Lavender Lass, I've done a little research since you started asking about once blooming OGRs in your zone 4 climate. There used to be a very good Rose Nursery in Grand Forks, B. C. which is probably 4 hours north of your area. I've got one of their catalogues from 1998 and have had a look at the OGRs they sold and the temperatures they state they can take without winter kill. I've also provided a link to another Canadian nursery, Corn Hill Nursery in New Brunswick, Canada. The roses they sell are hardy to at least -30C ( -28F ). My old catalogue from "Hardy Roses for the North" list Alba roses as being the hardiest, good to zone 3. So any Albas that strike your fancy will probably work for you. Gallicas are zone 4 with the exception of Alain Blanchard and Alika, whiich are both listed as zone 3. Two repeat blooming Pimpenellafollias that are good to at leat zone 3 are Karl Forster and Stanwell Perpetual. Centifollias are listed as zone 4. Damasks as zone 4, if your temperatures don't go much below -30C you might want to try Ispahan which has a long blooming season. The repeat blooming OGR's; Portland Damasks, Bourbons, HPs, Mosses, will all get cut back hard and/or need winter protection in zone 4. If you want some hardy Austins, then I recommend the following: St. Cecelia, probably the hardiest Austin, winter hardy here in zone 4; Saint Swithun, Charles Rennie MacIntosh; Mary Rose, Redoute, Winchester Cathedral, Crocus Rose, The Mayflower. All quite hardy, healthy, and with good rebloom. Plant them deep, bud union 4 or more inches below soil level. The ones mentioned, other than St. Cecelia and probably the Mayflower, will die to the ground or snow line, but come back very well and give you lots of bloom. I personally cut mine back to 18 inches in winter and cover with straw and they grow and bloom very well for me. I've also heard good things about a moss rose called William Lobb, a rose that several forum members in Minnesota grow and say does well there. There you go, at least some cold climate OGR data to get you started. Good luck with your project, hope it goes well. PS: I cover lavender with straw, just like my roses and manage to get it to grow here. Cheers, Rideau Rose Lad Here is a link that might be useful: Cornhillnursery

We've got very heavy clay soil here in central Texas as well. The soil looks suitable for making pots and bowls... I am in my second year of amending the soil, mainly through the use of generous amounts of compost mixed in with a tiller. Last year my garden yields were not so great, in part because I got a late start (due to the date we moved into the house) and in part because of record drought. My best harvests last year were okra and basil; most other plants limped along feebly through the > 100 F heat. This year has been much, much better. I had a cover crop, and that also helped break up the heavy soil. One part of the garden got planted with a cover crop mix of vetches, oats, and bell beans in September, and this got tilled under in January. The other part got planted in January with fava beans, and the fave beans were harvested and pulled out last month. This year, in addition to tilling compost in, I have also made small holes or trenches of compost in which I have directly planted the seeds or transplants, to give them extra nutrients as they start. This year the amended garden has been yielding very well. The soil texture is better than last year, though it will probably take another couple of seasons to achieve the nice "chocolate cake" type soil that is possible after amendment. My clay + compost garden has far out-performed my trial 4' x 4' square garden raised bed, probably because the clay provides nutrients not present in the mix used in the raised bed. I am continuing to experiment with the raised beds as well by adding more compost and organic fertilizer.

Thank you Lulabelle, I will check out the square foot gardening forum. I have discovered that most of my questions on how to set up my garden is the result of wanting two different styles of gardens :) I really need to have a big vegetable garden that I can easily access. This is ideally for corn, potatoes, pumpkins, melons, beans, tomatoes, etc. We have a short growing season, but it's really warm, so it's important to grow as much as possible in the three to four months available. On the other hand, I love the idea of a more romantic garden, with some vegetables, but also lots of flowers, herbs, fruit, etc. I think your garden captures that style perfectly. I've decided to keep the majority of the vegetables in a "kitchen" or vegetable garden with some edible flowers and a few herbs, but fairly utilitarian. However, I want to use a smaller child-friendly potager garden to grow some fun miniature vegetables, lettuces and spinach, strawberries, some herbs and flowers. This would be the garden my nieces and nephews can "help" me with. I saw a cute idea for a children's garden, using fairy tales. The example they used was planting some pole beans on a narrow, four foot bean teepee, putting a house at the bottom, a "Jack" figure on the beanstalk and a larger "Giant" figure on the top. That would be really cute in the kids' garden. Thank you all for the input and Lulabelle, thank you for your beautiful pictures.

I think I have a design for next year. Due to limited space, I've decided to combine the kitchen garden and main vegetable garden together. I'm going to have six beds (two wide, three deep) that are 8' x 8' with permanent grass paths (3' to 4' wide) between them. I plan to put up a 4' tall lattice fence, with a black metal arch over the front gate and a taller side gate without an arch. Next, purple and red raspberries along the outside of the fence, on either side of the taller gate. There are already lilacs along the back side of the garden space and sheds on the other side. Even so, there is hardly any shade in this area all day long. Along the front of the garden, I'm going to try rugosas, but if the deer find them, I'll move the roses and put blueberries. The front two beds will be for the salad type vegetables, such as tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, carrots, etc. This would be the kitchen garden I think, with permanent paths (L-shaped) running through them. Maybe I can finally use the old bricks I've been saving :) I have two black metal obelisks, I guess they're called, about three feet tall with a little bird on top (I got them from Lowe's). I plan to use these in the two front beds. For the two middle beds one will be for summer squash, melons and mini-pumpkins and gourds. The other will be for pole beans, broccoli and peas. I had a bean teepee this year and the kids loved it. To keep the smaller squash and mini-pumpkins off the ground, I have the top of a metal arbor, with four legs (it used to connect to six foot metal pieces, but without them looks something like a two foot tall, four-legged spider). It sounds strange, but my Mom used it last year and it looks really cool. This is definitely the kids area! The back two beds are for corn in one bed and potatoes and bush beans in the other (they're supposed to make good garden companions). I hope to grow some acorn squash in with the corn. For paths in the back beds, I'm just planning to use hay to walk on between the veggies. The pumpkins got so big this year, I think I'm going to put them and the sunflowers in their own area in the back yard, beside the fence :) Thank you all for the suggestions and I want you to know I really appreciate it!