Yellow is not my favourite colour in the garden. Yet I am drawn to soft muted forms of yellow, such as cream, burnished gold and especially lemon. In fact yellow and white are often found together in nature. And because they go together naturally, they give a feeling of freshness and warmth to our rose garden's colour scheme.
This natural combination can be seen often around the garden, such as in this lovely white flowering 'butterfly bush' or Buddleia. The yellow centre in each of the tiny flowers brightens and complements the whole bush. And the fragrance is honey-sweet. No wonder the butterflies love it so much!
This combination of yellow and white is also seen in the lovely climbing Noisette rose, Lamarque, loved for its fragrant white flowers that are highlighted in the centre with yellow tipped stamens. And the fragrance also has a hint of lemon!
And then there's the exquisite Tea rose, Perle de Jardins, with soft lemon buds and blooms. The fully opened flowers are beautiful in bouquets and have a soft, dry tea fragrance that doesn't overpower a hand-held bouquet.
The well-lovedTea rose, Lady Hillingdon, is often referred to as an apricot colour, but when the open flower is back-lit by sunlight it is hard to decide if the colour is soft buttery yellow, or just burnished gold! Strangely, the fragrance is often likened to apricots with a hint of dry tea leaves!
For a true rich yellow, there is the Hybrid Tea rose, Candlelight. We don't grow many modern Hybrid Teas in our heirloom rose gardens, but this one fits well with the heritage roses and is a lovely cut flower.
One of the other few modern roses we grow for their cut flowers is the Hybrid Tea, Elina. This rose has proven itself to be tough in a difficult situation and produces the loveliest creamy, soft yellow roses. They're wonderful in bouquets and also blend well with our heirloom roses.
And I can't resist the bright little buttons of the herb, Tansy. We grow it among the heirloom roses where it brightens up a little corner in the garden. This is a tough herb and provides colour almost all year round. Although it has a pungent perfume you don't need many of its yellow buttons to look gorgeous in posies and bouquets.
Then there's the white Autumn crocus that grows at the feet of some of our heirloom roses. Usually it is only identified by a clump of thin leaves, but in Autumn the white flowers open to reveal bright yellow stamens. A delightful seasonal flourish in the garden!
And finally, one of my favourites in the garden, the lemon buds of the Hybrid Musk rose, Pax. This lovely arching rose bush was bred in the early 20th Century by the Reverend Pemberton who founded the Hybrid Musk roses. The buds open to slightly double, large white rose blooms, but it is the lemon buds that I love. They're 'divine' in posies, too.
So there it is, a little taste of 'yellow' in the garden!
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