Opening the box on your first bare root rose is an exciting moment. Inside, you'll find a neat bundle of roots and sturdy stems, carefully packed and resting for winter. There are no leaves or flowers yet, and that is exactly as it should be. Everything your rose needs to grow, flourish and flower for years to come is already there, ready and waiting for spring. Getting to know each part of your rose, and what it does, makes planting simple and helps you give it the very best start.

Autumn brings a particular kind of morning. You pull on a favourite jumper, step outside and feel the cooler air on your face, and somehow the day feels a little clearer. Leaves gather beneath your feet, the soil smells rich and damp, and the low sun turns everything a soft shade of gold.

Sir David Beckham (Ausa34b16) is a rose shaped by natural beauty, quiet strength and a deeply personal story. Created to mark a milestone year and inspired by a touching request from Harper for her father’s 50th birthday, this remarkable new English Shrub Rose is rooted in something deeply meaningful, a living symbol of family, resilience and enduring love. Yet beyond the story behind its name, Sir David Beckham is, above all, a rose of great garden beauty and presence.

Autumn brings a distinct richness that invites us to slow down and notice the changes. Leaves turn shades of amber and gold, while the lower, softer light catches the borders in the late afternoon. As cooler mornings bring heavy dew and that unmistakable, earthy scent of damp soil, the garden gradually settles down for the season.

By the end of September, the rose garden is changing. The exuberance of summer is fading, and the rhythm of the season is slowing. Many English Roses are setting hips now, their once-constant flowers giving way to clusters of glowing fruits. Yet the borders need not feel diminished. With the right companions, roses can be framed and supported so that the garden still sings with colour, texture and grace well into autumn.

A rose in full flower can transform a garden. Large, many-petalled blooms draw the eye through a border, bring colour to a quiet corner or create a beautiful focal point when grown in a pot.

The fragrance of a rose is never quite fixed. Temperature, humidity, time of day and even the stage of the flower can all influence how its scent is released and experienced. As the warmth of summer begins to soften into autumn, cooler mornings and greater moisture in the air create different conditions for fragrance, and a familiar rose can reveal itself in a rather different way.

A red rose has a wonderfully compelling presence in the garden. Amongst a sea of green, even a glimpse of crimson catches the eye, drawing you closer for another look. Red can sometimes have a reputation for being difficult to use, particularly alongside softer colours. Yet the palette is far more varied than we might first imagine. From clear crimson to deep, velvety tones, red roses can bring warmth, richness and depth to a garden without overwhelming it.

There are few evenings quite like the Last Night of the Proms. Familiar melodies fill the Royal Albert Hall, the audience joins in and music heard and loved for generations is given fresh life once more. This year’s programme got us thinking about the curious connections between music, stories and the names of some of our roses. From Elgar and the Malvern Hills to Britain’s long relationship with the sea, each offers a thread to follow from the concert hall into the garden.

There is always room for another rose. When borders are full, the answer is often simply to look upwards. Climbing roses can transform arches, obelisks and pillars into wonderfully abundant garden features, bringing flowers and fragrance to eye level and above. They can tumble over an entrance, rise from the middle of a border or soften a simple post with foliage and bloom. And, with the right rose and a little thoughtful training, they need surprisingly little ground space to make quite an impression.

Rambling Roses have a natural affinity with trees. Their long, vigorous stems can be encouraged upwards into the branches, where they gradually weave through the canopy and open their flowers amongst the leaves. As the rose matures, the effect becomes increasingly natural, with great trusses of bloom appearing high above the ground and tumbling softly from the branches.

Yellow roses have a particular way of bringing light into the garden. From the palest lemon to rich, glowing gold, their colours can feel wonderfully inviting without necessarily being bold, illuminating a border much as sunshine does.