Research lots of it. Go through old posts on this forum, the library or any other resorce you can find and learn as much as you can about rose care, and pruning. Once you understand what you are doing and when to do it you can relax and enjoy them.

Jaco

Hmmm. They look like normal, healthy roses to me. They will look better deadheaded, and as to blending them with perennials, you will figure it out. Just try this and that until you find something you like.

As to regret, well...we gardeners always have something to regret, don't we? If you just really don't like them, dig them up and throw them out, or give them away, or consign them to the "back 40", or "ploppers field", or where ever you put your disappointments.

Nothing tried, nothing learned...and some leather gloves will help!

I too think they look fine...I usually deadhead to have them look neater, but if I want hips, help them "lose their petals".

They look great. Deadhead, meaning, cut off where the old blooms were, and your plants will rebloom faster and look neater.

Tell us what you use to fertilize and how often, and also how you water. Otherwise, they look really good, so no reason to despair!

Jodi, those are some of the best looking roses that have been posted on the Rose Forum in a looong time. Stop being so hard on yourself and appreciate all those healthy green leaves. You chose shrub roses so they're supposed to look bushy. I think they look super.

Also a newbie here. Yours actually look a lot better than mine.

But I also don't know how to pair my roses with perenniels. For now, I am growing a lot of lavenders in between the roses.

Maybe you just need to find a better spot for them? I constantly move my roses around at the very end of winter, when the ground becomes workable again. As I move rather large root systems, some roses don't even notice that they have been moved--they don't miss a beat...

We had non stop rain for 2wks and now a week with out rain so i am actually watering right now. it is supposed to be hot and humid tomorrow. as for fertilizing, only once this year with miracle grow.

Thanks for the nice comments. I guess I am being to hard on myself (sounds like something my hubby says to me - lol). I have done a few garden tours in my local area and just haven't seen much for roses so they seem like they just stick out. Here are a couple more views. I am in the process of ruthless yanking and moving stuff around, so it looks a little rough.

{{gwi:255976}}
the weigela is coming out, it hasn't done well the past couple of years and I think its finally showing its age. to the right is the morden blush.

{{gwi:299202}}
as I look at these pictures I think its the placement of the spirea I am not happy with and the potentilla is also coming out. Its very sickly looking.

You have given me ideas. So, thanks for that. Hopefully later I can show you what I have done.

I don't think I want to move the David Thompson, so is it ok to move the smaller roses now or should I wait till fall or early next spring?

Jodi

Moving roses now is doable but very labor-intensive and requires a lot of after care. Fall and Spring are MUCH better times to move them.

I agree that your roses look great! The JB's are hard on us rose lovers. Deadhead and don't look back, keep hopes up for a beetle-free Fall flush.

If you took out the scraggly bushes you don't like in the last photo, you could do worse than to bring in a dark-leaved shrub like a Center Glow Ninebark or a newer weigela like 'Shining Sensation' paired with something like a variegated dogwood. The foliage and colors on the trio of shrubs (rose, variegated, dark-leaved) make a very nice combination.

Your roses look good to me, too.
Is it possible they bother you because you, consciously or not, were expecting something similar to a Hybrid Tea? It can come as a surprise to find out how much roses can differ in habit, foliage, etc. I actually didn't "get" Rugosas until I learned to think of them as oriental flowering shrubs and not as roses at all, even though that's what they obviously are.
As far as combining them with other plants, all the usual design rules apply: contrasting and harmonizing plant form, flower and leaf color, foliage texture.
It looks like you have ambitious gardening plans and high standards. Have fun! I bet you're going to have a great garden.

Not only is moving them now more labor intensive, but a poor allocation of time, in my opinion. If your summers are anything like ours, there are tons of activities to do in the summer, and not enough time. In the late Winter, by contrast, many rosarians prune their roses too early, partially due to a lack of things to do. Moving roses then fits better into my schedule of yearly activities.

In the rose gallery there are some great gardens that you can get ideas from with other plants to plant with your roses...

Since you're in MN, I think you need to include dwarf conifers, yews, boxwoods, etc for winter interest. Add pots of annuals for summer color but have a good backbone of evergreens. Also think about plants that will capture the snow load and give interesting silhouettes. Then in spring you fill in with annuals for summer color.