I again want to thank all of you who have replied to my post. You have given me wonderful ideas and suggestions for climbing roses. I would like to respond to each post individually but I can't figure out how this forum allows for that. It seems like I can only respond to all or I can email the post. Anyways, I thought I would post a few photos of the area that I'm working with. I have a very large yard for Santa Clara and this is the only remaining area that has no purpose except for being an oversized doggy bathroom. It's about 45' long x 18' wide. I have planted some pink jasmine along the back fence and I have four arches that I want to grow roses over. The arches are about 8-9' high. I was gonna plant some type of climbing rose along the back fence but I decided to go with that pink jasmine. If i could intermix some climbing roses with the ping jasmine, that would be very cool but I need some suggestions. Something pink with nice foliage that doesn't need to be pruned to the ground every year would be ideal. I also want to plant a low climber for the black fence. It is about 3.5' high. The back fence is south facing. Down on the far end is an apple tree and its on the west side of the yard. This whole area receives a lot of sunlight during spring, summer and fall. In the winter, about half of the yard has direct sunlight all day long. Lastly, I'm looking for a shade tolerant climbing rose if it exists to grow over the metal fencing that surrounds my garbage cans. This area is in the shade is up against a north facing wall. Thanks in advance, VC This post was edited by videocheez on Tue, Feb 5, 13 at 23:41

Wow Kristi - that is a gorgeous amaryllis. I thought I was getting a white double for christmas but when it bloomed I got a double red with white stripes. I think its called Promise. I guess someone put the wrong bulbs in boxes. I planted the large bulb as soon as I opened it and put it outside on the deck where it has been since. We had one of the coldest winters on record here. Many nights below freezing. Its the chill that sets the flower - so I am told. The cold temps must be good for many plants as I had the best blooms on my orchid cactus and clivia as well. My amaryllis is now in bloom and is gorgeous. I have another post on here with pics. It grew 2 thick stalks and one had 4 large blooms on it and the other had 3 on it. I just wish it would give me some pollen to do a cross with another plant. Stay patient Dave and you will get a beautiful flower from it sometime. I still want a white double amaryllis tho. Russ

"In a word, yes. A good landscape architect would never recommend this." I have to disagree with this :-) Color - as in flower color - is approached differently in the garden based on client wishes. Landscape design recognizes multiple types of color schemes and all have validity: monochromatic, analogous, complimentary, primary, pastel and riotous. 'Riotous' is closest to the color scheme being considered here and is seen in many designed landscapes, like the mixed perennial borders at Great Dixter. Even Japanese style gardens, highly designed and planned landscapes, will use shrubs and trees with multiple flower colors together (think flowering azaleas), as flowering is not the basis of the design. The form and layout is. As one landscape design text states: "There is no right or wrong when it comes to color in the garden. Color choices are a matter of personal taste." To be honest, designers seldom take flower color into consideration when planning a design - unless they are designing a perennial border. The reason for that is flowers tend to be very transitory and so color derived from flowers tends to be very fleeting. As mentioned above, the primary concern is given to plant shape and form and foliage color and texture. Flowers are considered an added bonus but not the major design issue. Most shrubs have a rather short bloom cycle and it is unusual for all the flowering shrubs in a landscape to be in bloom at the same time....another reason why flower color is very tertiary to the design process. If the client or homeowner does favor a shrub with an extended bloom season - like the Knockout roses - then selecting another flowering shrub that compliments/accents/contrasts with their coloring is always a good idea. But what that color should be is a personal choice, nothing necessarily governed by design rules. There are definitely design considerations to be made when considering a planting area, especially one that is adjacent to an entry. Scale, balance, a more or less uniform year round appearance and the shape, form, texture and foliage color as mentioned above. It is usually considered best to limit the number of plant choices involved and plant at least smaller specimens in multiples. Too many single plant choices (without repeating) just makes the design look busy and lack cohesion. And if you have a limited pallet with suitable repetition, then it is very unlikely that you will have too many potentially distracting flower colors at any given time.

Ken has always been an advocate of the DIY method of learning...and he is right inasmuch as it is usually the failures which stick in our minds...and offer the most potent lessons in gardening. When you have murdered a few thousand innocent plants, you truly assess just what you are (or should be) doing. I remember hearing Roy Lancaster, a first rate plant discoverer and gardener, bemoaning his many, many failed attempts to breed and grow a particular mahonia...and finally concluding that there are mysterious life forces which resist our efforts to replicate conditions...because the skein of life is interdependent...and always more complex than soil acidity, light levels, heat and water (the stuff we can control). I have certainly sown seeds which will only germinate when sown in situ, not too far from the mother plant, and have to conclude that it requires certain bacteria, fungi and stimulation from an already existing community...which is not likely to be found in a pot of sterile seed mix. Led me down some interesting pathways - most notably, a tendency to throw a handful of 'live' soil from under the trees in my local graveyard or collected on the allotment, just to kickstart some micro-life. Totally unscientific and wild guesswork - as valid a method as any in gardening. Apols for rambling. Last weekend of 6Nations Rugby so sat at PC wasting time instead of being outside having at it.