Felicia sounds it doesnÂt take up alot of width...is that correct? That would be fine. I donÂt have to have a climber on both sides of the porch. I can have Cornelia on one side and if Felicia doesnÂt want to Âclimb on the other that would be fine, unless it is going to grow really wide and bushy. That might be a problem. It could just stand up in front of the corner of the porch and be okay. I may plant a vine to one side of it to climb up the corner of the porch and fill in a bit of the space visually. New Dawn being a house eater is perfectly fine. I think. LOL! It will be against the back of a garage that is 25' wide and has nothing yet planted there. I would like to espalier it against the wall if that is possible. I do really like the look of an espaliered rose more than a huge bushy one that is completely eating a structure. ThatÂs just my personal preference. Is it possibly to control that effect with a rose that tends to get bushy by limiting the number of canes and training accordingly? Or is that just going to stunt its growth? 2-3' feet from the house sounds like alot, but I would guess it really isnÂt once the rose has grown after a couple of years. IÂll take this advise seriously and plant accordingly. I do want to be able to pull them away for any maintenance. My husband is very concerned about that, so he will be thrilled if I plant them farther from the house rather than closer. I plant to use something like eyebolts? to attach the roses to the house. I will certainly try to give them enough slack to breathe and move a bit. All of this is somewhat difficult as I am a very visual person. It would be great if I could stand in someone elseÂs yard and see an established rose growing exactly like I want to grow mine and plant accordingly. Since that is not likely to happen right now, I will just do as best I can with guessing. I have done a ton of research but nothing is as good as actually being there. You just really canÂt tell from pictures and I am sure that they are usually taken to show everything at its best and not the real mechanics of planting. Also, one side of the front of my house gets quite a bit more shade than the other. I am planting Celine Forestier, Gruss an aachen & Cornelia on that side because it sounds like they can do well in partial shade. I know they wonÂt do as well as they would in the sun, but they should do okay? Barring any success with some of these roses, I can always move them to another location. Correct? I am trying to make the most informed decisions possible, but I know that there are bound to be mistakes along the way and that is just part of gardening. Better to have planted and lost than to have never planted at all....which is what I have been doing for years, so I am ready to really dig in and try. Thanks so much!!! Angela

ideally, outside the 'drip line' which allows you to have access to the house when you need it (like to paint, or wash windows) though part of it depends on your soil, part of it depends on your foundation, and part of it on your gutter/eaves set up. I have hostas and corydalis living in the 'hell strip' under our eaves, and haven't had a water retention problem- but I also don't water them, the seem to live just fine on what splashes on to them from the walkway.

Welcom, Soxi! Thanks for posting the photos; they really help. I would agree with those that suggested that you plant on both sides of your entry sidewalk. Your walkway will go through the garden instead of being the edge of the garden. Over the years, I've yet to make a garden too wide, but I've often had to widen them. I've also had to whack things away from the house so it could be painted, so I'd suggest leaving a minimum of 2-3 feet between where the plant's width will be at 10 years (the usual info given for mature size, though most will get larger) and the house. I also don't like the look of plants lined up - I prefer having layers of plants, and I include bulbs, shrubs, vines and perennials to provide a longer season of interest, so bed depth is needed for that. I try to include at least some hardscape (like a trellis, birdbath, etc) or evergreens in most of my gardens so that there is some visual interest between when the first frost kills most of the foliage and when everything is buried in snow (or in years like last year with little snow, for most of the winter.) As Mad Gallica mentioned, often this period is several months of the year, so anything I can do to make March and November and any other snowless months less dismal outside, is all to the good. This isn't a foundation bed, but this could be done on a smaller basis in a your beds. A good chunk of its interest is year-round, and the evergreens and trellises add interest as background and support for the flowers in the growing season as well as providing all the interest during the 6 or 7 months in the non-growing season. From December 2010 In laying out the shape of the beds, be sure that they are easy to mow - don't make those inner curves too tight. I use the black plastic edging buried up to the top bead just outside of the bricks which edge my beds; the grass hides it and it keeps the grass from growing between the bricks. The lawnmower wheels run on the bricks and the blade misses the plastic edging, so a separate pass to edge the bed isn't needed. While I don't find the plastic aesthetically pleasing, it does reduce maintenance without being too obvious. Here's a photo of a bed edged this way, and you really can't see the plastic. From June 5, 2012 As a relative beginner to gardening, it's easy to get caught up in just the flowers, but also try to think about foliage. Varied leaf shape, color, and texture will add to the appeal of your garden even when there isn't a lot in bloom. Check to see if any of your plants have nice autumn colors. Try to plant so that you have at least some plants in bloom all through the season as well. The annuals will help with that, but also try to spread out your shrub and perennial bloom.

Ok, hmm...not much love for the newspaper idea :-) I went and researched plants for dry shade. There is a great resource from U. Minnesota titled 'The best plants for 30 tough sites'. Aside: There's also this funny one on the pervasiveness of insanely huge yews :-) Yardvaark - I'll take a picture of my tree - when I get off work these days, it's too dark!. It's actually been limbed up a fair bit. I'm *guessing* that the shade isn't that deep. Also, my neighbour opposite's silver maple (also MASSIVE) came down mid-summer last year and that created a lot more light. Lacyvale: I included the geranium macrorhizum in my list. I put together a montage of the plants, below. Are there too many different plants? I have about 8x30=240 sf to cover. The plants are: Back: - taunton yew (the most bullet-proof one I could find) Middle: - giant verigated solomon's seal - fringed bleeding heart (dicentra eximia) -cushion spurge (U. Minn. says it works in shade...very good for dry conditions) Front: - macrorrhizum geranium -lamium (deadnettle) - epimedium rebrum - Ajuga 'burgundy glow' - Hellbore niger (these are sooo pretty, and not common here) - bergenia cordiflora Maybe I should pick 5 types or something like that?