Creating Magic in the Rose Garden

Have you ever wandered into a garden and felt as though you had entered a secret, magical place?

When I talk about a 'magical' garden, I'm not referring to fairy gardens, or gardens that contain statues of enchanted castles or dragons. What I'm really trying to describe is a garden that provides a sense of safety, a rich nurturing space that fosters play, spaces to relax in and a garden that offers interest as well as colour and scent.

I have often talked about my own experiences of being in a family garden where my Grandfather created magic; swathes of colour popping through the lawn in Spring; purple plumes of Wisteria entwining the front fence; huge pom-pom heads of faded blue hydrangeas shading stone steps, and large azalea shrubs to hide under. All of these enchanting aspects of a family garden were created with love and generosity. And not least, this garden was created for the pure purpose of providing enjoyment, while giving space for an oasis away from the chaos of the wider world.

So, it is as a result of these memories that I too aspire to create a safe, interesting space that provides shelter from the larger world, safe places to play in, as well as areas for relaxing and family gatherings.

While it is impossible to cover every facet of creating any type of garden here, a few of the main aspects that I believe help to make up a 'magical' garden include:

1) Colour

2) Scent

3) Creating zoned areas for different uses

So let's talk about colour first. Colour, of course. can be seasonal with a dominant colour for a particular season, such as Spring, with a lawn area studded with yellow daffodils. A garden design might include colour as a dominant feature of the garden, or a more subdued element of the overall garden design.

A garden can also be colour-themed as well as seasonally featuring a particular colour. I tend to do this in different areas of the garden. For example, I might have buff coloured flowers in one section, with contrasting colours of blue popping up seasonally, such as the gorgeous Hybrid Musk rose, Buff Beauty, growing above blue iris that flowers only seasonally. Buff Beauty will continue to flower over a longer period than the iris, so I will also have catmint at the feet of the rose. Catmint with its mauve flowers provides a nice contrast, but when its flowers are over the grey/green foliage provides a lovely carpet that complements the apricot/buff colours of the rose above.

One of the most overlooked colours in garden design is green. There are myriad shades of green to choose from, with added variations of striped foliage to add to the palette. Lovely cream striations over green, particularly in shaded areas, offer up more colour variations to play with, too many to mention here.

The next item on our list of three is scent. This is one of my favourite aspects for creating a magical garden space.

Scent is known to be linked with our memory, making it a more important part of garden design than it's often given credit for. How many of us are transported back to a happy memory when we sniff a scented rose, for example? I know that one of the most important features for me of growing heritage roses in my garden is their scent. So many people have mentioned the fragrance wafting through the garden as they wander around the roses. And, of course, everyone stops to put their face into a rose bloom to smell its perfume.

A garden can have so many delicious scents, with herbs, flowering shrubs and trees, and especially roses adding their individual notes of scent. And roses don't just smell of roses. Roses, especially the heritage roses, have an amazing array of fragrances to enjoy, with some even having unusual scents, like fruit, lemon, raspberry and even anise. My favourite has to be the Tea rose, Lady Hillingdon, with her gorgeous apricot blooms that even smell of apricots!

And finally, there's the idea of creating zoned areas for different uses in the garden. While it's not a new idea, dividing a garden into separate spaces gives a sense of mystery and surprise. In a small garden, zoned areas divided by hedges, pathways and small trees can give a sense of spaciousness.

Of course, there's the ubiquitous area for compost bins and the paraphenalia of gardens hidden behind a hedge. Rather, I'm talking about zoned areas for entertaining, or themed by colour and scent. Such as a lush small circle of lawn edged with scented herbs and hidden just out of view by a rose covered archway.

Arches and gates, with a pathway leading around a corner to a glimpse of the area beyond makes a garden all the more interesting, especially if there's something lovely planted just out of sight. And these make lovely areas for children to run along and play games, such as hide-and-seek! Something my own grand-children love to do, although I'm still in the process of creating zoned areas! Gardens are not places to be made overnight with hard landscaping. I believe gardens are created over time, with care, thought and lots of love, and evolve and change as our needs and ideas change too.

While I've only touched on only a few things that give a garden of any size that magical feeling, colour, scent and zoned areas provide starting points. And Winter is the perfect season to plan exciting areas to plant with themed colours and scents.

So have fun, and don't forget to stop and sniff the roses after you've done all the hard work of planting them in your colourful garden!

Enjoy!

xxLillian