Ingrid, yes, the site and the house say cottage garden all the way. I love your suggestion of perennials to go with roses. I will tuck some herbs in there where it is the sunniest. Rosefolly, it is very helpful to know about the growth habit of OTN and I will go ahead and plant it in front of GH. And, that is a good point about the leaf stripping and lack of sun. It makes sense. Why do you strip GH leaves? To make pruning easier? Jeri, I will "go for it!" As much as I hate to move plants, sometimes you just have to do it. Also, Mountain View, CA is quite warm and dry in the summer. And the bed is totally sunny after 10am when the sun rises above a big Siberian elm. Thank you all very much. I have been indecisive about what to plant in this bed and it is wonderful to get feedback. Photos to follow after planting :-) Anne

Can we see photos?? That will help us be able to offer better advice.

Thank you all for your opinions. I especially love that you confirmed it would be okay. Don't think I can have too much of that fabric...it's a soft rayon blend chenille. Thanks for the ideas about pillows, too. Will be fun to look for coordinating fabric. If you run across any in your searches, please think of me. Olychick

I brought this thread up to thank Jim for posting an excellent article on the danger of high phosphorus: "Phosphorus carries a chemical charge that competes with other micronutrients for plant uptake. Excess amounts result in leaf chlorosis because iron, manganese, and zinc are not available to the plant. Leaf tissue turns yellow while veins stay green." http://www.rose.org/phosphorus-fallacies-too-much-of-a-good-thing/ From StrawChicago: Agree with the above, except for the quote "Commercial growers of roses for cut-flower production typically use fertilizers with a 3-1-2 NPK ratio." That applies to pots or sandy soil, but NOT for alkaline clay. Alkaline clay has more beneficial bacteria to fix nitrogen from air. I used that ratio 3-1-2 before and got a 5 feet tall own-root Scepter'd Isle, plus a giant Charles Darwin (own-root). I gave both away since they got too big & less blooms. From Wikipedia: "By volume, dry air contains 78.09% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen." Agree 100% with the quote "Phosphorus fixates, or becomes immobile, in the soil quickly after application. This fixation is minimized at a pH level of 6.0-7.0. So all the extra phosphorus in fertilizer will become unavailable at pH levels above or below that range." With my foolish experiments of bone meal (top-dress or in the hole) ... I notice that high phosphorus induce foliage diseases, due to the suppression of zinc, a very strong anti-fungal agent. Bone meal has 24% calcium and 11% phosphorus, that's NOT as bad as higher % of phosphorus in MG-Soluble. I tested MG-Soluble before: more blooms, but more fungal diseases, plus more pests. High phosphorus induce foliage problems in my Thai basil. That hole was previously occupied by Sharifa Asma, it's right under a rain-spout, so nitrogen get leached out (10 mobility), potassium also leached out (3 mobility), but phosphorus stay put (1 mobility). I put too much Encap cow manure (high phosphorus) in that hole. Sharifa was blooming great ...6 blooms for a tiny plant (6 inch x 6 inch). But after blooming, it broke down in black spots. So I moved Sharifa out, and put a Thai Basil. Here's how Thai basil looks like, tons of blooms, but very thin foliage, with black spots, plus potassium deficiency in lower leaves. The leaves are much paler, smaller, and thinner due to zinc and iron less available.