dinosaur1, It's hard to see the canes because they mix in with the background of your soil/mulch. Some of those canes look dead to me, but, hard to tell from the the pics. Do you know anyone in your area that grows roses, that could take a look at them and maybe share there expertise with you on pruning, etc. ?

There is a housing development down the road from me that installed a very long section of what looks to be flower carpet white roses, if not they are a similar groundcover type of rose. For some reason half of the length is tended, the roses are pruned, fertilized, and mulched once a year, and the other half is left to it's own devices. The half that is tended blooms way more and looks way better than the other half, so I definitely would say these type of roses are 'less care' not 'no care.' I have a couple of scarlet flower carpet roses because I liked the bright color, they do well with less water and pruning than my other roses and the leaves are always healthy and green. As to the idea that one has to choose between a garden or children, I think that it's ridiculous. When I was little I spent hours in the garden with my Mom, she showed me everything that was safe to eat and I would wander around trying things out and generally having a good time. There was a movie few years ago that documented the first year of life of four different babies, one American, one Japanese, one Mongolian, and one Namibian. The conclusion of the photographer was that benign neglect is highly underrated in our society. Children need to be cared for, but spending some time on their own to discover who they are is also important. And a garden is a great place to begin that sort of independent exploration, especially with a Mom weeding close by to keep an eye on them. Caveat, I have no children and therefore no real right to speak on the matter. Lastly, I don't know if it's because I live in such a great place to garden or what, but I see no deficit of gardeners and gardens in my area. The nurseries are always crowded on weekends, and when I go to get plants for my own garden I usually see young parents with little ones in tow. Especially in the vegetable section, it seems like there are a lot of families around here that are getting more and more interested in exposing their children to where food comes from at a young age. Trends always change, right now people may have moved away from gardening but it's only a matter of time before the pendulum swings back in the other direction.

Your parterre sounds so lovely! I have a suggestion for the roses that you can find in Europe but not so well here any more. They are the Poulsen groundcover series that was called Towne & Country roses. I have grown two of them for years (Pebble Beach and Natchez), and they are very special groundcovers, imho. You can definitely cut them shorter and they will still bloom profusely. The foliage is miniature and perfect! They bloom in a ton of shade for anyone who needs that, which I do. The flowers aren't as big as the ones you are considering, though. They are very charming and just great roses, so I thought I'd mention them. The effect is like a miniature version of The Fairy. The names used vary, so check them out on Help Me Find. I'd probably check for Poulsen groundcover roses at any nursery you are considering and look them up to see if they are part of this series, because the marketing on these seems all over the map. More in the series whose names I remember: http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.3840.4 http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.24749.3 They spread sideways but no so much up. Groundcovers like to get very tall here, so the low growth is nice. They are just the best roses! Here is a link that might be useful: Pebble Beach (Poulen Towne & Country series)

I don't know what zone you are in, estraya. That will have a great deal to do with when your roses will go dormant. If you are in zone 6 or lower you will probably want to use some kind of winter protection. There are a number of methods for this from those white rose cones (which I do not recommend) to mulching of various types. Also in colder climates we don't usually fertilize after August. Fertilizer promotes new growth that will not have time to harden off (age) before there is a killing freeze. They recommend discontinuing deadheading too for the same reason but I, personally, cannot stop myself from doing so. I hate a messy bed but that's just me. I do not cut mine back in the fall, unless they are extremely tall and then I only cut them down to the average height in the bed, 3 to 4 feet ususally. I found that if I cut them back in the fall I still had cane die back in the spring so I had to cut them even further and was left with nothing but stumps which took much longer to get to bloom in the spring. In milder winters I've had very little die back and had blooms by mid May. In very cold winters I lost some cane but after spring pruning was still left with a good size plant to start the season out with. For climbers I do not prune in the fall ever. Any really long canes cane be staked and tied to protect them from whipping around and being damaged by high winds. In the spring you will be able to tell how far any of your roses will need to be cut to. You will see new growth beginning to show on the canes. When you cut to that growth if the center of the cane (called the pith) is white you've cut to good wood. If it is tan or brown you need to cut further until you reach good white pith even if you are cutting off what looks like new growth. If the center of the cane is dieing it will not support that new growth for long. I think you should go to the American Rose Society web site. On there you can get in touch with a Consulting Rosarian from your area or find a rose society in your area that you can get local information from. They will be better able to tell you about the timing of all this for your zone. They will also know more about what types of protect work well and are available locally. BTW, you've picked some really beautiful roses, your home and your garden are lovely and your roses look very healthy and happy. Great Job!