Andreajp, these are lovely photos and a beautiful look to aspire to. It's a good idea to choose from the roses at the cemetery - pretty much an opportunity to find guaranteed winners for your garden. The photos really excited me because my front garden is finally getting mature enough that Souv de la Malmaison and Mme Lombard are looking like one bush because ML is reaching out wide. I don't mind (yet), because I've long been an admirer of the thicket look. I tried to plant 6' on center (but sometimes not) which pretty much guarantees that teas will be overlapping some, so plan accordingly and be patient with the blank spaces for a few years. Like Jeri said, fill in with annuals. One word of advise if you use Purple Coneflowers (which I recommend). They are thugs root-wise so don't plant them under or even near the canopy of the rose. Since my roses are fairly disease resistant, I don't worry about air circulation, but being able to get to the roses for maintenance is important. Give yourself room to get to each rose from the front and the back. Make an alley behind the roses if you're planting against a fence. Then squeezing in to reach the sides, if they touch at maturity, isn't too bad unless you have a bad back and can't reach awkwardly. There are definite consequences to planting too close. And remember in Zone 9 they will get big and probably even huge. If those photos were taken in the spring flush, those bushes will be a mess by the end of the season. Can't wait to hear which ones you choose. Sherry Here is a link that might be useful: If only sweat were irrigation...

Hi, I see you are in the United Kingdom. This is the native plant forum for North America so you might not have as many knowledgeable folks here for your area. I would suggest you post in the Name that Plant forum (which is very close to this one in the list). Here is a link that might be useful: Name that Plant forum

#3 should have read hibiscus schizopetalus, not Schizanthus. I couldn't remember how to spell it and just did a search under hibiscus schi. I never knew there was another variety with a similar spelling.

Sophannah, in the US Rose of Sharon means Hybiscus Syriacus. In the UK iT means Hypericum calycinum. A good example of why the botanical names are so important. I've never heard H syriacus called by anything other than its botanical name here. Never heard it called Rose Mallow. If anything, that name might possibly be applied to Lavatera trimestris. Btw the colour of the Hibiscus has been doctored. They're not really that blue. Glads do best if you lift the corms and dry them off to replant. They do tend to rot in out climate.