Thanks, everyone, for the encouragements to plant now if my soil is ready! Connie - from reading this board over the past several months I was led to your blog and discovered all you are up to just down the road from me. Back in the spring I think you were going to be giving a talk that I even considered attending --- but I didn't. My spring was very unexpectedly interrupted by my husband having to do a business trip to Hawaii, so I spent all of May and part of June with him there. This definitely set me back time wise in my yard work and I'm just getting back into it. (I'm only complaining a little bit). My new house is surrounded by woods, and I don't have very many sunny spots available to grow the "thousands" of roses I'd like to. I have basically a couple of spots in the front to greet my visitors, and two in the back - one smaller one (100 sq ft) is already "gardenized", and waiting, and the other "main" spot is the one I've been working on, and it's prominently visible from my back windows. It backs up to the woods, but gets full southern sun shining on it. It's been weeds and unkept, so I've been getting rid of the overgrowth and bringing in truckloads of top soil and compost. It's about 350 sq. ft, with about that much more available when/if I want to spread the borders later on. My main concern - other than getting enough sun - has been deer. They act like our very own outdoor pets. I've been experimenting with Liquid Fence on the other deer food plants in the garden, which has been working well ... and I just bought Sweeny's dried blood disc-things, but haven't put them out yet. I'm kinda scared about this aspect of wanting to have a yard full of roses. QUESTION (to all who have masses - hundreds or more - of roses): When you plant so many - the DA garden you planted last year,and your field of roses - do you put thought into "what goes where" design wise (co-ordinating colors? sizes? types?)? Or do you just "plant", and it all just looks great ---- because they ARE roses after all! I've bought these so far: Therese Bugnet (hoping to put them in some of my semi-sun places) Living Easy Buff Beauty 1 Crepesecule 1 Garden Sun 1 Compassion Since Heirloom is having a free shipping sale right now, I took the opportunity to order these, and they are on their way to me: Easy Does It Peace (Have mostly gotton away from HT, but this is a special love of mine) Martin Frobisher Heritage Julia Child (simply based on so many recommending it) Others I plan on getting first thing next year are: Borderer Belinda's Dream Bonica Well Being I ordered 1 - 3 of each, to "try". As I figure out which ones work best here in the yard I hope to follow up by ordering more for mini mass plantings. (Also - I am afraid of the deer overtaking my plants and best efforts). Back in the late '90s I first started growing roses - all were showy HT. I got my feet wet with them -- and learned some basics about fertilizer, blackspot, JAPANESE BEETLES!, etc. But, we moved away from that house soon after, and weren't living where I could have my own gardens. Now I"m resettled, and hope to bring Rose Love back into my life. Thanks for asking! (For my shady areas I'm concentrating on planting either Rhododendrons or Hydrangea).

Lilyfinch, we moved here 14 years ago. The first two to three years were basically demolition. The previous owners, of Finnish origin from Minnesota, had, reputedly, wanted to make it "look like Minnesota" (okaaaaaay....) and had planted more than 30 trees in the backyard (including the navel orange tree, oddly and severely pruned to a sculpted topiary-esque shape from which it has thankfully now recovered, various cedars, including Deodar, a dozen paperbark birches, a giant redwood and a smaller one, about a dozen privets -- don't get me started on privets -- a dwarf crape myrtle, and a couple of liquid ambers, and a central lawn, almost none of which looked healthy). You couldn't even see the now 40'+ valley oak, which was a suppressed tree of about 8' height. There was also the great old pepper tree that probably dates from the earlier homestead from which this housing development was derived (there is an old, ranch-type dump up in that corner where the pepper tree is where I often dig up old crockery ca. 1900 - 1950). The back hillside was 1/3 prostrate rosemary and 2/3 of that vile (invasive, ground-poisoning) mesembryanthemum ice plant of brilliant magenta purple that literally hurts your eyes, but there were also some Grevillea, a few Ceanothus, and a couple of good native toyon and (stab to this restoration ecologist's heart) an invasive gorse. The other hillside, with Mrs. B.R. Cant etc. on it, was all English ivy and white oleanders with terrible scale around the ugliest large Deodar cedar I have ever seen (they are usually quite handsome). I either personally removed, or had removed, all of it, except the orange tree, the heritage pepper tree, the valley oak, the crape myrtle, and some of the more appropriate native/Medit. shrubs. So, the oldest roses are about 12 years old and most are 10 years or younger, including the 'Comtesse du Cayla'. That "Florence Bowers' Pink Tea" is just going on five years in the ground, from a gallon-size plant. Roses, and other plants, grow fast here.

I agree Sheila, and I garden completely organically. A garden as popular as the H. could do its part to reawaken interest in old roses instead of putting out the same modern roses that people are already familiar with. There would be so much more variety in height, type of blooms and foliage and growth habit, which would (in my view) make for a much more interesting and stimulating garden. The tea roses would do wonderfully well there, as would the short Bourbons, Chinas and polyanthas, not to mention climbers like Lamarque, Reve d'Or, etc. Perhaps they do have some of these, but the pergola seemed to have mostly modern roses on it.

Janaina, in spite of what you say your garden is lovely. Would love to see more photos. I'm sorry that it wasn't what you wanted it to be; with so much bad weather going around it seems that was the case in quite a few instances. Modest Goddess, so many wonderful additional pictures. My favorites are still Bolero, Star of the Republic and Plum Perfect, although Cream Veranda, Quicksilver and Purple Skyliner definitely caught my eye. I love how the different roses are closely planted to create a lovely garden picture.