
    Lovely rose photos of a wonderful rose garden Christina!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I is so beautiful. I hope to make it there one day!

    ReplyDelete
  9. So many lovely floral combinations! This garden is definitely one to inspire.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh, I am always ready to see roses!
    And this garden is one of many known among rose lovers over here, I would have loved to go there – but it is not possible for me so I am enjoying your photos all the more. Lavender lined paths are pretty common over here and I intend to copy that idea for the garden here – just need to get some 20-30 lavender cuttings on the go!

    I have actually looked into 'Ards Rover' in the past as it is said to be fantastic for old, classic scent – but as with many of the old roses it is terrible in terms of disease – so I skipped it and won’t have it. I am being choosier with roses now, it is possible to get roses less prone to disease so I am always researching that now. But it is beautiful!
    I looked up 'Comte de Chambord' as I knew I had heard that name before, over here it is listed as an alternative to ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ (David Austin) – which I bought last year :-) And I would have loved the sundial too – would have loved many of the roses too! Thanks for the photos, enjoyed them a lot!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Helene, I firmly believe that choosing roses that are disease resistant is the way to go! Many of the newer roses are bred explicitly to be less prone to disease, but some of the Old Garden Roses are pretty healthy, too. Otherwise they wouldn't have survived that long.
      I don't know anything about 'Ards Rovers' susceptibility to disease in general, but the plant at Mottisfont had healthy foliage and was quite vigorous. I don't know if they spray the roses there, though.

      Delete
  11. Beautiful roses... especially that climbing on the wall...

    ReplyDelete
  12. These gardens are like a dream - so beautiful! I love the pink, white and blue flowers together, and the lavender lined paths. All of the roses are stunning, especially the climbers on the wall. Thank you for sharing this very inspiring garden! x Karen

    ReplyDelete
  13. Such a beautiful post...I love an English gardern, however our wicked winters make growing such not easy, here in Chicagoland. Thank-you for the beautiful tour. The lavender roses are my favorite, Sandi

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Sandi, welcome to my blog and thanks for leaving a comment! I love English Gardens, too. Here in our climate it is not the cold that makes it very difficult to grow an English style garden, but the relentless heat of our summers in combination with our drought. If it is not one thing it is another...

      Delete
  14. Wonderful roses in a beautiful garden!

    ReplyDelete
  15. To answer your question: Yes, I'm always ready to see more roses, and you have treated us to some beautiful displays! All the scenes in this post are amazing, but I especially enjoyed the wooden structure with the pink roses! So beautiful! I wanted to let you know that I was able to squish in a few hours during our visit to San Diego to walk around Balboa Park. The roses were just starting to bloom! It must be so gorgeous in mid-April through May!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Dear Christina:
    oh what a wonderful escape and especially for anyone still experiencing winter. I loved every photo and am excited to tell you so! I see leaves are coming out on several rose bushes at my new residence. I am so excited. It will be great fun designing a new garden. Thank you Christina for sharing and linking!

    ReplyDelete
  17. That is a very beautiful garden. I love these roses! Thanks for sharing them!

    ReplyDelete
  18. That garden is just the epitome of an English garden - it's absolutely gorgeous. The roses, the iris, the peonies, the lavender, the catmint... how I wish I could grow all of those as well as they grow in England. The garden is so well planned too. There are so many beautiful combinations and so much well put-together diversity. It's so well done. I really enjoyed seeing your marvelous pictures!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Was für ein paradiesischer Garten, liebe Christina!
    Ich wünsche dir und deinen Lieben ein
    wunderschönes und friedliches Osterfest!
    Ganz viele liebe Ostergrüße
    sendet dir die Urte :-)

    ReplyDelete
  20. Il est évident que les jardins qui croulent sous une avalanche de roses m'attire irrésistiblement et ce paradis peuplé de toutes ces variétés est un bijou qui doit régaler les visiteurs. Une merveille de raffinement ! ...
    Belle soirée...jocelyne

    ReplyDelete
  21. This is a garden I plan to go to...
    I'm in love with 'Gloire d'un Enfant d'Hiram' and 'Ards Rover'! The blue plant must be Nepeta faassenii, catmint, which goes very well with roses.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Dear Christina,
    Thank you for this beautiful post! Having seen your gorgeous pictures, I would absolutely love to visit Mottisfont Abbey myself. I am especially delighted by the pictures you took of rose Albertine. I ordered rose Albertine a week ago, and after having seen these beautiful pictures I am even more looking forward to planting this lovely rose in my garden.
    Best wishes,
    Lisa

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lisa, if you have a chance to visit Mottisfont Abbey, just do it. You won't regret it! It is one of the most beautiful rose gardens that I have ever seen. The 'Albertine' rose that they are growing there was absolutely gorgeous. I hope yours will do as well for you! Looking forward to seeing it flowering in your garden!

      Delete
    2. Dear Christina,
      visiting Mottisfont Abbey is on my to do list, just don´t know when exactly. Maybe spring next year. As my home country Austria is not that far from England I should find an opportunity. My Albertine rose arrived about two weeks ago, and I was really impressed by the good looking plant (have never ordered roses online before), it even had four delicious smelling blooms. I planted it next to my garden fence, where only three weeks ago there was a privet hedge. My garden is very small and the privet hedge grew bigger and bigger every year and thus my neighbor and I decided to dig it out, which took immense effort but I am happy it is out now, giving me new space for roses to plant. Another rambler rose, which I also planted in the newly made space is Francois Juranville. I am also excited about this one as I have never seen it in a garden, but only in pictures. Both roses seem to be doing fine, producing new shoots and I can´t wait for next spring when they will hopefully flower beautifully!
      Kind regards,
      Lisa

      Delete
    3. P.S. Some months ago I watched a lovely documentary on old roses, in which they also featured Mottisfont Abbey. I absolutely enjoyed this documentary, which I found on youtube. As a rose lover you may already know about the documentary,but in case you don´t and you´re interested in watching it, here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVerFD97i3s

      Delete