That's when I started planting ones I could live without, or without daily contact with, at relatives' houses. Those which I could really do without, went to friends and neighbors. A few really offensive ones went into the trash. Kim

Dig up things 4 or more years older that have disappointed me.

Jeri

I moved to Italy and bought a farm.
Melissa

If you still have grass somewhere then you're not out of space. Otherwise I would evaluate every single rose and determine whether you really love it and can't live without it. If you're just neutral about it, it might be time to pass it on to someone else and put in a new one you're really crazy about.

reclaim the pavement/sidewalk, start sequestering a few discreet public areas, tiered staging is your friend, shed roofs become appropriate planting areas and yep, not one blade of grass can remain to take the place of much more interesting plants.

I moved to a house with 1.5 acres.

Welcome to our problem, Vettin. Although Melissa and Catsrose have offered you my favorite solutions, in the short run the most practical advice comes from Ingrid and Campanula: you may have more space than you realize.
Think like a kitchen planner -- except for the garden. Take a hard but very outside-the-box look at your grounds. You may want to get a second -- or third -- pair of eyes involved. When you've been looking at the same patch of ground for years, often others will see opportunities we do not.
And Campanula is also right in that the space you find doesn't necessarily have to be your own. I would only add that many cities and towns have community gardens. Most folks grow vegetables in them, but I'm sure your roses would be more than welcome.
Kay

When out of space: redefine "space". I am continually thinking I have NO MORE ROOM but yes there really is more room, just takes creativity and an open mind.
I have a very small lot that lost 12 feetX50 feet when the previous owner pavered over that amount that used to be lawn.

My motto=Less grass, more roses.
If the roses aren't coming in the windows (like Briar Rose fairy tale) you have room for more.

Denise

One of my rose mentors had the most creatively designed small rose garden that I have ever encountered. She has 125 roses planted in a 1/4 acre standard subdivision yard. Her beds are an undulating mixture of everything from climbers to miniatures. Climbers are on the outside, small shrubs on the inside, and everything grows together to make a wonderful garden. Believe it or not, she has a front lawn (as dictated by the HOA) and there is a small lawn in the backyard for her dog, and there are roses in every other space she can manage.

For another example ... have you been to Olga's garden? Same story, even smaller yard.

The hard reality is this: when you TRULY run out of room, there are hard decisions to be made. You have to remove roses that are underperforming or that don't please you, or you stop adding roses to the collection. It's that simple. Even with my seemingly-infinite amount of room here, I have run out of prepared space ... so roses are living in pots a lot longer than I want them to, and I have to seriously evaluate any rose that I buy from now on.

Space management is an issue, no matter what size garden you have. This is the time when rose gardening becomes a bit more challenging.

Connie

What do I do? I keep on buying, and put them in containers on my deck. Of course I have to leave some room for people/furniture, but the roses come first.

Vettin, I live in zone 6b too. Last winter I put 3 containers in the garage and they are doing fabulously. Before I put them in the garage, I made collars out of newspaper (I stapled the ends together around the rose) and piled potting soil around the base of the rose. That did the trick. I was amazed that any plant could survive the horrible winter we had here in NY, but they surprised me.

What everybody has said. In order to regain some credibility on this subject, let me say that when I lived in Washington state I lived in a neighborhood on a normal sized lot, about 1/6 acre, and by the time I moved I had about 95 roses in my yard. I did have a bit of lawn, parking, and a good many other plants (only a couple of trees, though, and not big ones). And my roses were many of them fairly hefty shrubs. My addition to the excellent advice offered here is to mention what Henry Mitchell pointed out: that the garden is three dimensional, and one space you may not have yet colonized with roses is that above your head. Trellises, pergolas, obelisks, arches, and ramblers and climbers ascending trees.
Melissa

Pots aren't as hard as you think. I winter mine outside with protection and they do great. I think I'm up to 60 pots now!

I find odd corners of our driveway or other paved areas that are in the sun, and aren't really needed. Then I convince my DH to dig up the asphalt, down to dirt, and we amend that dirt. Then we buy a half wine barrel, cut lots of large holes in the bottom of it (or just a circle slightly smaller than the wine barrel bottom), place it over the dirt circle, and plant a rose in it! I have a Buff Beauty planted like that that has climbed up 4 feet, then along a fence covered in other roses about 7 feet, and then it hit the wall of our house and has gone up that another 6-8 feet, and is still climbing!

Jackie

Jackie, your Buff Beauty sounds astonishing. Pictures?

Ingrid

When you run out of space, you make choices. As I see it, those choices are replacing roses, stop acquiring new roses, or expand the space available.

What I hope you do not do is eliminate everything except roses. Monoculture is an invitation to disease.

Also, it is also not the best idea to crowd them in too closely. Particularly in a humid climate, that also increases disease pressure.

In my opinion, it is better to have a garden of a moderate number of healthy roses you really love than it is to have every rose that catches your eye crammed in together in constant need of life support intervention.

But it is your garden. You get to decide.

Rosefolly

seil, how do you winter your roses outside? how do you protect them? my garage doesn't have all that much space so I'd love to be able to leave some outside.

I was thinking of asking my neighbor if I could leave some pots under her porch.

I actually still have "space" if you go by the definition of those above. I still have some lawn. My wife wants it and I like making her happy--even if it's at the expense of garden space.

When I filled up the amount of garden space that made DW happy, I started a garden at my church. It's like sharing my passion with a whole new group of people. I wish I had thought of it years ago. Maybe a church or a local park will let you plant there. Think about it.

I've been going vertically. I've also been finding areas that don't seem to have much going on, and I am re-doing them.

I donated some to a church I pass, I donated some to a nursing home I sent a few to Brooklyn Botanical Gardens/ Voila space.
Since I garden in a community Garden I sometimes make a gift to new members who can't say no!

View1ny, I don't have a garage! And the only rose that goes into the shed for winter is my tree rose. Everything else winters outside against the back (south facing) wall of my house wrapped in burlap and packed with leaves. I've been doing this for 6 years now and have lost only a handful of pot roses. I've actually lost more roses in the ground than in the pots. This photo was taken January 23, 2011.
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I lost one mini rose in the pots this year. The little greenhouse has all of my own rose seedlings from previous years in it. Out of 155 seedlings in 12oz. plastic drinking cups I lost 11. I really need to pot them up to something bigger!

I'm adding shade plants, like hydrangeas and winter hardy camellias.

I found that when my garden got officially full I still had that strong yen for more roses, but after a little time passed I got it "under control" - at least by rosaholic standards. It's funny. I often peruse the online nursery websites, and I can't really find any that I want - right now. Of course, I bought 4 or 5 in February and 5 or 6 last November, and there's a tea rose I want pretty bad now. In November that many moved out to make room. In February I moved one from the ground into a pot and likewise put some babies in big pots. Plus it does seem inevitable that a few roses each year have one problem or another and have to go. It's called attrition. I have a vacancy right now. You can replace with another rose - or not. I'm choosing not for the time being. I'm down to 91 and may soon be under 90 on .17 acre - no grass. I am thankful that my DH won't jackhammer any of the driveway for me. I really don't think I could bear to add another one. Roses are wonderful but can be tiring.

Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: If only sweat were irrigation...

seil, thanks for posting that pic. It appears that you attached the burlap to posts to make a fence. I had thought that you wrapped each plant in burlap. Did you put leaves between the pots to insulate?

thanks for any info. you understand that if there's a way I can keep roses on the deck (rather than the garage) over winter, I can run out and buy more roses since there's plenty of room on the deck.

Thank you for all the ideas. The roses are too young for me to sp. More acreage isn't an option right now. I do like the idea of pots but always thought I would kill them. Seil could you tell me more about where to find that greenhouse, and if the south side has a shady overhang is that ok or does it need to be full sun? Thank you. One thing I could go is dig up and pot smaller ones that have struggled for too long and plant others there, and defer the issue until the potted roses have grown enough to go back in the ground.....what I really mean is pot up the ones that I like but don't love to make room for others

Now, view1ny, I'm not saying you should go hog wild or anything...but...I'm trying to do my part to bolster the flagging rose nurseries and economy, lol!

Vettin, we got the little greenhouse at ACO Hardware but I also know it's available at Spray-n-grow's web site and other places. I don't know what you mean by a shady overhang. There is a standard overhang along our wall but it does get full sun (what little there is in winter here) all day. I do dig out under performers and pot them up to see if they'll improve and replace them with newer or stronger ones. I'm terrible at shovel pruning. I figure if they manage to live through the winter who am I to toss them out. I have a soft heart. But if something is still a dog after going in a pot, out it goes.

BTW, I have written a couple papers on how I do all the rose pots and winterizing. If anyone is interested in either of them I can email them to you.

seil, thanks so much for the pics and info. Your spring photo of all those roses blooming is magnificent, so I agree that all that hard work is worth it.

Like the OP, I too thought that I was running out of space. I'm not exactly sure how I ended up with 10 new roses, but they're on pots on my deck and I was wondering what I was going to do with them in Dec.

Now I know. Thanks again.

"I'm not exactly sure how I ended up with 10 new roses. . . . "
View1ny, that's the story of my gardening life.
As I was coming up the driveway with yet another rose in the trunk, I thought I would be sneaky and leave it in there and unload it when my DH wasn't looking.
He knows me all too well. "Lemme guess," he said. "He followed me home, can I keep him?"

Seil, I would appreciate the papers on the rose pots and winterizing. If you click my name in blue on this post, it will go to gardenweb - and one of the options is "send me an e-mail."

Thank you!

seil, could u pls send me an email as well with winterizing info?

onederw, I know just how u feel sneaking those roses in! I also feel funny with the neighbors watching me unload my latest purchases. They're wondering when I'm going to stop and I'm trying to work it all out.

Heck with the neighbors - they need to get their own life! Ahh - to be impassioned...

Veiw1ny, I need your email address to send you the papers. Click on my name and my email address is there. Thanks!