gardenerzone4, I'm glad that you have posed this question, because I have long wondered the same thing. I believe that we sometimes use these garden terms (bedding, borders, hedges, bushes, shrubs, etc) interchangeably. The definitions seem unclear. I don't know what they mean, exactly, but I will tell you, below, what they mean to me. A "border" must border something, as the east coast borders the U.S. It is the edge or the perimeter of something. (More on this below). A rose "bed" means a group of roses, or a mixed group of roses with annuals or perennials, in any shape that we wish, enclosed by edgers (such as landscaping timbers, bricks, stones, etc). When I think of bedding roses, I think of low-growing varieties such as David Austin's The Countryman or Sister Elizabeth, especially if it is to be a raised bed. I might choose to plant several Bishop's Castle roses and watch them elegantly dangle over the edge of a raised bed. Roses used as "shrubs", on the other hand, do not mingle with other plants and are not enclosed by edgers. They are free-standing. For example, I might plant 3 Queen of Denmark roses in a triangular pattern and allow them to grow together to form what appears to be one large, rounded shrub. For my own garden, I would choose a once-flowering variety as a shrub. That is just a personal preference. A rose "hedge", in my mind, does not mingle with other plants and would not be enclosed by edgers. Hedges are roses of the same variety, or similar varieties, closely-spaced to create a border or a boundary. I would like to have a hedge along the property line, as a boundary between my yard and my neighbor's yard. If I needed 9 roses, I could choose 9 Harlow Carr, or 3 each of Harlow Carr, Lady Salisbury and Mary Rose, and keep them trimmed to a height of 4 feet. I would select repeat-flowering varieties for my hedge. That is just a personal preference. So now I ask myself "How is a hedge different from a border?" Perhaps the hedge would be more of a limited mass, where the border would run along the entire perimeter of an area to enclose it. I'm not sure. This is unclear to me. So my answer to you is "I don't know" and "I am still trying to figure it out". If you get it all sorted out, please share the answers with me! I hope your garden planning and your visions of next year's roses will pull you through the upcoming winter, until we see those beautiful buds again next spring! : )

I think lou and scotjute are both correct. A wide swath of the Live Oaks growing in East-Central Texas are intermediate between Quercus virginiana and Q. fusiformis. Once you get West of I-45 it becomes more and more pure Q. fusiformis. The native Live Oaks from the DFW area down to Waco are mostly Q. fusiformis with little influence(not zero influence though) of Q. virginiana evident in my opinion. Many of the nursery propagated Live Oaks in Texas are propagated from local Oaks and are hence somewhat intermediate just like the native trees, while some are imported in from growers further East and are hence mostly pure Q. virginiana as well as some of the named cultivars being propagated. While some are from growers further West and are hence Q. fusiformis. Q. fusiformis is much more drought and cold tolerant than Q. virginiana and should be readily available locally, especially from nurseries which propagate many of their own trees since it's native to the San Angelo area. If my calculations are correct for the scale of the placement of the Bur Oaks out front, I don't think they're too close to the house. Sure in time they will become large enough to shade much of the area, but shade in San Angelo in the summer time doesn't sound too bad to me and might help out with the A/C bills quite a bit. They are very durable, strong wooded, long lived trees(some have been documented of being older than 400 years old) that shouldn't have any problems for about 200 years or so. I also agree that the White cultivar of Oklahoma Redbud Cercis reniformis 'Texas White' is a good choice. Sure it won't live for a long time(for trees), but 20 to 30 years wouldn't be unexpected.

HI Everybody!! SO happy to see this forum. I hope to learn a lot from everyone. I'm in LA on the Northshore, so not as close to the coast but close enough. I have some input on hurricane protection plantings. We live in a 100+ year old house and whoever planned the plantings here really knew what they were doing. Along both sides of our house we have Camellia trees and all over the yard are Live Oaks and Pecan trees. When Katrina came through we only lost one Live Oak and it was leaning a little already from a tropical storm. Luckily the lean was towards the woods! Anyway our house had very little damage while most homes in the area had a lot of damage. I really think the camellias helped keep much of the debris from hitting our house (they were rather beat up afterwards). After Katrina I am anti-pine tree. We saw too many of them snapped in half afterwards. I'm mostly a bulb and vegetable gardener myself but haven't been doing either for very long.

Welcome to central Texas, Lou! I lived in Denton and Lewisville up north for about seven years before moving back to my home city, which is Austin. Check out The Natural Gardener's place near Oak Hill (near 290 and 71) for bulk mulch. You can bag yourself, load in a truck, or have them deliver in bulk. If you have ever heard of the Ladybug brand of products, this is his nursery/garden center. See the link below as it takes you to his price list for bulk items. For your stone, there are a handful of places up my way just south of 620 and Anderson Mill Road. This would be a pretty decent drive for you though....probably close to 30-40 minutes. Here is a link that might be useful: John Dromgoole