To answer your question, the green wall on the left of the pic of my SG is a bunch of huge bushes and some volunteer trees, left over from a formal garden which was started in 1905 by my DH's great grandfather. However, I think you can certainly start a SG without inheriting it! A blooming vine which grows in shade and likes your climate (I use star jasmine here, but it is only hardy zones 8-10) would be perfect for that fence. Rhododendrons and hydrangeas like shade, too - and I know there are types of both which would be hardy in your zone (in fact, I had to search to find rhododendrons for my garden here which were heat hardy enough). You could plant a hedge of one or the other in front of that fence, with a flowering vine growing on the fence. You could even make the fence a little taller for the vine by adding one of those lattice things to the top of it - it is sold in lengths to be added to the top of fences - my DH increased the height of the neighbor's fence in our back yard by about 18 inches by adding that. I have a hedge of hydrangeas here in front of a tall fence with star jasmine growing on it - both types of flowers are white, which looks good in the shade, and it looks great. So, there are all kinds of possibilities, including of course planting rose in the sunny parts. Personally, I would not struggle to plant any roses in the shade, where even if they survived they would not be happy. Plants planted where they are happy will make you happier in the long run. When you get your SG planned, please share the plan and pics with us! Jackie

I just looked at the first 4-5 photos. That does look a bit pathetic. My concerns would be how much moisture they have been getting. Since you are in Illinois, I am not sure if you have had as much rain as we have had up a bit further north or not, but it could be too much moisture. The other issue might be your fertilizers. A lot of the time, in ground with decent soil, you need little to no extra nutrients. You might have over done it by tilling in the fertilizer into the soil. The 12-12-12 ratio might be a bit high on the P and K parts. Normally people use ferts that a bit higher in the N than the P and K. There isn't a whole lot you can do now since your plants are already planted unless you wanted to pull all or some and try then in containers for the rest of the season. But it sounds like something happened since last year since you said you had good luck in that spot in prior years. The curling leaves could be a number of things but fertilizer burn could be one of them...Pests or virus's also can do that. I hope someone else has a bit more guidance for you. Keep us posted on how it turns out. Bruce

Thanks for the follow ups... here are some answers to questions: -- I sprayed the entire garden with the miracle-gro hose end feeder thing 1 week ago (2 weeks after initial planting). No other fertilizer has been added. --If at a garden shop these plants had been outside? Answer is no, they were inside a green house --How did you store them for the week prior to planting? Answer is I left them outside for about 1 day before putting them in the garden. --Are they getting enough sun? Answer is - I think so, they get sun from about 9:30AM to about 6pm or so - and it is full sun. Filtered sun earlier than 9:30 and same for after 6pm. One of the better boy plants seems to be doing good. It's stem has gotten a lot thicker and it has quite a few new leaves that look pretty good. The same goes for the romas - there is one plant that seems to be doing the best of the 4. From your questions, it appears that I should have waited before putting them in the garden? I really want to see these come back, but it will definitely be a learning experience at the least!

Take a look at the Rejuvenation.com site. They have a LOT of wall bracket lights including some that might suit...certainly a lot of vintage ones. It's hard to tell exactly what would work with the current flourescent in place...can't tell how far out the bracket could/must extend to not hit the valance, etc. Rejuvenation is costly, but one of the wonderful things about it is the ability to switch shades from the one they show, so you can pick a shade that's shallow, keeping the height short. When you do that (under customization), it will give you (under specifications) the height including whatever shade you've picked. I particularly like the Ford's and the Halfway for a vintage look. And once you figure out something that would work, you may be able to find a less -expensive version elsewhere. Here is a link that might be useful: Rejuvenation wall bracket