In 2012 I re-created the North facing front garden, got rid of a very old privet hedge, dug a completely new bed beside my new low wall and railings and have planted things that I hope will manage with light but very little direct sunlight. This rose is one of three planted that can cope with shade - I hope. They are tall standards ie grafted at 100cms so they will flower above the railings. R. Champagne Moment was rose of the year in 2006 and it has surpised me and all the neighbours by being fantastic in 2013 - its first year! I've realised that, because they are higher up, they get more sun than the lower plants, even though they are North facing. In summer they are getting about 2-3 hours of sun a day which is amazing and perfect.

This rose is amongst two Rosa 'Cream Abundance' which are very red/pink for a rose called cream anything but is fantsatic too. When I am out watering I am constantly stopped by locals thanking me for getting rid of the hedge and adding flowers and scent to their walk down the road. Very happy making!

A good, small, patio rose which performs all summer and has a pretty scent. I have it in a pot and it does very well each year.

This is an enormous, vigorous and fabulous rose with great scent and great beauty. It forms a large "shrub" (lots of stems), flowers all season and even has nice hips if you leave them on for winter.

This was planted in memory of a beautiful young man who was killed too young in a tragic accident. He was the son of my Mum's best friend from school, Jo, who I have appointed as my 'honorary' godmother because she is simply fantastic company and a plant fanatic. She is actually godmother to one of my four brothers which is a total waste for both of them, so I have claimed her. She is however, in my humble opinion, somewhat too obsessed by dark purple plants! 

R. Compassion has beautiful dark green, shiny foliage and beautiful peachy pink flowers in an old fashoned, square/round shape. It repeats all season and has a lovely fragrance. I have moved it twice since I planted it. It has survived the moves and now, finally, it is thriving and blooming profusely on the square arch across my side passage with the Lonicera americana, the Wisteria and Rosa 'Lord Byron'.

Tall, scented and vigorous with lovely blooms. Each bloom has been enormous so far in 2013. It has loved the wet Spring and now this fabulous Summer.

Despite its AGM I found this lacked the supposed strong vigour and strong fragrance. It was removed swiftly.

I took it out because the flowers were too big for its stems and drooped. No drooping is allowed in this garden! It just wasn't special enough to justify its place in a small space, despite its fragrance.

This is a great rose. It is a repeater, is fabulously scented, is upright and looks very glamorous and can be a climber. When I bought it I didn't realise it could be a climber (ie very tall) and it became too tall for the front of my bed where I had planted it. I moved it to the fence in 2012 (at the wrong time) so I hoped it would forgive me. It had been a very strong rose so I hoped so. The flowers don't hold their initial shape for long but they 'blow' in a delightful way and, because it is floriferous and repeats so well, it doesn't matter that they don't last very long.

In 2013 it has been a bit spindly (the move I guess) but is flowering and I hope it will take better next year to its new position.

This is a fabulous rose. It is one of the first to flower, is very highly scented, repeats and looks like a hybrid tea.

I've tried to grow this twice. I was keen to grow a yellow rambler in the Hot bed. This is named after the hills I can see from my family home in Worcestershire but it is too pale yellow for the hot bed and hasn't grown strongly enough anywhere so has had to go - twice!