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 

Bernideen's Tea Time, Cottage and Garden

Mottisfont Abbey - a Rose Lover's Paradise V

Because of late autumn and also due to the fact that rose pruning has started yesterday, my garden looks quite bare and is deprived of its rose blooms. I miss them already and can't wait for the spring flush next year. But I thought I could help myself out and go through my photos of Mottisfont Abbey, one of the most beautiful rose gardens that I know of. A good reason to continue my series about this great garden on my blog and write up a new post.

In this entry I am featuring some rare roses that are growing at Mottisfont, that you are not very likely to have seen ever before. So I hope I have some surprises in store even for the most knowledgeable rose enthusiasts. I am so glad that Mottisfont Abbey is preserving these beauties for the future for all of us to enjoy.

One rose beauty that I couldn't find a label of. I like the careless, frilly and playful look of the flowers.

'Lady Waterlow', a climbing Hybrid Tea rose bred by Paul Nabonnand and/or Clement Nabonnand (France, 1902). This was a rose that simply blew my mind. We must have been lucky and visited Mottisfont when 'Lady Waterlow' was at her absolute peak. Once again you can see on the photo how perfect the climbing roses are trained at Mottisfont for maximum bloom production.

Each semi-double bloom of 'Lady Waterlow' is simply gorgeous! The pink blend coloration of the flowers is so subtle, you can't help but fall in love with them. The rose is suppose to have a strong fragrance, which I can't vouch for, since I couldn't get to it.

In Mottisfont many peonies are growing together with the roses and lots of them were in bloom when we visiting Unfortunately I don't know the name of this variety.

I found the planting of the flower beds so inspiring...

... and really liked that at Mottisfont, even though the roses play the lead role...

...they are displayed together with many different companion plants.

I feel that only enhances the beauty of the roses.

Loved this combination of dark burgundy and white colored peonies and white foxgloves.

A wide shot of another flower bed.

A rose that you don't see that often is 'Gloire des Mousseux', a Moss Rose, bred in 1852 by Jean Laffay and/or M. Robert in France.

The small flowers of 'Gloire des Mousseux' are quite charming and their form is a little unusual, but...

...the real attraction of this rose is the moss on the buds. It is quite pronounced.

And another lovely peony bloom.

And one more.

A China Rose that I saw the very first time in my life is 'Mme Laurette Messimy'. The rose is assumed to be bred by Jean Baptiste Andre Guillot and/or Pierre Guillot in France, 1887. The semi double flowers are pink, but have beautiful yellow undertones. One characteristic is that the buds are unusually long.

Here is a whole bush shot of 'Mme Laurette Messimy'. I think it is a rose with a very unique appearance and charm.

Another rose that I don't have an identity of, but it reminds me of the Tea Rose 'Le Vesuve'.

An enchanting combination in my eyes! Anybody knows the white, delicate, fluffy flowering plant? Could it be Valerian? But the leaves don't look right...

At this point, I still remember even though our visit was two years ago, we were totally saturated with impressions and couldn't take in anymore.

So we headed back to the exit, passing some this wonderful rose beds again...

...and took a break at the tea room. Of course, we didn't have only tea but cake as well. I recall having a ultra delicious walnut cake. Yum!

After we had rested for a while and restored our energy and our capacity to take in more rose beauty, we headed back to the rose gardens and started to explore the third walled rose garden of Mottisfont Abbey.

The combination of lavender and white colors spoke to me in this bed.

A charming white rose that unfortunately I have no Identity of.

Close-up of an Allium head. Does anyone know what the white delicate flowering plant is in the background?

The romantic planting style of Mottisfont is hard to top.

You can't help but being in awe of the giant Allium heads. They have such a dramatic impact in this bed.

I hope you enjoyed my continuation of the tour through Mottisfont Abbey and you will be back for the next installment. I have plenty more beautiful pictures to share with you. If you don't want to wait until my next post about Mottisfont Abbey is up, here are the links to the previous ones that I already published:

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

Winter is the time to buy or order new bare root roses in the US and Europe. Maybe my post has tempted you to get some new roses for your own garden? Wouldn't that be the perfect Christmas present? I am certainly thinking about it...

See you in the garden!

Christina

I am linking to

Rose Garden Malevik
Bernideen's Tea Time, Cottage and Garden