A Timeless Touch: Restoring a Rose Bed Around a Sundial
- Sarah Rayner
- Aug 15
- 3 min read
Some garden features never go out of style, and a sundial surrounded by roses is one of them. Unfortunately, time hadn’t been too kind to this particular bed. Over the years, it had become overgrown, with a mix of roses that had lost their shape and impact. It was still charming, but it lacked the elegance and presence it once had.
Our goal? To bring back that timeless beauty - creating a simple yet striking design with a single rose variety and a neat evergreen border, ensuring the sundial once again became the focal point it deserved to be.
The Vision & Plant Selection
A single variety of rose brings a sense of harmony and drama that mixed plantings can’t quite match. We wanted something classic, richly scented, and reliable - so we turned to David Austin Roses, ordering directly from their nursery to ensure the highest quality plants. We chose the Olivia Rose Austin variety as it has good disease resistance, has beautiful large blooms and is the right size to create impact in the space without getting too tall. It also has a long flowering season – from late spring to first frost.
To frame the bed year-round, we added an evergreen border of Ilex Crenata, giving the design structure even in the depths of winter. This combination of seasonal bloom and constant green will create a balanced and polished look throughout the year.
Clearing & Preparing the Space
The first step was to strip the bed back to a blank canvas. We carefully lifted some of the existing roses to replant elsewhere in the garden, preserving their beauty for another setting. Weeds were cleared, revealing the bed’s original proportions. Special care was taken to remove as much of the rose roots as possible. Our Olivia Rose Austin variety is disease resistant, but it’s good practice to take extra care when planting new roses where old ones have been.
The sundial, which had shifted slightly over the years, was repositioned to sit perfectly central - in a design like this, symmetry is everything.
Soil Preparation
Healthy roses start with healthy soil. A few days before planting, we enriched the bed with a feed, giving the nutrients time to absorb and condition the soil. Drainage was checked, and the soil loosened to encourage deep root growth.
Planting the Roses & Border
With the groundwork complete, we measured and marked each planting spot to ensure even spacing - essential for a formal, symmetrical look.
Each hole was dug generously and treated with mycorrhizal fungi, which helps young roses establish quickly and stay healthy. The David Austin roses were then carefully planted and watered in, followed by the evergreen border plants to frame the design.
Aftercare for Lasting Beauty
Once planted, the bed was mulched to conserve moisture and suppress weeds. Regular watering in the early weeks will help the roses settle, while pruning in future seasons will maintain their shape and encourage strong flowering. The evergreen border will be trimmed as needed to keep a crisp outline once established.
The Finished Look
The transformation is striking. The sundial now stands proudly in the centre, framed by fragrant roses and a lush green halo of evergreen Ilex Crenata. In bloom, it will be a picture of timeless elegance - simple, structured, and full of charm.
It will be exciting to see this next year once the roses and evergreen border have filled out.
Final Thoughts
Restoring a garden feature like this is as much about restraint as it is about planting. By choosing one rose variety and pairing it with a subtle evergreen frame, we’ve created a space that will look beautiful for years to come - and be easy to maintain.
If you have a garden feature that needs a little vision and care, we’d love to help you bring it back to life.
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