Zyperiris, I grow about 30 Of the Austin roses over here near Seattle. Mine were going downhill over time until in frustration I build two raised beds elevated 16" and filled them with 3-way garden mix and compost. In the 2 years since they have greatly improved in health and vigor! The only one I Can think of that I got rid of was a pale pink one that grew very tall and always balled from the moisture...will think of the name soon I hope (Geofrey someone?). Oh yes, I put my beloved Abraham Darby in a back corner because he just DID NOT show off well on the arbor down the center of my garden. His foliage was ugly and the flowers never last long then hang like old gray tissue. But when he is gorgeous he is phenomenal, and adore his pink grapefruit scent! At my previous house he climbed up into a flowering crabapple and was a traffic stopper! Jude the Obscure has done fabulous in the raised bed. and his color is much more yellow then when growing in our native soil. William Morris is a MONSTER...He wants to be at least 8' by 8' even when cut back hard! And the flowers do not last at all as cut flowers nor to they have a fragrance...but he sure is pretty when in bloom! Queen of Sweden is coming along now in her 3rd year. Munstead Woods...I Am WILD about the flowers on this one! Its one of my newest. Love Tamora, Sharifa Asma for their fragrances. Lady of Shallot and Lady Emma HAmilton were both pretty this year for first bloom then dropped their leaves and are regrowing them now. THey are both still settling in.So is Claire Austin. Her stems are pretty droopy still, but the white flowers are beautiful. I think in another year or two she will be a favorite. Graham Thomas, Teasing Georgia, And Windrush are other beauties for me. I really love Windrush when she blooms. I got rid of Othello this year...loved the fragrance but they nearly always had Vegetative centers and diseased leaves. I have other older ones I have lost the names to (Probably all pink ones) and especially since moving them wonder what the heck I have! Oh yes, I can comment on James Galway. I put him on a back fence and kind of ignored him and then am struck by the beauty of the roses when they bloom. THey shade from pale on the outside petals to deep rose in the middle...a lovely effect. Ugly leaves though. I do not spray any of my roses unless Hubby hits them with copper spray when he does the peach tree in late winter...didn't happen this year. Some have diseased leaves but are not planted in prominant positions. I visit them, enjoy their flowers and then move on. Benjamon Britton is another one who's flowers light up the landscape, a lovely deep coral raspberry. CHarles Darwin look a bit like yellow kleenex drooping on the branches. NOt sure it will be a keeper for me...maybe one more year to prove its worth.

After all the wonderful suggestions above I have decided we should all just gather at my place and plot my garden over a few bottles of wine. Woo hoo! Sammy: Appreciate the good thoughts on the downsides of growing a hedge and managing knockouts. I will definitely check out the rose you mentioned. Hartwood: Thanks for the kinds words about our little house. It is really quite petite but we really enjoy it. What you say about the fence makes sense. I actually have a new arbor in the back yard I would like to move. Being shaded by my Willow tree therefore not ideal for rose growing in that location. In the front it would be great. Anne-Lise: I like your idea of doing the fence a chunk at a time. Maybe I could just get some prices and then I would know how daunting the actual price tag would be. Harry: Well you folks have me thinking now that perhaps I am looking at our very naked front yard in too linear of a fashion:) I like the idea of a real garden out there after it being bare for so long. Plus planning a whole new garden will give me something to obsess over all winter! You're all great. Thank you for your suggestions. Kate

Kate, thank you for your pictures. I love that Queen of Sweden hedge. It's beautiful. But in my blackspot-incubator of a yard, it would be challenged, I think. Home Run looks like a bush of impatiens! Terryjean, I wish I lived by you. I'd love to see all these roses up close. Would sure make the decision on which to use much easier. And then we can go figure out where Pappu lives too and haunt his yard. But I live in Nebraska, so no can do. Rather than narrowing down my list, I now have 4 on the list: Carefree Wonder Carefree Beauty Earthsong Country Dancer I'm thinking that I may just have to plant a specimen of each in my yard this spring and wait 2-3 seasons to see what develops. It'll delay things, but at least I won't make a costly mistake for all to see in the front yard. I did that once, at my parents' when I was 16. I wanted a rose hedge even then. But I went about it totally wrong. Rather than planting all one varieties (or at least sports of one variety), I decided to mix plant Bourbons with Hybrid Perpetuals with Austins. What a mess. The Bourbons died off. The Hybrid Perpetuals died back below graft (I didn't know about own root then) and these giant roses sprang from the rootstock. One of the rootstock roses is like a tree, at least 8 X 8 every year. Then I was told that we should hedge with rugosas, so I planted rugosas in place of the dead Bourbons. Now my dad can't mow around that "hedge" b/c of the giant rootstock rose, and can't go near the middle b/c of the thorny as hell rugosas. Oh, and the Eglantyne that was supposed to stay short at the start of the hedge is now 6' tall. At various points, my salvage attempts have brought in raspberry bushes and other nonsensical additions to try and make this hedge work. It's a living reminder, to this day, of my failure at hedging. I don't want to fail again, that's why this decision is so angst-ridden and full of uncertainty for me.

What fun to see this thread pop up again. Kristine, your Julia in the photo above looks wonderful. My own root Julia, which was one year old (a bit above in the photos) is a lot bigger, but nowhere near as large as the two grafted Julias in front (I've grown them since 2006 or so--the year they were first sold). What I've noticed with the own root is that it does not bloom nearly as much as the grafted roses, and the blooms are somewhat smaller. The growth habit is beautiful and own root Julia requires little pruning. But my gardening friend, and superb grower of roses, will probably take own root Julia for her garden. I need the space for my only plant of Rouge Royale, currently growing out in the middle of nowhere, and I want to see RR in a flower bed. It's always in bloom. So, it may be byebye to own root Julia. As for the two old grafted Julias, they are bigger than even and totally healthy. They are at least 7 feet tall and very wide--in spite of lots of pruning in spring, which takes forever because of the number of canes. These Julias have more canes than any other rose in my garden. Here are some pics from 2021. Diane