Summer in Country Living's gardening columnist Jo Thompson’s garden is defined by roses, from the first flush of blooms to the scent that drifts through the borders all season long.
For the award-winning RHS Chelsea Flower Show designer (and 2026 judge), roses are less a formal feature and more a returning cast of old favourites, flowering from June well into September.
"It’s like greeting old friends who I know will be stars from now until September. Every year, I tell myself there’s no more room for any new roses and, every year, I ignore myself. The lawn is gradually getting smaller as I make space for varieties I’ve always longed to grow, and the new rosebed planted last year is happily growing away."
She adds: "I’m on a mission to help people find a rose that actually suits them and their garden.
"You might want to envelop a shed roof with a rambler, while if you have limited space, repeat-flowering shrub roses are your answer.
"The old roses have looser forms and extraordinary scent; when I prune them, I leave a few stems longer, allowing them to drape and create a slightly dishevelled look."
Below are a few of Jo's suggestions to get you started...
Best repeat-flowering roses for cottage gardens
Among Jo’s newest favourites is Rosa ‘The King’s Rose’, a repeat-flowering variety with rhubarb-and-cream striped petals that appear almost hand painted. Set among softer companions, it brings what she describes as “a touch of elegance”.
Another standout is Rosa x odorata ‘Mutabilis’, prized for its constantly shifting tones of peach, pink and apricot. Its open flowers are particularly attractive to pollinators and, once established, the plant develops a looser, more natural habit.
“It can take a while to get going but, once it does, its relaxed stems have that slightly wild, ‘let it all hang out’ energy I adore,” says Jo.
For gardeners looking for a rose with an exceptionally long flowering season, Jo suggests Rosa x odorata ‘Bengal Crimson’, which can flower almost continuously in milder gardens.
She also recommends Rosa ‘Wild Rover’, a deep-toned red rose that has become increasingly admired for both its colour and pollinator appeal.
“This rose has been around for 15 years or so, but had been pretty much ignored until I combined its reds with pinks, peaches and browns, including the coral-centred Rosa ‘Emma Bridgewater’, in the garden I created for The Glasshouse at last year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show,” she says.
Best companion plants for roses
Jo explains: "My roses don’t grow in those formal rose beds of old. Companion planting is key and I’m experimenting with pollinator-friendly fillers and plants with aromatic leaves, hoping to deter pests naturally."
She recommends combining roses with salvias for their long flowering season and aromatic foliage, nepeta for its soft haze of blue and hardy geraniums to knit planting schemes together.
For climbing and rambling roses, clematis remains one of her favourite planting partners.
“Rosa ‘Blush Noisette’ scrambles around the doorway of my cottage, interwoven with Clematis ‘Etoile Violette’ and C. ‘Emilia Plater’,” she says.
Add roses for wildlife
For Jo, roses are far more than ornamental plants. They play an important role in creating a healthy garden ecosystem that supports birds, pollinators and beneficial insects.
While dealing with aphids on her roses last summer, she noticed a blackbird building a nest within the thorny stems of Rosa ‘Meg’ growing against the house wall.
It's worth pointing out that Jo says she deliberately leaves some aphids in place on roses for fledgling blue tits, which feed on them heavily.
“Yes, they’re decorative, but roses truly are part of a living garden,” she says.
Beautiful buys for the green-fingered
DIBOR Vintage Style Hanging Heart Outdoor Garden Bird Feeder
Backdoorshoes Women's Poppy Garden Clogs
Castor - Classic Garden Trowel
Helsinki Lounger
Snap Dragon Collection - Hand Painted Interior Terracotta Plant Pot
