Join the ramblers

This week I've been off to the garden centre in search of some special plants. I was looking for rambling roses to climb up the veranda pillars.

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There are already a few blue and white wisterias here that have settled in very well over the years and every May it is a joy to see their pendant fragrant blossoms.

I want an equally beautiful sequel to this and can picture rambling roses with their huge trusses of small flowers bedecking the area in June and July with clouds of scent and colour.

Ramblers have long pliable stems, which makes them suitable for training around pillars, pergolas, arbours and obelisks and as their growth is usually quite vigorous they are good for covering walls and sheds and scrambling up old trees. But you do need to have adequate space for them as they are hard to control once they take off.

There are miniature ramblers that reach around two metres or so and these are more suitable for smaller plots.