Some areas in a garden are hard to work with…

One such challenging location is a shady wall or door that can be a little gloomy without some colour to lift your spirits.  If you decide to plant a rose in a shady area, you must choose the right rose for the job. Most roses tolerate some shade as long as they get a few hours of sunshine throughout the day, but some are more shade-tolerant than others, so here are a few that you can choose to brighten up those gloomy areas. 

What to consider....

Always choose the area to dig the hole where they will benefit from the most light, as it's best to avoid planting in total shade. Shady areas at the base of a wall are generally dry, so plant the rose well away from the wall to enable the roots to search out a bit of moisture. You may find that rose growth is a little drawn and less full, so don't skimp on the fertiliser and make sure they get plenty of water during the growing season. 

You might want to consider growing another climber along with the rose, to compensate for any reduction in blooms   - clematis are a good choice -  either winter or summer flowering are a good idea of you want a climber. Or try some foxgloves or dogwood amongst shrub roses for some variety. 

Here are a few roses that perform better in shady locations

Climbers and ramblers

Albertine  

- a gorgeous rambling rose with heavily scented, salmon pink blooms causing splashes of pale colour in a shady area. The flowers are borne in large clusters in midsummer.  Click the link in the name to find out more 

The Prince's Trust  

 Another climber, the Prince's Trust, is a delightful rose that is just waiting to impress! ‘Prince’s Trust’ produces a mass of blooms over a long-flowering period, starting in the early weeks of summer and remaining full of shape and colour right into autumn.

 Shrub roses 

 if you're not looking for something to climb up and over a wall, then a shrub rose may be a better option. 

'Shrub roses' is a loose term for a large and diverse group of roses that have varying habits, from, small bushy shrubs to around 1 metre in height to arching shrubs that reach around 3 times that size. Some flower just once and others repeat flower, so best to check the details on each product page for more information. 

Alissar Princess of Phoenecia  

This rose has a grand name with an exotic appearance to match. Its a single or semi - double flower which starts peach with a pink centre, and develops into a darker pink as the season progresses.   Because of it's open flower, you will find bees and other pollinators are drawn to it as a good source of easily accessible pollen. 

The flamboyant and showy St Richard of Chichester is a solid and upright plant growing to around 3.5ft or just over a metre in height, with large, repeat flowering blooms on green glossy leaves.

There are lots more roses to choose on our website - just choose the type of rose you prefer ( bush, shrub, climber) and select either ' shady' , 'wall or fence', or 'north, east, west, south facing'  as required in the filter boxes to reduce  your selection to only those that can best cope with your conditions.