I am fairly new to the forum but I have been looking at ways to add to my garden and I have noticed many people plant flowering vines behind their roses. I think maybe a short growing clematis would be pretty and give you some height behind the roses. It's a beautiful spot in your yard and I hope you post pics when you get it the way you want it. Good luck!

Thanks, everybody! Sorry to put this in the wrong forum, I just couldn't figure out where to put it, and I thought some other people with inviting gardens may have also had trouble keeping people out of them. The garden that came with the house is really striking, and people who drive past often slow down to look at it or ask me about it. There's 70-something raised beds that are covered in patterns of tiles. It's a VERY conspicuous house. So I'm actually a little surprised that tweakers are targeting it, instead of somewhere less conspicuous. So, I just bought a gigantic "NO TRESPASSING - violators will be prosecuted" sign today. It's ugly, but I guess I need it. And a solar-powered motion light, which I'll install tomorrow. I also found a crack pipe in my backyard today. :( It was hidden underneath a pile of weeds I'd pulled a few days ago and left on one of my garden paths, so someone has definitely been in my yard in the last few days. RE: tweakers (yeah, I mean meth)...There's a big meth problem in this town, and there isn't a single neighborhood that's immune to it. When I bought the house there was no evidence of parties inside, though - in fact it was completely pristine inside every time I looked at it. And I never saw any trash around the house before I bought it, but now the sidewalk on one side has become a dump yard and shopping cart parking lot. :( RE: getting to know the neighbors...I'm on a corner, and my next door neighbors are a little sketchy, unfortunately. Very unapproachable. Come to think of it, so are the elderly couple across the street, and most of the neighbors in general. At least one person has been looking after my house while I'm at work, though, because someone yelled at my brother-in-law when he dropped off a compost bin in my yard, demanding to know what he was doing there. RE: surveillance cameras. I've thought about getting one but wouldn't know how to hard-wire it. Is this something the police might help with??? I'm not sure I'd want anyone to KNOW I had a surveillance camera, though, because I'm afraid my sketchy next door neighbors are either selling drugs or growing marijuana and I don't want them to think I'm trying to get them busted. Because if they were busted, they'd just end up right back in the house, with a grudge (the family has owned that house since the '50s, so they're not going anywhere). I don't want to start any sort of war with the neighbors. Does anyone know if you legally have to post a sign when you have a surveillance camera? Thanks!

Not to be a total curmudgeon, BUT... 1) It's not your fence. It belongs to your neighbor 100% because he paid for it. That means you can't paint it, grow anything on it, or attach anything to it. 2) You don't have 6 more inches. That belongs to him, too! It's where the posts for his fence are. The fence is built entirely on his property! This isn't like buying a new house and the fence is on the property line: he paid for it and put it on HIS property. The property line appears to be where the wall is. The property line didn't move! (And no, he didn't "abandon" the 6" on her side, he's using it for the fence foundation.)

How much standing water did you have in your yard? Other than breeding mosquitoes, I wouldn't worry about standing water in my neighbors yard, better theirs than yours . . . however, if you have drainage issues on your property, that's dependent on slope. I can't tell the slope, but from a casual glance, it looks like your yard is the higher ground so drains into theirs. I wouldn't plant a rose garden in an area of standing water. I'd either do a rain garden or a french drain, as some have suggested. Then plant the rose garden outside of that zone. The rain garden and/or french drain will hold and slowly release the water so they will take care of that part, leaving another higher ground area for the roses . . . Roses like moist conditions so if it's just occasionally for a few hours after a rain maybe not a big issue if the roses are the right kind. I love me some "Rosa palustris" which is the native swamp rose, it would do fine there, it is a stunning bloomer but not repeat. But of course roses hate dampness, so if the water is there for any length of time it's not going to work for other roses. Figure out a way to drain it away first, then deal with the roses part . . .