Plant choosing guide
Jump to what matters
Start with size and space
Choose for the mature plant, not the pot you see today.
How do you choose the right size plant?
Look at its eventual height and spread, how quickly it grows, what it will be planted beside and how much pruning you are prepared to do to keep it under control.
The size of a plant in its pot can be misleading. Before choosing it, think about where it will be in several years' time.
Consider paths, walls, neighbouring plants, windows, fences and how much space a climber or shrub will eventually need.
Roses advice
Think about the mature plant, not the pot in front of you.Climbers, rambling roses, vigorous shrubs and some hydrangeas can eventually become much larger than customers expect.
Plan for the mature plant
Plants where size really matters
Compare the eventual height and spread before choosing. Different varieties of the same plant can need very different amounts of space.
Clematis
Adds vertical colour without taking up large amounts of border space. Different varieties vary significantly in vigour, so choose for the support and space available.
Hydrangeas & Lavatera
Hydrangeas vary in mature size by type and variety, while Lavatera can develop into a substantial flowering shrub. Leave room for the mature plant.
‘Galway Bay’
This climbing rose needs suitable support and space to develop vertically.
‘Rambling Rector’
A considerably more vigorous rambling rose, best suited to somewhere it genuinely has room to grow.
Another Roses favourite
'Rambling Rector''Rambling Rector' remains a well-known traditional rambling rose, particularly with gardeners who recognise the old-fashioned name. Its vigorous habit is part of its appeal, so it needs somewhere with room to perform properly.
For smaller gardens, James recommends compact patio roses, especially in containers. Roses stocks ‘Designer Sunset’, ‘Raspberry Royale’ and ‘Sunseeker’. For larger spaces, his standout example is Himalayan birch (Betula utilis var. jacquemontii), valued for its striking pale bark. Hydrangea pruning depends on type: paniculata and arborescens flower on new wood and can be cut back in early spring; macrophylla and oak-leaved hydrangeas generally flower on older wood, so avoid hard spring pruning.
How much maintenance do you want?
Low maintenance does not always mean no maintenance.
What should you choose for a lower-maintenance garden?
Choose plants whose normal care matches what you are actually willing to do. Consider watering, feeding, pruning, deadheading, staking and winter protection before you buy.
Some gardeners are happy to deadhead and feed regularly but do not want much pruning. Others want plants they can largely leave alone once established.
Roses advice
Easy to grow does not always mean no maintenance.A long-flowering plant may be very reliable but still give a better display if it is fed or deadheaded regularly.
Grown at Roses
Own-grown plants worth comparing
These are particularly useful plants to discuss when choosing something straightforward for the garden.
Staff pick
Echinacea
Echinacea is one of the perennials grown on the Roses nursery and is a useful plant to consider for strong summer colour and a distinctive flower shape.
James picks pansies as an easy, colourful beginner option: remove spent flowers and any badly marked leaves. For Echinacea, Coreopsis and Penstemon, water and feed in the growing season, cut away spent blooms with secateurs, then tidy their dieback later in the year. Pelargoniums (summer geraniums) are another particularly forgiving beginner choice; deadheading is straightforward by hand.
Match the plant to your soil
Particularly relevant locally, where heavy clay is common.
Does soil type really matter when choosing plants?
Yes. Plants are much easier to establish when their roots suit the drainage, moisture and pH conditions of the soil they are planted into.
Local gardening knowledge
Heavy clay around Newent and the Forest of Dean
Around Newent and across much of the wider Forest of Dean area, gardeners commonly encounter heavy clay soil, although conditions can vary from garden to garden.
Older orchard sites and other localised areas can have noticeably different soil characteristics.
Clay is not necessarily poor soil. It can retain moisture and nutrients well, but it can also drain slowly, become sticky in winter and bake hard during dry weather.
Roses advice
Do not fight your soil if you do not have to.Soil can be improved, but choosing plants naturally comfortable in your existing conditions usually gives you a much stronger starting point.
Heavy clay
Holds moisture and nutrients well but can drain slowly.
Roses recommends
Clematis is James’s choice for heavier clay, provided the soil drains and does not remain waterlogged. Roses stocks a wide range of clematis, which can provide flowers through spring and summer.
Sandy soil
Drains quickly and warms sooner but can dry out and lose nutrients faster.
Roses recommends
Lavender suits free-draining sandy soil and a sunny position. James also recommends sedums: their fleshy leaves hold water, helping them tolerate drier conditions.
Loam
Usually balances moisture, drainage and nutrients, giving a relatively wide planting choice.
Roses recommends
James chooses roses for fertile, moisture-retentive loam, as long as the ground does not become waterlogged. Many other garden plants also grow well in good loam.
Chalky or alkaline
Some plants thrive in alkaline soil while others struggle.
Roses recommends
Dianthus, including pinks and carnations, is a good choice for neutral to alkaline soil. James also recommends Erysimum ‘Bowles’s Mauve’, grown at Roses, for its attractive foliage and exceptionally long display of mauve flowers, often from spring into autumn.
Acidic soil
Certain familiar garden plants actively prefer acidic conditions.
Roses recommends
Rhododendrons, azaleas and blueberries are James’s choices for acidic ground. Rhododendrons and azaleas can alternatively be grown in pots with ericaceous compost if the garden soil is unsuitable.
Soil tests — advice from Roses
Get to know your soil
You can learn quite a lot from how soil looks, feels and behaves. Heavy clay often feels sticky when wet and can be moulded in the hand. Sandy soil feels gritty and loose. Loam tends to feel more crumbly and workable.
James recommends checking soil acidity before buying plants with strong acidic or alkaline preferences. An acid-loving plant may struggle continually in alkaline conditions, and vice versa.
Roses has soil-testing kits in store. Ask the team if you are unsure where to start.
How much sun does the position really get?
Watch the garden at different times of day.
How much sunlight counts as sun or shade?
As a practical guide, 0–2 hours of direct sun is a shady position, around 3–6 hours is partial sun or partial shade, and around 6 hours or more is a sunny position.
Roses advice
Look at the space more than once.A corner that appears sunny at lunchtime may spend most of the morning and evening in shade. Morning and strong afternoon sun can also create quite different conditions.
Shade
Roughly 0–2 hours of direct sun.
Roses recommends
For positions receiving approximately 0–2 hours of direct sun, James suggests Sarcococca (a compact evergreen shrub with fragrant winter flowers), camellias, hostas and ferns. Exact suitability will also depend on soil moisture and the particular variety.
Partial sun
Roughly 3–6 hours of direct sun.
Roses recommends
For around 3–6 hours of direct sunlight, James suggests Heuchera, hardy geraniums, clematis, fuchsias and Japanese anemones. Hydrangeas can also benefit from avoiding the strongest sun and drying conditions.
Sunny position
Around 6 hours or more of direct sun.
Roses recommends
Lavender, Salvia, Echinacea, summer geraniums (pelargoniums), petunias and Calibrachoa are among James’s choices for full sun. Watch container watering carefully, particularly during hot, prolonged sunny periods.
Nursery experience
Which summer plants give the longest display?
Petunias, calibrachoa, geraniums and fuchsias are all part of the Roses nursery-grown summer range.
James particularly recommends pelargoniums for beginners: they tolerate the occasional missed watering and can keep flowering well with simple, regular deadheading by hand. He also notes that begonias reward regular soluble feeding with generous blooms.
Decide what you want the plant to do
Give the plant a job before choosing the variety.
What should you think about besides flowers?
Decide whether you need colour, evergreen structure, scent, screening, height, berries, ground cover, climbing growth, winter interest or something suitable for a pot.
Not every plant needs to be the star of the border. Once you know the job it needs to do, the choice becomes much easier.
Another Roses favourite
Clematis for vertical colour
Clematis can be particularly useful when you want to add flowers without using a large amount of ground space. There are varieties with different colours, growth habits and flowering periods, so choosing the right one for the position matters.
Pots, hanging baskets or borders?
Match the plant's natural habit to where it will grow.
How do you decide where a plant should go?
Think about root space, how quickly compost will dry out, whether the plant trails, how much feeding it needs and whether you want height, spread or something cascading over the edge.
Grown at Roses
Summer plants from our nursery
Roses advice
Let trailing plants trail.Calibrachoa and some petunias are particularly useful where their growth can spill naturally over the edge of a basket or container.
Staff pick
Calibrachoa
Calibrachoa produces masses of smaller flowers and works especially well where its trailing habit can spill from a basket or container.
For hanging baskets, James favours Calibrachoa for its wide colour range and long flowering. Upright or bushy fuchsias make good container centrepieces and can also provide shape in borders. Verbena is his strong trailing choice. Pelargoniums are particularly forgiving of missed watering and easiest for beginners. Begonias, especially non-stop and trailing types, benefit from regular liquid feeding to support their large flowers.
Plan for more than one season
Do not choose a whole border because everything flowers today.
How do you create year-round garden interest?
Combine plants that peak at different times and include evergreen structure, foliage, berries and shape as well as flowers.
- Camellia
- Hellebore
- Roses
- Alstroemeria
- Echinacea
- Japanese anemone
- Callicarpa
- Pyracantha
- Skimmia
- Cupressus
- Winter pansies
Roses advice
Evergreen plants do an important job.Flowers attract attention, but evergreen plants help hold the garden together when flowering plants are resting. A strong border usually needs a mixture of both.
Why Roses grows plants on its own nursery
Plants our team sees developing through the season in Newent.
What does nursery-grown mean for customers?
Plants grown at Roses develop through local conditions on the nursery in Newent, while the team gains first-hand experience of how those plants develop through the season.
Grown at Roses
Spring and summer bedding & basket plants
Grown at Roses
Summer perennials
Grown at Roses
Autumn and winter colour
Spring and summer: Roses grows substantial quantities of bedding and basket plants because customers want long-flowering colour and the freedom to combine different shapes and colours in their own containers. Summer perennials: James values their structure, lasting border colour and benefit to pollinators; examples include Salvia, Echinacea and lavender. Autumn and winter: Roses grows pansies and violas because they are hardy, accessible colour when summer bedding is over; in favourable conditions, plantings can last from autumn well into spring.
Roses buying choice
We choose plants for more than appearance.The plant that looks most dramatic on the bench is not automatically the best plant for your garden. The stronger choice is the one that suits your soil, space, position and the way you want to garden.
Roses quick picks
James’s plant recommendations to help you choose with confidence.
Pelargoniums (summer geraniums): generous flowering, tolerant of occasional missed watering and simple to deadhead. Pansies are another easy choice.
Repeat-flowering roses: a wide choice of sizes and colours, with some varieties giving a second flush later in the year.
A year-round display pot: a compact evergreen such as a conifer in the centre, with Calibrachoa for summer or pansies for colder months.
Lavender: fragrant, popular with pollinators and well suited to sunny, free-draining conditions.
Hostas: valued for foliage as well as flowers. Protect new growth from slugs and snails; James suggests gravel and suitable controls.
Phormium: striking architectural foliage and relatively little maintenance; Roses uses potted examples around the café and entrance.
Petunias or Calibrachoa: a single colour or mixed colours can create a striking, long-flowering display.
Hellebore ‘Christmas Carol’: white flowers bringing welcome interest in the winter months.
Euonymus: ask the Roses team about compact evergreen varieties currently available and choose one whose mature size suits your space.
Erysimum ‘Bowles’s Mauve’: a favourite grown at Roses, with long-lasting mauve flowers and an easy-care habit.
The quick plant-buying checklist
The questions worth answering before choosing.
A useful tip before visiting
Bring a photograph and a rough measurement.If you are not sure what plant you need, a photograph of the space and an approximate measurement can make it much easier for the Roses team to narrow down suitable choices.
