At first it was about space, I ran out of it, but now it's more about how many can I actually care for properly. I'm running out of energy. It takes about 3 or 4 hours to water everything by hand. That's a long time to stand out in the sun for me. I'm in the process of deciding which ones I can lose without missing them.

I can't help with you with that. I'm sure I passed that point myself a long time ago, and refused to take notice.

Oooh, Rogue Valley Roses just sent out a list of roses in gallon and 5-gallon containers, including Climbing President Herbert Hoover! I bet that heat-loving rose would love your climate! It's a classic!

Seil, I have noticed SO many beautiful pictures of your roses on HMF. Clearly your efforts aren't wasted!

Zachary

Pssst! Here is a tip for those 3-4 hour watering jobs:

DRIP IRRIGATION SYSTEM

As for when to stop? Never!

zjw727... Now I am going to get the mail that has not been picked up for 2 days, and it is 104 degrees! LOL. Geesh!

Lynn

Back when I first realized that I was running out of space, I used to fantasize buying my neighbor's property, razing his house and planting a wildflower forest garden with path (there are 3 giant oaks on his property). Then I'd move my cars over to his garage and raze mine to the ground. And guess what is in full sun--that spot where the garage used to be. Would make a nice fairly large rose garden--I could buy at least another 100 roses!

But then reality caught up with me. About the time I ran out of space, I also realized (like Seil) that I was also running out of energy--having trouble keeping up with the roses I already had. No way I could handle more!

Of course, with a little planning and re-arranging, one can still manage to squeeze in another 10 roses--but by then, I really was out of space--and energy.

Since then, I made a pact with myself--if a rose dies, don't use that as an excuse to get a new rose. RRD helped me get rid of a couple roses--I just didn't put a new rose back in there.

Exception: replace a dying rose with the same rose if it is in a spot where a big hole left by removing a rose would ruin the general appearance. But even with that exception, don't replace it if it is one I was never very crazy about in the first place.

The other exception I allow myself is if there is a new rose I really, really want, I must sacrifice one of the roses I already have growing in my garden. That is a tough decision sometimes, but I wanted Pompenella so bad that I gave away Cherry Parfait to a neighbor so I could plant Pompenella in that spot.

By following those rules, at least the total number of plants is no longer getting higher and higher and is slowly decreasing a bit. Have no idea how to keep up with everything in my gardens, however--parts are really going wild! Oh well, I never run out of things to do this way. : )

Kate

Thanks, Zack!

Molineux, I can't do drip for a number of reasons. It would cost me a fortune for one. I have a circle driveway that would have to be cut to run it to the beds and to do the pots on the patio I'd have pipes running across the whole thing to get to them all. It's just not a practical solution for me. I do have soaker hoses in the beds but I've found when it's been very dry they just don't give them enough water unless I run them for hours on end. So I get out the hose and do it myself.

Those are some good rules, Kate! I may just borrow them. Right now I've picked out a good 10 that have never thrilled me all that much and another ten that I do like but they don't seem to be all that happy here. I have 127 with 60 of those in pots (again, I culled those once already but it didn't last, lol) so my goal is to get back down under 100.

I'm happy to know I'm not the only one who has thought about levelling the neighbor's house and putting in more roses.

I like the methods and suggestions.
Kate, were you happy with the Cherry Parfait sacrifice?
Pompenella has always been one I've admired.
Susan

Pot ghetto starts to form, becomes neglected.

About two roses before that.

Kate,

I admire your discipline. Fortunately..., I am not there yet ( a little space in the yard left... those pots)....but good rules to follow if I do not take a trip to de Nile in the near future.

Lynn

This post was edited by desertgarden561 on Fri, Aug 16, 13 at 20:44

Hey, just keep floating that boat as long as you can. If I didn't have some major back problems (I'm retired now), I probably would cheat a lot on my own rules--but I honestly have to limit my physical activities. That gives one more incentive to get things under control.

Was Cherry Parfait a good sacrifice for Pomponella? Yes--Pomponella makes me giggle with those cute little pom-pom blooms. (Besides, I can just go visiting two houses over if I want to see my ex-Cherry Parfait.) I also sacrificed my second Double Delight (to my next door neighbor on the other side) so that I could get Berolina, a fragrant yellow that is very disease-resistant--just what I needed in that spot along the Perfumed Path. And I can visit DD next door.

So far the rules are working good--but remember, I honestly am out of space and I don't want to damage my back some more and have to get back surgery. The doctor already is pushing for the surgery, but I keep saying no and going instead to Physical Therapy--which is actually beginning to work quite well as far as my back is concerned.

Gee, if my back starts feeling better, do you think I'll start coveting roses again?

Kate : )

On hot days, I get out one of my 15 dollar light weight beach umbrellas with the long pole and walk around under it as I water. The things I do for those plants! If I had stuck to camellias only, I'd have a life made in the shade. Oh well. Hand watering gives the best results here and I waste less on weeds while the whole root zone gets a soaking and less water on the leaves too. I also like to check in with each one as I go. When I'm too busy to do that, I'll have too many plants.

It is hard.

When I grow roses, I want every shiny, pretty rose that sparkles. When I quilt, I want all the lovely fabric there is. Sewing clothes, I want all the lovely fabric again, only this time different (more) fabric. When I read a book I love, I want to own it, because I know I will read it again and again. And all the other books that author writes, too. My book habit is probably the worst affliction on the list. Recently I started knitting. You can just guess what's going on there.

On the other hand I hate clutter and truly love order. It is a good thing. It will save me from being the Crazed Packrat Lady when I grow old. I go through my possessions on a fairly regular basis and donate the ones that second thought has taught me I really do not need or want. All this makes me look more generous than I probably really am.

Rosefolly

I bought a house with a larger yard.

Catsrose,

Well, we decided that we were not going to move; we took advantage of the low interest rates last year, hubbie built this house, not underwater, in Las Vegas...if we fill in the pool and get a jacuzzi, I could get a nice shade tree and a lot of roses.....

Rosefolly...I have that same problem, with books. And everything else under the sun.

I don't water established roses,but I admit that my "garden" (I put it in quotes because much of the space I hope eventually to somewhat cultivate is still abandoned and neglected) is so big that I do sometimes worry about when I'm older; it's already too much for one person to do, really! Guess I'm crazy. But I always feel so discouraged at this ugly time of year; then rain arrives,and the soil becomes workable, the days are cool...and there I go again,cultivating, planting, planning...What I'm shooting for at this point is to fill in the central garden area with mostly potential re-blooming roses (especially climbers!),and then do the surrounding areas with mostly ramblers, wisteria ,trees,etc.; things that won't need a lot of attention once established. bart

Ahem...Bart, take note that wisteria needs a lot of pruning.

Many gardeners have serious practical constraints on how many roses they can grow, like the size of their yards or back problems. I have DH's age coupled with the fact that he does much of the garden work, but am half ignoring that. The other consideration, though, is that you can just reach satiety. I currently have about 400 varieties (I don't know how many have been done in by the drought) and 600 plants (ditto), and my sense is that if I can manage to get another hundred varieties in the garden, I will finally have all the roses I want. I don't mean that I would never buy another rose, but that would mean the end of the huge orders, and the beginning of taking care of the roses I have and getting to know them better and refining the collection.
Melissa

I'm limited by health issues and the flat area available in my hilly garden, and those areas that are flat but too hot for roses to thrive. I've "experienced" many roses that ultimately proved unsuitable for my garden, and have had other roses in other gardens, so that I no longer have that endless longing for new roses. I think I've finally arrived at that happy point where I'm satisfied with most of the roses I have. In order to have a new rose that I really covet (and the only one I can think of now is Reve d'Or, I'd have to remove another one (Mutabilis) to make room for it and that will require some soul searching. However, that is also the only area I could place my baby Annie Laurie McDowell, and it will probably take several years for that rose to have grown large enough to plant there, so I have plenty of time to consider that issue. My main goal now is to tend to the many bands I've planted in the ground and see them grow and bloom, so that my garden will finally look the way I would wish. The problem with yanking out roses and replacing them with better roses is that the latter are band plants and the garden never looks mature. I'm really tired of that now. I've recently replanted Pink Rosette, Earth Song and China Doll, and am happy to say they're doing much better. Poulsen's Pink may be next on the list if I can find a spot for it. I'm very determined not to discard another rose that has a chance of surviving elsewhere in my garden. Most of the vacant spots will be filled with hopefully tough non-rose plants so that the actual number of roses will not increase.

Ingrid

Ingrid, like you, I prefer the look of a mature garden.

I dislike pulling up or watching a rose fail to thrive. As a result, I ask so many specific questions of members like you and AZ. gardeners to make informed choices to increase the probability that the rose will thrive in my garden. You all garden in a hot, dry climate; and a lot of the soil in AZ is similar to mine.

I am glad to read that your Earth Song is beginning to "sing" :)

This post was edited by desertgarden561 on Sat, Aug 17, 13 at 17:07

Yeah, I'm getting sick of playing "Musical Roses",too; i.e.,moving/removing unsuitable ones,revising my garden, etc.I HOPE I'v finally arrived at an over-all plan and that the new roses I've planted in the past year or two can just stay where they are and finally mature.On the other hand, there's no point in keeping a big, green rose shrub that just won't flower well (see my Baronne Snoy thread). In fact, this year, though I'm still planning on an order of 40 plus roses, I'm concentrating determinedly on small, single-flowered ones,which MIGHT wind up being more tolerant of my basically poor, thin soil than many of the large, very double,full-of-petals ones. These latter certainly are seductive, but if they are going to be too demanding for my situation, I want to steer in another direction.
Melissa, how much do you prune your wisteria? I'm still just beginning to learn about this plant,so any other advice would be welcome! bart

You can delay it by planting the smaller roses :)

Like others here, I would love to stop tinkering and see some maturity in my garden. Unfortunately I have been on a long and steep learning curve and many of my early efforts came to dissatisfy me. I still see mistakes, now mostly minor ones, some perennials planted too closely, that kind of thing. My garden could use a bit more structure, something I have been adding year by year. Gardens need bones as much as they need flowers.

It is important to me to have a rich variety of plants other than roses. Roses are the dominant plant in my garden, but I also grow a wide variety of other perennials, bulbs, and a few other shrubs. And as mentioned elsewhere, I have been on a tree planting campaign. I started that 7 or 8 years ago with fruit trees within the fence, and recently moved to the hillside field outside the fence with a variety of oaks, evergreens, and native shrubs. I will have to live to be very old indeed to see those efforts approach maturity! But then, I love the old proverb "A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in." I do believe this. It may well be the best thing I personally ever do for the wider world.

Rosefolly