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Photo Credit: ©2001 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard

Formal gardens, with their geometric and symmetrical plantings, complement traditional homes beautifully.

When it comes to designing your perfect rose garden, the first question you should ask yourself is what kind of garden do you dream of: grand and orderly – like at the Palace of Versailles in France – or a natural, casual country cottage garden?

No matter what your vision, be sure to take the style of your house into consideration. In fact, your home might make your rose garden decision for you already. If you have a contemporary home adjacent to your garden site, a formal layout is recommended. Ditto for English Tudors, Queen Anne Victorians or Dutch Colonials. An American Southern home with a formal colonnade begs for a formal treatment in its surrounding landscape as well. These homes cry out for gardens that have squares, rectangles, diamonds and interwoven circles for planting beds and paths.

Informal gardens, on the other hand, fit in beautifully with rustic homes, Craftsman-style bungalows and traditional suburban neighborhoods of picket fences, lawns and curving walkways. Yet despite their apparent casual nature, informal gardens are typically designed as carefully as their formal brothers and sisters – using ovals, circles and gentle curves to create masses of color and texture, both on the layout plan and in vertical space above the ground. These gardens are ideal spots to include gazebos, arbors and other romantic touches.

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Photo Credit: ©2001 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard

For a more informal look, plant landscape roses in casual hedges and drifts.

But you really don’t need a sweeping space to include a pretty rose garden in your yard. Another option is to simply group container roses together. This style is especially suited to the balconies, patios and rooftop gardens of apartments, townhouses, lofts, condominiums and other urban spaces. Containers are flexible and mobile, and roses adapt easily to them. Container roses also look great in entryways. Think in terms of using paired containers if your home is classic and formal, or choose unusual or “found” pots if your home has more of a casual feel.

If you have limited space, consider roses as your flowering shrub of choice for use in compact garden plantings and for container groups. Where space is at a premium, miniature and small-stature roses meet the challenge.

Also pick roses that tolerate dry conditions and are disease-free. Choose healthy plants that are well-suited to your region’s climate, and remember to use climbers for vertical space. Full-sun locations suit nearly every rose. If your garden receives only partial sun (at least 4 hours per day), pick shade-tolerant rose varieties that typically thrive on balconies, rooftops, decks and patios.

Remember, too, that small-space container gardens require somewhat greater care than do inground plantings, so take extra care to find them a sunny spot with good air circulation to display them at their best. Roses prefer deep-rooted plantings, and they’ll quickly fill even the largest pots. (So when planting in containers, always choose the largest and deepest containers available.)