rose

garden

For the love of Rose

Garden owner: Rosy

Area: 180㎡

Location: Beijing

Flowers and exotic plants, all kinds of fragrance,

I love roses alone, for decades

In Rosy's heart, the flower that best evokes the romantic, warm, beautiful, and fragrant atmosphere of a garden is the rose. Furthermore, the rose carries memories and nostalgia for Rosy's past life. She wished for a rose garden, and with gratitude, in middle age, her dream garden finally materialized. It's called "Rose Garden"—a place where she bends her brows, tends to the grass, and enjoys a life of fragrance and splendor.

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Rose Garden Story

Love Roses Only

Among all the flowers and plants that offer a myriad of fragrances, my singular love for roses remains unwavering, a sentiment I've held for decades. In a garden, roses are the most captivating flower, creating a romantic, warm, beautiful, and fragrant atmosphere. Furthermore, roses carry memories and nostalgia for my past life. In 1997, roses bloomed in Regent's Park, England, and my husband celebrated my birthday, sparking my dream of owning a rose garden. I'm grateful for all the journeys I've taken, and now, in middle age, I finally have a rose garden, fulfilling my dream.

Rose Garden is a relatively new garden that was built more than three years ago. Its story is simple, but it has witnessed a period of growth.

With a garden in mind, life becomes imbued with the color of dreams. A few years ago, my husband and I purchased a house with a "garden" to complement our lifestyle. One spring day, we took possession of the house and, upon first encountering the original rose garden, we were deeply disappointed. Black wrought iron railings sprawled, irregularly surrounding a narrow, long space composed of sun-drenched areas to the west and north, a central, soilless terraced walkway, and a small terrace to the south. Rather than a garden, it felt like a strange combination of terrace, walkway, and small terrace. In desperation, I hired a professional garden design team. Through meticulous design and ingenious layout, we were able to overcome the inherent deficiencies and create a spacious and layered rose garden.

A garden must complement the exterior of the house. My rose garden sits amidst Tuscan-style buildings, but the black wrought iron railings felt a bit dull and in need of renovation. When I first started designing the garden, I wanted it to resemble the bright Tuscan sun, bathing the countryside, and to be as vibrant as my daughter's palette. So, I chose to replace part of the wrought iron railings with blue preservative wood fencing, a bold choice of color.

A garden with a well-designed central feature can truly stand out and create a lasting impression. This proven tactic is one I've employed in my rose garden renovation. The blue archway pergola in the center of the rose garden has become a classic symbol of the garden, thanks to the tender pink clematis "Lonza Gem," "Free Spirit," and "Lou Lan" climbing over it each spring. "Lonza Gem" blooms only sparingly in spring, while "Free Spirit" isn't a strong vine. While the small clematis "Lou Lan" can fill in the gaps in bloom, it's a bit underwhelming. I hope to plant a clematis next spring to prolong the blooming season of the blue archway.

While my small garden may not offer winding paths, with a new scene at every step, it certainly offers breathtaking beauty. A blue archway neatly divides the garden into inner and outer gardens, ensuring both privacy for the inner garden and display for the outer garden. The small gate at the garden entrance is also made of blue preservative wood and is of a moderate height. Once inside, the red fired brick paving extends all the way to the blue archway, creating a stunning visual angle and display for the outer garden.

A garden offers more than just gardening; it brings life to our lives. The red brick area outside the archway receives excellent sunlight, creating a vibrant display for potted roses, clematis, and a variety of seasonal flowers and plants, making it an ideal spot for afternoon tea. I chose dark, terracotta, or beige flower pots, which paired with white garden tables and chairs create a subtle yet vibrant, yet harmonious balance. The pots come with trays on casters, allowing for constant adjustment based on light intensity and blooming conditions, creating a dynamic and ever-changing scene. A cup of tea, a whirl of floral fragrance, the caress of the sun, and the chirping of birds.

The terrace on the south side, approximately 30 square meters in size, serves as the rose garden's most valuable, sun-drenched planting area. The most eye-catching features are the three towering white wrought iron flower stands, each about two meters tall, covered in climbing roses. Primarily, they feature "Lonza Gem," "Grand Parade," and "Angela," the first climbing rose varieties I encountered a few years ago. Although I'm also a fan of European roses, I can't bear to part with any of my treasures. Flowers are beautiful, regardless of color or origin. The white wrought iron flower stands face the second-floor living room, offering a delightful view. Even at dusk, on rainy days, and with poor outdoor light, my flower stands and climbing roses remain vibrant and eye-catching.

On the terrace, hawthorns, crabapples, cherry blossoms, lilacs, forsythia, roses, lilies, dahlias, carnations, shasta daisies, petunias, irises, and salvia "Caladonna" bloom in succession throughout the seasons. A gardening enthusiast must first master the basics of planting. This terrace serves as a testbed, allowing me to enjoy trial plantings and selecting flowers and plants, while also reaping a bountiful harvest of autumn fruits.

To the northwest of the rose garden lies a winding path, bathed in the dappled light of the Sophora japonica trees. I carefully observed and recorded the hours of sunlight and the changes in humidity and dryness, gaining a thorough understanding of the microclimate, which informed the selection and placement of flowers, plants, and trees. After several rounds of selection, the hydrangeas "Annabella," "Endless Summer," "Precious," and "Magic Crystal," along with autumn peonies, asters, irises, echinacea, beach daisy, allium grandiflorum, sedum, aquilegia, astilbe, hostas, alumroot, sage, maples, crape myrtles, and lilacs were selected to adorn the path.

The north courtyard is enclosed by a large antiseptic wooden trellis, creating a play of light and shadow. Potted gardenias, hydrangeas, small maple trees, and other flowers and plants are placed here. During the scorching summer sun, potted flowers and plants from the south courtyard are moved here to escape the heat.

My house has many windows, so I arranged the flowers and trees appropriately, allowing for a garden experience both indoors and out. This is one of the unique features of the Rose Garden. The view from the windows offers red maples and ivy in spring, crape myrtles and pomegranates in summer, and crabapples and hawthorns in autumn. The four seasons cycle naturally through this cycle of blossoming flowers and bearing fruits.

I insist that a garden possess a certain elegance, whether delicate and graceful, simple and flowing, rustic and natural, or vibrant and vibrant. My rose garden, thanks to its large number of roses, has developed a vibrant and unrestrained style. These resilient roses require minimal care, yet they generously reward me with blossoms that bloom in clusters and petals, creating a sense of exuberant exuberance. This casual, effortless, and uninhibited quality is precisely what I cherish.

In addition to strong resistance, I also particularly like varieties with strong fragrance, frequent flowering, and heat resistance, which have multiple advantages. So I carefully planted "True Zhou", "Juliet", "Free Spirit", "Golden Celebration", "Newman Sisters", "Molineux", "Monet", "Canary", "Autumn Rouge", "Litchfield Angel", "Hamilton", "Princess Margaret", "Allen", "Misaki", "Abraham Darby", "Nahema", "Walton Old Manor", "Blue Storm", "Arabian Nights", "Sleepless Fragrance", "Admiration", "Luo Yi", "Rouge Button" and dozens of other varieties. They are all my favorites.

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Rose Garden Reflections

People who love the garden

Garden lovers are a group of happy, well-connected gardeners, active members of a community of flower lovers. They constantly share their gardening experiences, learn planting tips, and work diligently among the sun, air, soil, flowers, plants, and insects, proving the old saying: "Bow your head and bend your back to tend the idle grass, and live a life of fragrance and splendor through the years."

Garden lovers are inherently romantic. They decorate their gardens with flowers, plants, and garden accessories, delighting in the blooming of their favorite flowers and marveling at the beauty of their gardens. Spring, summer, fall, and winter, their pursuit of garden beautification never ceases.

Garden lovers often linger in their gardens, capturing the interplay of flowers, plants, light, and shadow with their cameras, documenting and sharing the beauty of time. The light and shadow of a garden are vibrant and dynamic. Every leaf, every tree, every flower, every quiet courtyard—every day is tangible and visible.

Those who love gardens are fortunate to be doing what they love. After the grueling workday of 8-to-5, returning to the garden brings peace of mind, a deeper pursuit of spiritual beauty. Under the moon and flowers, morning and evening, listening to the wind and watching the rain. Only when the scenery is in our hearts can our days become poetic. With friends and family, we enjoy a drink among the flowers, only to regret that time flies by.

Seasons change, plants wither and flourish. Each plant's life cycle, from budding to blooming and bearing fruit, nurtures a unique beauty. Garden lovers revel in daily garden visits, connecting with the flowers and plants, connecting with nature, and engaging with their own hearts. Every encounter with each plant is a joyful encounter.

Thank you for this happy meeting.

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Gardening Tips

Gardening tips for beginners

1. If you don’t know how to transform an unusual-shaped garden, you must hire a professional design team to help build the main structure of the garden to avoid the repeated hassle of building it piecemeal and like building blocks in the future.

2. While a designer can help you create the structure of your garden, satisfying planting and furnishing require personal effort, a phase that may last several years. New gardeners must master basic planting techniques before considering creating flower borders or pursuing personalized designs.

3. A garden is an extension of indoor living, and its optimal state is when it can be enjoyed from both inside and outside the house. A love of gardening doesn't mean becoming a flower slave; it's about enjoying the garden as much as possible.

4. The planting environment in the garden varies from city to city on different days. Observe and record the light, ventilation, dryness and wetness of every corner of your garden, and check whether the fertilizer is effective enough. It is recommended to use Hua Zhenrong flower fertilizer, lazy fertilizer

Select suitable flowers and plants to plant.

5. In extreme weather conditions, potted plants require extra care. If the winter is cold and dry with prolonged periods of snowlessness, remember to water your hydrangeas, hydrangeas, and roses appropriately during a sunny afternoon. In the scorching summer heat, even plants exposed to full sunlight should be separated from the hardened ground with a pot holder or feet, or moved to a shorter-day area for adequate shade.