So far, so good. My wood guy, who does a LOT of gardening work in my area gave me a couple of what I call "disks" and they call "units or stations" of Sweeney's Deer Repellent for the roses which the previous owner of my home planted in front of the house. He reported 100% success with this product in all of his client's gardens, many of which include roses. He's not the kind of guy that generally recommends products, so that alone got my attention. Last year, I gave in and caged my roses, except for one which I have had high hopes they would kill. I put the disks out next to my two least favorite roses and left the others caged. Until I put the disks out, the deer have blatantly climbed the stairs up to the garden to eat the uncaged rose and other plants that deer are not supposed to like. The hated rose now has blooms and the other plants are coming back. Since deer do not read, I cannot guarantee the product, but so far, so good. Smiles, Lyn Here is a link that might be useful: Sweeney's Deer Repellent

Fence costs are catch-as-catch-can. If the landlord neighbor didn't want to pay for the fence when it was built, nothing you can do about that. You either pay for the fence and make it yours, or don't put it up. If you want a fence that bad, you pay for it. It's certainly not fair to demand payment later when someone else moves in. It's very common to set back fences 6" in my city. I don't know if it's a requirement. I do know it's common for adverse possession to only apply if someone is squatting without permission. IF the fence regulations already require a setback, I can't imagine an adverse possession case getting any traction based on the fact that the fence was built to code. Even if there's no setback requirement, you may still be protected if you specifically allow someone to use YOUR land, as in giving a neighbor permission to use the 6" strip. Or, if you specifically prohibit it. "Squatter's rights" to land usually apply when the neighbor used it and the owner knew about it and did nothing. Our neighbors accidentally put a block wall raised bed a few inches past the line. They moved. The new neighbors brought it to my attention and I said they didn't have to remove the entire wall on my account (it's only 4 feet long anyway). I gave them permission to encroach on my property with their wall. It's still my property and will remain so. Of course, it should really be in writing because if it ever goes to court, there's no documentation, but in my case it's a de minimus condition, and we get along fine with the neighbors.

Hi Beth Since no one else has chimed in about The Generous Gardener, I'll put in my two cents. In my garden it's more or less a once-bloomer, and in some years a "none-ce" bloomer. The blooms are a muddy cream and don't particularly stand out or smell nice when they bloom. It wants to be huge - I wind the canes around the base of an arch to its back - and I shudder to think how big it would get in your zone. What it doesn't want to do much is, um, bloom. Some of that might be a reluctance to bloom after being cut to the ground until it puts on massively long canes, so it might be better in your zone. Still, I don't think the blooms are anything to write home about, and if it weren't in a low-traffic spot in my yard it might be my second shovel-pruned rose ever. Most Austins do quite well in my cold climate even being pruned to the ground, but this isn't one of them. Here's the most attractive bloom shot of a bush of TGG I could find. The blooms open up like this and blow pretty quickly, but I do notice that the bush is blooming when only knee high in July here, so it doesn't seem to need all those large canes it wants to grow. Here's the best bloom shot I've got, and even this one has that nasty browning on the edges as soon as the weather gets at all hot. Of course your results may vary, but I think the other roses you have listed are a more reliable and interesting option for you. Cynthia

Rachael- I live in MA in the tristate state area. Most DA's do get black spot if you don't spray. A couple that have done well for me are 'Windermere' and 'Queen of Sweden'. These are virtually disease free and flower nicely. Windermere is creamy white and QOS is soft pink. I have a rescued 'Wedgewood Rose'. She flowered nicely and was pretty disease resistant and winter hardy but was eaten by a vole this past winter. I was able to save one small root cluster and she's growing again. 'Teasing Georgia' did well here but she was eaten by voles too! Darcy Busells was okay for disease resistance and is a deep pink red. Not a lot of fragrance but she does flower nicely. 'Heritage' is disease resistant for me and repeats okay. Pale pink roses that shatter quickly though. 'The Generous Gardener' was lost to voles too but was pretty disease resistant, nicely scented and flowered well. The roses are pale pink. Easy Elegance has some nice roses but most have little to no fragrance if that is a must. 'Sweet Fragrance' has deep peach colored flowers that fade to a paler pink as they age. 'Yellow Submarine' is bright yellow and fades to soft yellow as the flowers age. 'My Girl' has cherry red blooms that stay red until the petals drop. Julia Child is a nice yellow and has nice scent. She is pretty disease free for me. My own root Julia seems hardier and more disease resistant than the grafted one I have. Have you considered Kordes roses? All of the ones I grow are very hardy and very disease resistant. They haven't hit their stride for flowering yet since all are own root and none are more than two years old. Are you looking to stay pastel or more bold colors? Kordes 'Dark Desire' is deep red with a hint of purple. 'Fiji' is cherry red pink. Their arbor series roses are highly recommended as short climbers. 'Florentina' is red, 'Tangerine Skies' is deep orange. 'Honeymoon' is cream and is completely cane hardy for me and flowers well considering she's only two years old own root which take a while to catch up to their grafted cousins. 'Quicksilver' is a lavender color. 'Kiss Me Kate' is pink and is listed as fragrant but new to the US this year so there's not a lot of feedback yet. 'Jasmina', which I don't grow, is a more vivid pink and fragrant. 'Zaide' is medium pink and fragrant. Both of mine came through winter well and have no black spot. Palatine from Canada has many grafted bare root Kordes roses available. Are you going to paint your porch railings white? The roses would "pop" more against white as opposed to weathered wood. Sharon