If you really want something no more than 3 ft. high, you can do something I have always wanted to do (but have no area to do it in) Plant a hedge of International Herald Tribune. It is no more than 3 ft. -- DO NOT PRUNE IT. It is neatly upright, blooms constantly, and puts out a show of huge sprays of truly purple semi-double blooms. In Southern California, it has no disease. My neighbor comes over to visit it. :-) It would be spectacular, and need no care. Jeri

In a similar vein, I went on a rant to my SO the other day about "low maintenance" or "no maintenance" yards and plants, to the extent that I swerved into no-maintenance houses, carefree jobs and "easy" children. There comes a point, with all this no-care philosophy, when one must ask oneself: what do I care about and into what am I willing to put my time, energy and love? If one buys a house touted for its low-maintenance, a yard for it's plant-it-and-forget-it ability, wishes for mild, temperate children, looks for stress-less jobs, and well-adjusted friends--what has one actually chosen? The absence of care, time and love. There is no struggle, no righteous fight against nature’s elements or discordant events. Ones daily interactions are meaningless because all the struggle and all the desire to support, love and aid those interactions has been lobotomized, split away from reality, cleaved apart with aloof precision. This is not to say everyone should wish for a garden requiring of sweeping measures of care, or that it is some terrible thing to wish for mild-mannered--or at the very least, not ragingly monstrous--children. Rather, there should be some line one must establish, some point breached that makes us think, “yes, I should care about this; I should put care into this”. So much indifference and impassivity disassociates us from reality--messy, frustrating, trying, tiring reality, but also rewarding, giving, bountiful, harmonious, joyous reality. I, for one, choose to place my love and energy into my garden, my plants, and my roses. I deadhead roses because I know I’ll have a lovely second showing sooner rather than later. I thoughtfully prune to give my roses the opportunity to show their best features. I fill planters with colorful annuals, propping them out front so passer-byers might catch a glimpse into my reality, the things I choose to care for and put my love into. I plant roses that require some degree of love and attention, because the fragrance of a single rose fills me with harmony and peace. Frivolous? Perhaps. Meaningless? I think not. Who is to say what might bring another meaning? So, yes, I understand the thought that sometimes that which requires no attention elicits little wonder. Similarly to children vying for their parent’s attention, I was under the mistaken idea that striving for perfection would win my parents’ approval or attention. Rather it was the rebellious, drug and sex fueled antics of my siblings that so ensnared their attention. For good or ill, sometimes a little fuss and muss is necessary to truly appreciate something. What is appreciation without perspective?

Great Pics of the house and garden Joe. Looking forward to many more....MM

Hunty, Why do you want 8 standards? Here's me putting in my tuppence worth and I have not even seen your garden and I am new to this. I am learning that some roses, like dare I say it, two teas like Jean Ducher or Duchess of Brabant, that I have ordered I am hoping will flower a lot and be a reasonable height as is a standard. Jean Ducher would be a lovey soft colour and the height of her might look wonderful from inside, perhaps beside a lovely cream tea or china rose that I think are the wayb to go if what you want is a glorious view from inside the house as well as from out in the garden. You could also have some wonderful standards, perhaps in a cream (not white Iceberg but a softer colour with more interesting buds) or peach like the marvellous Just Joey that is always in bloom. Crepuscle would look good beside these as a bush or a climber over a fence or covering something that you wanted to obsure. I am learning that in design of gardens, green is a strong colour and so for maximum impact, the colors like peach and cream are already quite a lot of color and then if one adds some perennials in different shades that are related, like greeny grays and silvery white, it can look wonderful. I have ordered a number of creams but I do not think they all flower continuously alhtough one I am planting is a rose I have had for 8 years - Penelope and never let it have its head - I am now going to let it grow as a shrub as it flowers repeatedly and would look divine beside crespuscle, just joey or the teas I mentioned as it is cream with a soft pinky bud.