If the beneficial insects that feed on thrips and aphids are attracted to certain plants, it makes sense (to me, anyway) to plant those beneficial- insect attractors as some of the companion plants to roses. I tried doing this in Alabama, and it either worked pretty well or I didn't have much of a thrips problem anyway. I don't ever use pesticides in the garden either, as I am aware that there is an entire universe going on at the insect level that I don't see or much understand. I also do believe what Hamp and buford say, that there are some roses that are thrip magnets. It would be fun to make a list of those sometime. So, here are a couple of links that list plants that attract hoverflies, tachnid wasps, ladybugs, lacewings, etc. in case anyone is interested. http://www.dianeseeds.com/flowers/beneficial-insects.html Here is a link that might be useful: plants that attract beneficial insects

First, don't bother with herbicides as they generally don't hurt the bamboo, but can do a lot of damage to other plants. Second, the advice of the American Bamboo Association is to keep watering it and cutting it down until you kill it by exhausting it, which supposedly takes a couple of years. I've never tried this and I'm skeptical that it will work over such a large expanse with such a well-established root system. I believe your only recourse is further digging. I have a lot of bamboo around my yard, some with barriers and some without, When uncontained bamboo escape into my yard, my tool of preference is not a shovel. I use a pickaxe and start chopping with the pointy end along the line of survival shoots. Then I use the pointy end to pry the rhizome out. Sometimes, if I am in the middle of a rhizome, I just cut it in half and start working on each of the two pieces separately as it is easier to pry out rhizome that has a loose end. When I get a foot or two or rhizome out of the ground, I start pulling on it, and sometimes it sort of "unzips" from the ground for many feet. This is where it would help to have a friend with some upper body strength. Also be aware -- when wrestling out a piece or prying hard -- that you do not want to be off-balance if the rhizome snaps: I've had a couple of spectacular tumbles until I learned this. Because the roots are tenacious, prying them out will do some damage to the lawn. I always have some extra dirt around to fill in where I need to and to help the grass grow back. I'm sorry that I don't have a magic solution, but at this point I think you'll just have to keep up your removal efforts. I think the other things you have done with trenches sound good.

My problem is that the evening primrose is mixed in with plants that I want to save, so I have been weeding by hand and losing the battle. I received some beautiful pink yarrow from a friend who was dividing up some plants and there must have been evening primrose mixed in. I have been battling this plant for two years now and it has moved around to several different beds and is overtaking many plants now, including my yarrow. It grows around the bases of rose bushes, which are so thorny and thick, I have a hard time weeding them out. It pops up in the middle of my thyme and sneaks under the fence where it quietly bides its time. I would resort to RoundUp if there weren't other plants that I want to save, so I have been trying to hand weed them out. But THEY KEEP COMING BACK! It seems every year there is a garden thug that I'm fighting with--first black-eyed susan, then sweet autumn clematis, and now this pretty little pink flower. I know I've read that if you keep cutting a plant down to the ground it eventually gives up and dies out, but I don't know that it would work with this--plus they are everywhere! I'm feeling a little discouraged, since I weeded them all out last fall and I can see them popping back up throughout the beds already. Any suggestions?

I hear ya D2G, we all have plenty of those missed opportunities in our homes. I know I have tons! It certainly doesn't make your home any less beautiful! However, I would not draw attention to it with a FP screen, except maybe one of those fold over types Flo mentioned-they tend to stand higher. I also wouldn't buy anything else for the mantle. You don't need to match the art, and you have so many lovely things. I would sooner see your beautiful clock and candelabras, though not "perfect," because they are a piece of your story.