Climbing Roses
The Stables garden was dug around a hitching rail for horses. I left the post and rail in place and grew some climbing roses along it - the pink Bantry Bay and an amber yellow which I'm sure is Maigold. They are still there, all these years later. But that's roses for you!
Roses in the Stables Garden
Bantry Bay was the first rose I trained along the Stables hitching rail. It's a cheerful climber, but can misbehave with black spot later in the season.
Stables Garden Roses - 2005
Then a new honey yellow rose whose name I didn't record joined the pink climber Bantry Bay. For quite some years I called it 'Windrush'. Oops. The plantings underneath, too, have changed, and several shrubs have barged in to take up space.
Bantry Bay and Honey Yellow Roses
In the rose off-season the hitching rail is camouflaged well by a beautiful Phormium and the scruffiest of Lavenders, plus some far-reaching bronze fennel. A slightly invasive yellow Euphorbia fills in the gaps and brightens up everything from spring on.
Here's an early photograph, taken in 1998. In this picture the variegated Elm tree (in the background, mid-border) is rather small and new.