My clay soil is hard like Jeri's - we used a heavy-duty rototiller and the rocks in the ground broke it. We trashed the rototiller given by my Mom from her farm. I tried amending my soil everyway possible: big pile of coarse sand, tons of peatmoss, free mulch and free horse manure. The time and energy spent breaking harden clay wasn't worth it. Finally I ordered a big pile of dirt, less than $114 for 3 cubic yards, or 81 cubic feet. It was alkaline clay but at least it's fluffy, no rocks, and no weeds. Dirt is cheap, and saved me time breaking up hard ground. This year I ordered Suncast 8-panel Raised Garden Kit, it has 8 panels, dark brown resin. You click them together to make any shape you want: square, rectangle, etc. Each panel is 4 feet long. So you can make 2 raised square boxes with 4 panels, or 1 big raised garden with 8 panels. It's $100 delivered to your door from HomeDepo. It takes 10 minutes to put together. The wooden ones are half the price, but they rot in my rainy weather, so I opted for resin. The Suncast raised bed kit for $100 would hold 8 roses. If you work with peat moss make sure you wear a mask. Years ago I breath in peat moss, had pneumonia, coughed up blood, tons of X-rays, a Bronchoscopy, and a medical bill of over $4,000 - insurance paid all, but it was a waste of time with countless trips for X-rays. If you work with horse manure, get your tetanus shot updated every 5 years, rather than 10 years, as Prevention Magazine recommended. Getting tetanus shot from the County Health is faster ($24 charge here), versus going through the doctor's office. In my 12 years of gardening in hard clay, believe me, it's easier to order a pile of dirt, and put in a raised bed. I did the other hard way too: hauling 30 bags of 40 lbs. topsoil from HomeDepo, busted my car's shocks. I don't think the garden was worth the car's repair bill. It was time-consuming to open each bag of soil.

Your rose looks similar to a rose in the Sacramento Cemetery, our found rose, "Dr Peck's 12th Avenue Smoothie" is thornless, once blooming. Very fragrant. This found rose is thought to be the same as the Charles Lawson in commerce. Below is a link to a photo I took in the cemetery a few years ago. I liked this rose so much that I propagated it and planted it in my yard even though it is a once bloomer. It is quite vigorous and now takes up the back corner along the fence. Here is a link that might be useful: Dr Peck's 12th Ave Smoothie/Charles Lawson

Joan, I hope your porch doesn't face north--meaning there is considerable shade in that area. Roses are sunlovers. But you may already know that. The only red shrub I know that would give true red and that lush full look you want is Braveheart--which I absolutely love. However,it might need occasional spraying for blackspot, although, as a whole, it has good disease-resistance. Since red is a terribly difficult color to catch accurately with a camera, let me assure you that Braveheart is a red red--in fact, a somewhat dark rich red. No purple or orange or cherry pink overtones. The blooms are big, full, and long-lasting, and the re-bloom is good. My one problem with it is that some canes put out so many big blooms that the whole cane starts sinking towards the ground, but I just find a convenient twig in the yard with a v-notch at one end and prop it under the really heavy-blooming canes. The twigs can hardly be seen at all because of the full green foliage. Kate Here is a link that might be useful: Braveheart at helpmefind

@Alfie I can confirm that is 'Gipsy Boy' [name as sold in UK].. she [Carol Bruce] posted an image of it on her facebook page with the name. I haven't grown it myself, I've only seen it in gardens. Jenny Barnes is the lady on the Gardens Illustrated link, who pioneered this type of rose training, which is now being much copied - all too complicated for me at my age but younger generation may like to try.. @ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 Oh hi Ingrid, lovely to see you too !.. and other familiar friends.. it's been a long time for me as well, health issues getting in the way like it does for many of us.. Keep well everyone..