Paso, I would say don't be too concerned. Whenever designing either you either stick with masses of standard colors for strong statement in simplicity or you mix in a haromony other colors. There are so many ways to design its limitless. Personal taste will be different among anyone as well. Masses of reds are done all the time with roses around my area and done quite effectively. The trick is to use other plants in the areas you have left that will compliment in color the house and roses but will not replicate either of them. Use blue foliage or dark foliage plants. Ornamental grasses can help well because there are many blue colored ones that will also add a relaxed textural beauty to the rigid mass of red. A Russian sage has bluish foliage and blue flowers and mixes well with red rose masses. I don't know your zone but you could even plant white variegated miscanthus such as Rigoletto to offet the colors. You need bold to go with the bold, don't mix too many colors in remaining areas you have left or they will be lost and clash against the roses. good luck!

This is all subjective topic, so expect a lot of opinion. I'll share mine. 1) Don't bother with sand. Personally, I'd say it's a waste. Why bother? 2) I would buy enough compost to fill up to within 2" of the top, and plan for your bed to be raised at least 12" from the top. Multiply HEIGHT(ft)xWIDTH(ft)xDEPTH(ft) to get the cubic volume needed (in feet) to fill the area. Add 1-2 cubic feet onto this (for amending the clay). Personally, I like just using "Moo Nure" from Home Depot as my poop blend of choice. 3) Doubt drainage will be a problem. If you're worried about it, mix couple inches of tiny pebbles and rocks into the bottom of the hole after amending the soil. Drains should not be necessary if you follow #2. 4) Squirrels can be kept away with cayenne pepper sprinkled on the soil and reapplied after rainshowers (supposedly, my DW swears by it). Plants that repel pests and help other veggies grow based on how they interact with soil - this concept is called Companion Gardening (click here for articles on the subject). Great concept, and it works. 5) You'd be amazed what a weedeater and a pair of loping shears will do. Once you cut it all down, continue to mow in that spot regularly throughout the year, and it should prevent the brush from coming back. Some tips: After you build your bed, dig up the first 2" of sod/grass/etc. inside the bed (before you add soil/manure/compost). Take a tiller (power or hand tiller), break up the clay, toss in a couple bags of manure, then till that into the soil and rake it out. The goal is to mix the soil and clay so it's not just straight clay. The manure is going to entice earthworms and other creatures to come up from the ground, which will further breeak up the clay nearby. If using regular untreated wood, DO NOT put it near your house. Termites love untreated wood, and if you don't like termites in your house, don't put untreated wood that comes in direct contact with the ground anywhere within 10' of your house. If you use treated wood, I would recommend to line the inside of it with black tarp (4mil thick) so you don't see any of the pressure treating chemicals leeching into your soil (which are much less harmful these days than days of yore). A staple gun will hold it to the inside - DON'T LINE THE BOTTOM OF THE BED OR YOU WON'T DRAIN! Just keep the wood from touching the fill soil.

Another tree that would be about the size of a redbud is a dogwood, whether traditional pink or white, or Japanese. The Kousa dogwood, a Japanese import is readily available in this area and very happy to grow here - even in the upper elevations of the Catskills! It flowers later than the traditional dogwood, safely following our famous May freezes, the flowering lasts for weeks, and is followed by colorful raspberry-colored, (edible) drupes. Fall foliage is a pretty red. The double- trunked Kousa in my front yard is about 20' tall at 15 years of age.

Just a little update since this thread started up again. I have two raised beds so far. Each about 12 feet long by 4 feet wide. I started vegies from seed and two tomato transplants. So far so good. We've had a lot of rain since I put in the seeds. Both drainage and moisture retention have been perfect. The true test will be in August! They weren't near as much trouble to put together as I thought they would be. Our yard has a fairly good slope to it... Although, it is trouble getting the cinder blocks to my house one batch at a time. I'm going to have some areas with "caps" on them. They sell them at Home Depot to go on top of the cinders. I decided to only go two blocks high. That's just tall enough to sit on and weed, etc., but not so tall that it's awkward for me to till, or get in and out of them if needed. I also found a website a while back that showed someones interior concrete floors. They used Ironite to stain them and it looked fantastic! As soon as I have a day off with no rain, I'm going to use that on the cinders. The free materials I picked up from freecycle members will be used for a circular herb bed in the center. The materials were mostly rocks. Some I would even call small boulders. I hope to have it finished by spring of '08. And if I ever get a digital camera, I'll post pictures!