I love to garden with roses mixed in the perennial garden... I love the small magenta roses poking past the lighter pink bee balm, and the peachy Abraham Darby growing between two almost black-purple "Dark Knight" butterfly bushes. So I guess I love variety, but with several beds I do have room for it. My favorite roses in the garden, though, are the ones in dramatic mass plantings. I have 3 big pink Austins (Spirit of Freedoms) together in a smaller (about 10x5?) bed along with a light purple butterfly bush, a thick stand of black-eyed susans, and hedged in by a border of liriope. Thats my fav bed...hands down. Its a no-fail beauty with room to tuck in annuals for variety, last year I did a bunch of spikey snapdragons. Second favorite is a group of 4 pretty lady floribundas that end up a big hedge about 15' long and 4 1/2' high... When these groups of roses are in bloom they are drop-dead gorgeous and have an effect that the others, while lovely and charming and fun on their own...just don't achieve. IMHO!! :)

Sanju, From the list you've mentioned, I can warmly suggest Jubilee Celebration. It's the best from the list for this climate type. It will repeat well, and produce lots of blooms till May in Melbourne. But it's a big one: goes in back of the border. Pat Austin ... It will get burned in January/February. It has big, gentle petals, and somewhat fragile. First flush is lovely, but when the heat hits 40 C in few days, it looks .. well .. :-( Also, petals will drop within 4-5 days from opening, no matter what weather. Be careful. Sharifa Asma is not too bad, but there are much better English roses suitable for this climate. Try Miss Alice instead: it grows better, and is overall a much better rose. Munstead Wood is a new rose this year, and it reminds of WS2000. However, sources say it behaves a bit better than WS2000, has a neater form and it's not as notorious in shooting long canes as WS2000 does in this climate. But it does shoot long canes nevertheless. JumboJimmy, we cannot still ascertain is Munstead Wood poor repeater or not; not yet. Many factors contribute to that and I don't always trust what nurseries say, because there roses live in somewhat extreme conditions compared to our gardens. Sanju, if you like myrrh scent, I'd avoid mishy-mushy Tamora and plant Ambridge Rose. That's one of the best English roses ever for this climate too. Period. It's strong, healthy and reliable, blooms first and ends last. Mayflower is fantastic, but makes great sense to plant few of them for best effect which then reminds of a thicket of Gallicas. All in all, very few roses from DA's Old Rose Hybrids group are fit for Australia. St Swithun is one of them. It's big, but it's an amazing rose. It has a very strong myrrh scent. Leander group, however, and Hybrid Musks Group are much better overall because they have scents that activate better in warm climates, petals that are not too thin, shallower flower shapes that won't burn in the sun. And all are strong growers. Another great one for Australia is Teasing Georgia. William Morris too. Pegasus has the most powerful tea scent, but tends to sleep later in season. Crown Princess Margareta is lovely and will grow big. However, they're all, as you can see, bigger ones. This season I've seen a new Strawberry Hill, and it looks very, very promising. I felt very tempted! Tea Clipper and Port Sunlight are other two to check as well.

We are going to tackle the mailbox this summer as well.I am considering placing an arched trellis over it.If so we'll also hang an urn shaped basket from the middle top inside and roses on the outside.I have heard red salvia and dusty miller are a pretty combination.I can't think of the name of the grass but its burgundy with brown plumes and it looks really nice against red brick if your box is brick. I have seen zebra grass also really tall that looks nice at the base of a box.Also dark almost black looking iris catch the eye.Purple Hyacinth Bean Vine looks amazing.So does the white version.I bought some seeds this year of blushing susan vine and am thinking about that also.I have seen all these ideas.I always make a mental note when I see a mailbox that catches my eye :).One of the most memorable was Nora Barlow Columbine.It was unexpected and REALLY stately looking! Lowes has all kinds of columbines and clematis.Went yesterday.They had some really nice peony bushes with blooms on them too.Hope this helps.

I dearly love all the five varieties of shrimp plants I have. In a mild winter they never stop blooming. Mine are growing in shady conditions under the eaves (they are one of the plants recommended for dry shade) and wilt quite a bit when the sun hits them for an hour or two. I'm not sure how well they'd take full or near full sun conditions. Look around your neighborhood and see I guess. Or maybe someone reading this grows them in more sun than I do.