Transform a garden arch with golden-yellow English Climbing Rose 'Graham Thomas' and violet-blue Clematis 'Wisley'. These flowering climbers create a spectacular summer display, combining fragrant, deeply cupped roses with large, star-shaped clematis blooms. Repeat-flowering roses and long-blooming clematis extend the color into autumn in romantic cottage gardens and borders.
Imagine a cottage garden trellis overflowing with magnificent golden-yellow roses, their richly layered petals mingling with delicate violet-blue clematis flowers. The roses glow like sunshine among the foliage, while open, star-shaped clematis blooms bring cool color and graceful movement. Romantic, vibrant, and wonderfully inviting, this striking pairing transforms a garden arch or fence into a spectacular summer display.
Two flowering climbers create the combination: Rosa ‘Graham Thomas’ (English Climbing Rose) and Clematis ‘Wisley’. Their contrasting flower shapes, complementary colors, and overlapping summer blooms create a beautiful display, with repeat-flowering roses extending the season into autumn.
Main plants used: Rosa ‘Graham Thomas’ and Clematis ‘Wisley’.
Rosa ‘Graham Thomas’ is one of David Austin’s most celebrated English roses, admired for its unusually rich, golden-yellow flowers. The deeply cupped, generously petalled blooms gradually soften toward pale yellow as they mature. Their light Tea fragrance, with hints of violet, adds another delightful dimension to the garden.
Flowering in repeated flushes from early summer into autumn, ‘Graham Thomas’ can be grown as an upright shrub or trained as a climber. Its golden flowers look particularly beautiful against weathered timber, brick, or pale stone.
Clematis ‘Wisley’ introduces a striking contrast with large violet-blue flowers, often displaying subtle reddish markings along the center of each sepal. Creamy-yellow stamens brighten the flowers and beautifully echo the golden tones of the rose.
Flowering through summer into early autumn, this vigorous clematis brings cool color among the warm yellow roses. Its open flowers provide a lovely contrast to the rose’s densely layered petals.
The combination succeeds because the two colors are opposites on the color wheel, yet the shared yellow accents create harmony. The result is cheerful and dramatic without sacrificing the romantic character of an English cottage garden.
Create a romantic summer climbing display with fragrant golden roses and large violet-blue clematis flowers mingling across a sturdy trellis or garden arch.
Approximate visual proportions during overlapping flowering, not plant quantities.
Position Rose ‘Graham Thomas’ beside a sturdy trellis, fence, or garden arch, training its main canes diagonally or horizontally. Plant Clematis ‘Wisley’ nearby with separate root space, then guide its young stems through thin wires and the rose’s outer branches. Keep the clematis base accessible for annual pruning and prevent overcrowding.
Early summer brings the first golden roses, followed by the violet-blue flowers of Clematis ‘Wisley’. Their strongest display generally occurs in midsummer, when the golden rosettes and purple stars mingle. The clematis continues into early autumn, while the rose may produce additional flowering flushes until colder weather arrives.
| Hardiness |
5 - 10 |
|---|---|
| Heat Zones |
5 - 9 |
| Climate Zones | 2, 2A, 2B, 3, 3A, 3B, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 |
| Exposure | Full Sun, Partial Sun |
| Season of Interest | Summer (Early, Mid, Late), Fall |
| Maintenance | Average |
| Water Needs | Average |
| Soil Type | Chalk, Clay, Loam, Sand |
| Soil pH | Alkaline, Neutral |
| Soil Drainage | Moist but Well-Drained |
| Characteristics | Cut Flowers, Fragrant, Plant of Merit, Showy |
| Tolerances | Clay Soil |
| Attracts | Bees, Butterflies, Hummingbirds |
| Landscaping Ideas | Arbors, Pergolas, Trellises, Wall-Side Borders, Walls And Fences |
| Garden Styles | Butterfly Garden, City and Courtyard, Informal and Cottage, Pollinator Garden, Traditional Garden |
| Hardiness |
5 - 10 |
|---|---|
| Heat Zones |
5 - 9 |
| Climate Zones | 2, 2A, 2B, 3, 3A, 3B, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 |
| Exposure | Full Sun, Partial Sun |
| Season of Interest | Summer (Early, Mid, Late), Fall |
| Maintenance | Average |
| Water Needs | Average |
| Soil Type | Chalk, Clay, Loam, Sand |
| Soil pH | Alkaline, Neutral |
| Soil Drainage | Moist but Well-Drained |
| Characteristics | Cut Flowers, Fragrant, Plant of Merit, Showy |
| Tolerances | Clay Soil |
| Attracts | Bees, Butterflies, Hummingbirds |
| Landscaping Ideas | Arbors, Pergolas, Trellises, Wall-Side Borders, Walls And Fences |
| Garden Styles | Butterfly Garden, City and Courtyard, Informal and Cottage, Pollinator Garden, Traditional Garden |
Recreate this garden. Specify the percentages you would like to have of each plant and input the dimensions of your garden space.We'll give you a shopping list so you know how many plants you need.
| Plant | Quantity | |
|---|---|---|
| Rosa Graham Thomas (English Rose) | N/A | Buy Plants |
| Clematis 'Wisley' (Viticella Group) | N/A | Buy Plants |
Create a membership account to save your garden designs and to view them on any device.
Becoming a contributing member of Gardenia is easy and can be done in just a few minutes. If you provide us with your name, email address and the payment of a modest $25 annual membership fee, you will become a full member, enabling you to design and save up to 25 of your garden design ideas.
Join now and start creating your dream garden!
