Are you in zone 6 or 7, Daddykat? Roses in zone 7 and up tend to become much larger than those in zone 6 and down, which could impact the 15' of space. You should be able to place 3-5 roses in the space, but, growth habits of individual roses vary. Some roses are more vase like, whereas others grow in a more spreading fashion... which would impact use of your space. The long stemmed cutting variety veers toward hybrid teas which can definitely have a more upright growth habit.

44" is not enough room for any climbing rose that I am familiar with, to grow on a trellis.. although there are miniature climbers, but I believe they will span out to extend over into your doorway. You could train the rose to grow away from the door...that would drive me nuts as I am a stickler for symmetry. I grow climbers, but rather classically and likely a little less creatively. You have come to the right place. If the forum members here cannot come up with a way to grow a rose on the trellis in the space, I do not know who can, or if it is feasible.

Daylilies tend to play well with roses. Mondo grass makes a nice ground cover.

You will want to plant hybrid tea roses which will give you long stems suitable for cutting. As for your question regarding companion plants, I would advise you to wait a bit.

Plant your roses, then wait a year so that you will have some idea of how much space you're really going to have. I would say you could fit maybe 4-5 beautiful bushes in that space...

Desertgarden, we are in zone 6. We have floribunda rose bushes in the front yard and I wouldn't say they are too big, but I suppose that is fairly subjective. Daylilies are an excellent suggestion, also they're one of our favorites.

Streisand Fan, giving the roses some time to develop is a good idea (and my wife agrees with you). We may do that, though I'd eager to get multiple things started.

I can see putting a trellis on the wall and planting Jasmine against the wall and let it climb on the trellis. Then 4/5 HT's along the railing. I don't know what colors you are hunting for. Do you want scent along with good vase life? There are a LOT of good ones to choose from.

Gorgeous Jasmine grows runners non-stop here. Do you know anyone who has it? How does it behave for them?

Well some progress has been made in the rose bed. In fact, I'm nearly ready for planting. Pictures show: the holes I've dug -- back breaking, but a good after-work workout, the mound of excavated soil, the quarry from which the soil was liberated (each rock, hand picked omg (or is it ocd?)), the soil amendments I'm planning to use, and last but not least, the stars of the show. The last is, "Sedona," one of the planned seven hybrid tea roses.

Should I be worried about the bit of irrigation / PVC plumbed under the bed, and exposed at the bottom of one of the holes? Shown with red arrow in pic

Also, please holler with any last minute tips! :)

I should have mentioned, we decided to forego climbers, or any other plants for now. Just a simple rose bed.

Terrific work on the tough digging, DaddyCat! You have good sized deep rose holes and you've planned to add some organics to your soil. I don't envy you the digging out of those rocks - I presume those are rocks you're planning to discard not use as mulch in your bed? In a hot climate particularly, rocks as top mulch can be problematic, and it's so much better to use organic materials that break down and feed the soil. I don't see any kind of top dressing to hold the moisture in once you've planted, like wood chips or leaves, unless you were planning to use the compost this way. You definitely want something to protect moisture in your region.

You may want to check with local resources in Utah to be sure about this, but I was thinking that we use gypsum to increase alkalinity and break down acidic soils. Your soil certainly needs some loosening with all those rocks, but I think in Utah your soil is already plenty alkaline. Unless you've heard otherwise from local sources, I might go easy on the gypsum and concentrate on the other organics like the compost you've pictured. You do want to mix it with your local soil and be sure not to create a "sink" effect of good soil where the rose can't reach out into your native soil, and the roots rot out. Again, it can depend on how dense your soil is how much the sink effect can affect things.

The other really clear tip is not to believe the manufacturers about those peat pots. Do NOT plant those directly in the ground and expect them to break down, particularly with your dry region. They're more likely to leach water away from the rose and hold in the roots of the rose preventing growth. I'd peel the pot away from the outside of the rootball gently like a banana and plant the roots as undisturbed as possible in your holes.

Oh, and as far as my experience goes, the rose won't have any problems with the PVC pipe in one section of the hole - it'll grow roots around it. The only question is if your irrigation system would get clogged by the rose, and I have no experience with those systems to advise one way or the other. In general, I'd say it looks fine.

Sounds like you have some great roses and have done some fantastic preparation. We'll look forward to seeing them when they mature! Do be patient with them, BTW - the standard wisdom is it takes 3 years for roses to really hit their stride, so don't get discouraged if they don't bloom that much this year or the next.

Cynthia

Cynthia, thank you for comments. Its gratifying knowing someone else understands the effort behind those seven innocuous planting holes. Also, your note about mulch is particularly important. I'm a bit torn on what type to use. We want something dark in appearance, but don't want to introduce dyed products into the yard. At a bit of a loss here.

Regarding gypsum, I've done a lot of homework on this topic. To gypsum, or not, that is the question. I've aligned my approach with this article. My understanding is, in a clay-ish soil, such as mine, the gypsum will help reduce the sodicity level resulting in better drainage. There should be no impact on ph since, as you noted, the soil is alkaline. I'm going ahead with the gypsum, though all 50 pounds of that bag you spotted, won't be just for the roses (we're re-doing the entire back yard).

Another quandary I've had is whether to plant the roses in bowls, mounds or at level. I'm planning, "at level," but seeking confirmation or otherwise.

Thanks for posting all those photos--what a fun post to follow along on your before, during, after! I'm impressed how quickly you went from research to decision to planting, this takes me weeks and months (but I do love the brainstorming...)

What varieties did you end up selecting, upright/spreading? 7 roses in 15' bed will be tight as roses grow. (A concern with closer spacing here is reduced air circulation which can lead to greater incidence of fungal diseases, depending on disease pressure in your area.)

I hesitate to mention since you've already planted, but if you end up tinkering around with your design over time I did like your idea of something evergreen in this bed. I could see something more narrow & upright like graham blandy boxwood or sky pencil holly against the house for some winter interest. (That said for over a decade I absolutely could not be bothered to companion plant shrubs because I always crammed in as many roses as possible!)

A last thought on the bushes planted closest to house--especially if under eave. Dry plants not receiving same rainfall in reflected heat was perfect spot for spider mites in my garden, so might want to monitor soil moisture there since it will differ from rest of bed and occasionally spray undersides of leaves with water to check for/help prevent any problems.

Congratulations on your new rose bed!

Littlesmokie, thank you for your comments, and tips about the plants under eaves. Indeed one of the shrubs is under an eave so I'll pay special attention there. The varieties we chose, from left to right are:

1. Grande Dame
2. Peace
3. Secret
4. In the Mood
5. Moonstone
6. Chicago Peace
7. Sedona

We went back and forth, trying to decide whether to put additional interest in this planting bed. In the end, we opted to start with the roses, see how well they do, and how much we enjoy cut flowers (and the cutting therein), then perhaps add more, later.

Let me tell you know it was enough work, as-is. I had to re-do the drip / sprinklers there too -- you can see how crazy it was in the first couple of pictures. I thought the drip line install would be a breeze... boy was I wrong. It took hours. Just pushing the d**n little sprinkler nozzle into the hose line... I digress. Now that its done, shortened, buried neatly along the back wall, I'm satisfied.

Should I wait before feeding them? Pictures show the current status. Its never really, "done," is it? That's sort of the fun.

Which jasmine were you planning on using? Polyanthum aka winter jasmine which is also called pink jasmine is only hardy to 8b or even 9a. It also is more of a once a year bloomer in spring. I love it but hate that it only blooms once here. Plus, they get huge and would easily take over that space. It does smell awesome when it blooms. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1639/#b

Sultry_jasmine_nights, that's a good observation about Pink Jasmine's USDA hardiness. That probably explains why the plant doesn't show up in any of the on-line catalogs of the nurseries in my area.

Wow, Daddy Cat, I'm even more impressed at your efforts looking at the sorry excuse for what passes for "soil" in your region. Even the good soil left after filtering out the rocks looks pretty depleted to my eye, and I think your roses are going to need some consistent infusions of organic material for the foreseeable future.
Fortunately, this is best done by mulching with something organic, which kills two birds with one stone.

In my zone, I use chopped up leaves topped with some shredded bark if I feel like it, since the leaves are free and break down relatively quickly to add to the soil. Don't know if you have many deciduous trees in your area, but they're among the quicker ways to get organic material into the soil. Compost is another quick additive, and you can top-dress with the same compost you used in your hole, however: a) it may promote weed growth more than bark or leaves, b) it may dry up to that light beige color in your heat, and c) it's liable to be expensive as you want a good 3" of mulch I'm guessing in your dry zone. You could try using any old shredded bark (I like cypress) and then top dressing over that with the compost to get the darker color. It might not take as much compost and the bark below it might suppress some weeds. Another option for living mulch would be some kind of annual groundcover, like perhaps alyssum, but it would depend on whether you have enough moisture to go around for both the roses and groundcover.

I wouldn't feed the roses anything solid or granular the first year, though you can water them with a dilute mixture of some liquid fertilizer like seaweed or fish emulsion. A little alfalfa hay or pellets sprinkled around the perimeter of the rose before you put your mulch down will also make the roses happier and put out more "basal breaks" (canes that start from your grafts to make a bushier rose). There are rose fertilizers like Rose Tone or other "Tones" that will also work, but alfalfa is cheaper. In general, less is more as far as feeding your roses in their first year. More than anything they are going to need water in your zone.

It's great that you understand that caring for roses is part of the fun. They don't necessarily take that much work - nothing like the work to maintain them of digging out all that soil! It's just that a little thought ahead of time lets you have the fun of enjoying your roses and avoiding problems down the road. Looks great!

Cynthia

I wish the d**m emitters kept working. I've used ones with a flag that rotates most successfully, but you have to check them often. Beautiful job.

Everything looks great. During this first year, water is going to be the most important thing for your roses. Don't be afraid to drag out the hose and flood the bed every couple of weeks. Water is the life blood of your roses. Fish Emulsion used 1/2 strength every couple of weeks will help the roots establish a good, strong system. Also, try to remember this. When it is time to prune your roses, do NOT prune Peace and Chicago Peace hard at all. Just shape those bush's a little. They have a hard time coming back from a hard pruning. Especially in your area.