Back to some colour today after all that white yesterday and, I am pleased to say, lots of perfume! I prefer apricot and peachy tones to pure yellow roses so all of these are lovely in my eyes. But because I like single roses, none are more attractive than Mrs Oakley Fisher (above). She is a beautiful, single Hybrid Tea rose dating from 1921. Like the few remaining single HTs from the time, it is a rather small and dainty thing, reaching about 75cm high and preferring a sunny warm spot and good soil. Then she will open those delicate, sweetly scented flowers all summer.

Golden Celebration (‘Ausgold’ 1992) is an English Rose so those cupped blooms are pump out a sweet tea scent throughout summer on bushes 1.2m high.

Phyllis Bide is a Multiflora rose raised in 1923 and despite the fact that it is only lightly scented and the flowers are small, it deserves to be still grown. It is an unusual rambler in that it flowers throughout summer and, in fact, there are a few flowers remaining on it right now, at the start of January. The flowers open peachy and fade to cream, with pink edges, and they last for weeks, the petals very reluctant to drop. I have it through a medlar tree and it grows slowly but purposefully.

Bridge of Sighs (‘Harglowing’ 2001) is another climber, but this time a smaller and newer rose with larger flowers. I have a liking for Harkness roses and this is one of the prettiest, with narrow-petalled flowers with a nice scent, reaching about 2.5cm.

Amber Nectar (‘Mehamber’) is a rose I only saw in the growing fields a few years ago but I don’t think it is available at the moment – perhaps because the name is more associated with weak alcohol!

Crown Princess (‘Auswinter’ 1999) is another lovely English Rose that has lovely fruity scent. Growing to about 1.2m high, the full flowers are produced all summer.

Singin’ in the Rain (‘Macivy’ 1991) is a fragrant and neat very stylish rose that has lovely colouring. It reminds me of the Fryers’ Belle Epoque that is one of the smartest of all orange roses. It has a good ancestry with Sexy Rexy being one parent. To make it all the better it is fragrant.

Freddie Mercury (‘Batmercury’) has nicely fragrant, large, high-centred apricot yellow flowers of perfect HT shape. The beauty of the large flowers and the fact that it keeps on blooming all summer would be enough to ensure at least some popularity (as well as the name) but what really struck me about this one (I do not have it) is the new foliage which is deep beetroot in colour.

rose bridge of sighs, rose freddie mercury, rose golden celebration, rose mrs oakley fisher, rose phyllis bide, rose singin in the rain