Thank you, Mike and Mom! Your words are appreciated very much! Honestly, I don't think too much about color when planting... it just worked out nicely, I think. I'm more concerned with height and size, to be honest. I always seem to be in such a hurry to get everything planted that I really don't have time to coordinate, but I much prefer a wilder look, anyway... like that's the way things just grew! The Knock Out series can't be beat for ease of growing. I highly recommend roses from this series for those gardeners just beginning to grow roses. They require very little care... a little shaping or removal of dead wood in early spring, some fertilizer, and enough moisture and sunlight will keep them happy and blooming all summer. All they require for winter is a good layer of mulch, and I let the leaves that fall and other debris stay on the garden until spring, just as a little added insulation. I have a couple of the Sunny Yellow Knock Outs growing among the other roses and perennials, and I love the double reds and the pinks! The yellow fades a bit as the blooms age, but they're still very nice. Mike, yours looks lovely! And there isn't a weed in sight! Our gardens are loaded with weeds at the moment! We did have a girl helping part time, but she quit. I guess weed pulling wasn't as glamorous as she thought it might be. I don't know why, but there seems to be a lot lacking these days when it comes to work ethic. Everyone wants to get paid, but very few are prepared, or equipped, to earn that pay. Jude the Obscure is an English rose, from David Austin. It's a lovely and very full bloom, fragrant, with a very subtle color. I love the English roses, though they seem not to be as hardy as some other types. We have several Austin roses, though we mulch them a little heavier, and try to plant them where they are afforded a bit more protection. So far, though, it has survived our brutal winters like a champ. It's funny... when researching roses for cold hardiness, different sources seem to assign different zones to each one. We're zone 5, and growing own-root roses affords us a little more cold hardiness than growing grafted varieties, but we still have to dig to find out which sources are being truthful and which aren't. We're able to grow a few roses that are listed as only being hardy to zone 6, but those are the ones that we give a little protection to, and the ones we are prepared to lose in the event of an exceedingly cold winter, different from the norm. I don't have the time or energy to baby any plants, rose or otherwise, so if a plant can't tolerate our climate and environment, it can't be here as part of the landscape. We've lost a few roses along the way, but it's a good learning experience. We replace the lost varieties with different ones, always keeping to our goal of growing own-root, very hardy roses that are preferably scented and continual blooming. Some of the Old Garden roses aren't continual bloomers, but they put on a heck of a nice full flush in spring or summer. It's sometimes a sacrifice we're willing to make, just because the rose variety will be very heavily scented, or because it has a unique color or shape, or some other wonderful quality. The Clematis is almost a blue, leaning toward purple. I think it's a common variety, having large flowers. It probably looks more blue due to my camera, and the fact that it's in the shade in the photo. It's not really that blue. I think it might be Jackmanii, or another of the more commonly sold types. To successfully grow Clematis, it helps a lot to plant companion plants that will shade the roots of the vine. Clematis love to have their "heads" in the sun, but they like their "feet" kept cool. If no shade or thick mulch is offered to help cool the roots, Clematis will often wilt or sulk. Ours are planted on the west side of a tall fence, and they all have other perennials growing to help keep the root/soil temperature cool. Once established, they bloom very reliably. There are several other types I'd love to grow, and now that we have the new fencing up for the rose gardens, I have more space to add a few! Believe it or not, we grow everything in the gardens organically. I've used no sprays, no chemicals, no insecticides or herbicides. We rely very heavily on the good predators in the gardens, such as toads, tree frogs, snakes, birds, spiders, and we have cultivated a rather nice population of praying mantises. We've been really lucky not to have any infestations of aphids or other pests. The only bad bugs that we occasionally battle are the Asian Beetles, which can strip a garden bare if you let them! For those, we might be forced to use a chemical, but we haven't had to so far. I just came in a little while ago. I filled and emptied my large wheelbarrow twice with weeds, and that's about all my body will allow for one afternoon. I'm tired, sweaty, and my back is sore! I feel dehydrated, so I'm sipping some cold water. I might go back out and try to get one more wheelbarrow filled with weeds for the day... it depends on how revived this cold water make me feel! :-) The pictures would look a lot more professional if there weren't any visible weeds in them! But, I'm only one person... and good help is hard to find! I'm glad you enjoyed the rose tour... there will be a lot more as the different roses bloom. New Dawn is loaded with buds as I write this... only one is partially open. It should look amazing when the whole plant is in full flush! There's a miniature climber full of buds, also... they should open into loads of small pink blossoms! And my favorite, Autumn Damask, is soon to bloom, too! The Lilies, Daylilies, Gaillardia, Echinacea, Rudbeckia, Monarda, and other perennials have yet to bloom... This is why I love it all so much... it's a constantly changing palate of color and shape and texture and scent... a feast for the senses! It's often overwhelming... I just love taking the camera outside, and wandering the yard in search of the latest blooms! Well... there's more to come... stay tuned! :-)

They are lovely I would like to see one with leaves too. Good luck with your show. Besure to keep us posted. Kim, fyi: The pvc pipes that I attached the garden signs that I made for a local shelter held up pretty well except where they got snowplowed. I used automotive goop on them. I posted the tutorial from my blog below. Scroll down through part 2 to part 1 where I talk about attaching the pipe fittings. I also use automotive goop for the spoons when I make plate flowers, for glass to glassI use ge silicone ii clear. Kathy Here is a link that might be useful: Plant label signs.

AVEDON:They are all so pretty. I just love MALAYSIAN MARKETPLACEand My PINK HIGHHEELS, gorgeous, and that clump of Happy returns is really pretty, too,and DOUBLECLASSIC is so pretty,I se a couple buds on mine this morning, too.and myM.Marketplace has a lot of scapes and buds, too. gorgeous photos. jean

Jacqueline, you reminded me of a poem, Let Me Live in a House By The Side of the Road and be a Friend to Man. That absolutely would be gratifying to talk roses with your neighbors. My garden is so far off the beaten path, no one gets to enjoy it except me. But, once in a while I get to talk roses with repair or delivery men. None of my friends are gardeners and think I'm quite bonkers for having so many roses and spending so much time gardening. Sylvia, I'm still waiting for this years flush! They're all pruned to the ground after this long, cold winter. Yours are gorgeous.