I'm not doing this, right now, but I'd love to see what others do.

I'm like you Patty, slowing down and limiting the number of my roses to around 40, where I previously had almost 100. Drought, global warming which has meant an ever hotter climate in my region, and less energy have brought me to this point, and I hope not to have to give up any more. Since I have quite a few teas, which tend to get large, it's not as limiting as it sounds. One quarter acre is not that tiny, and I hope you'll be able to fit in everything you've brought with you nicely.

My lot in Olympia, Washington was about 1/6 acre if I remember correctly. If it were my garden I'd forget about grass (well, perhaps a clearing with enough sun for a clothesline). Go vertical, and put climbers everywhere. And just think hard about what I really wanted the most.

I have 200 varieties (several specimens of some of them) on a half acre so even less than half that size is quite a large lot in my opinion. I would welcome the wonderful opportunity to pick only the best roses among my favorites and finally place them to their greatest advantage and avoid the spottiness in my garden. I know so much more about plants after 24 years and if I could start all over again I would arrange trees and ornamental shrubs much better than I did when I started my present garden and consider shade and scent more. I would think much more about views from the windows in all seasons but especially in fall and winter. I would have much less grass and more gravel. With our drought in later years gravel has proved a wonderful medium for growing drought resistant plants like ornamental grasses, pinks, lavender and other plants with blue and grey leaves.

I managed to stuff 1068 roses ( all classes) into an acre.Combined them with different perennials. Then downsized to half an acre and so far have planted 400 roses, but only 5 ramblers and 2 species. Now I have them mainly in large beds to make it easier to fertilize and water them.

Good to think about these things before picking up the shovel! <g>

Before I moved to my present garden I had around 60 roses in an area 45’ by 45’, with a tiny central lawn, the saving grace there was my neighbors to the northeast had put up a ugly but strong 6’ high concrete block wall, so that is where some big climbers went straight up...fences and arbors will help in your case as well I would think...keep us up to date on how it plays out, nothing as exciting as a new garden!

cheerio

claire

Hi, Patty. I hope all is going well with your last minute move preparations! My apologies that I didn't catch your note on the Rose Forum. I pop in there once in a blue moon. I can only just keep up with the Antique Rose Forum and my phone messages, texts and emails...and as you'll have noticed from my tardy reply to your email, I'm perpetually behind on that piece of my world! :-) Someday, when I launch into a blog, I'll be pressed to don my running shoes so I can track my FaceBook page.

My current garden photos are slim and scattered, but I'll see what I can dig up. Finishing some hardscaping, planting and training is still on my agenda, so a number of photo ops aren't ready for public life. I have 3 arches, a pile of stone, 2 trellises and a stack of copper pipe and soaker hoses in my garage. Needless to say, the cars have not seen shelter in years!

I do have a very small garden, and I grow 70 roses. A chunk are in pots in my driveway. I never counted at my last residence, and the number fluctuated, but at any moment in time, I might have grown around 200 roses. (I found a few plant lists in my files.) So, this garden is downsized, and I may downsize a bit more. I gift a lot of roses to friends and neighbors.

I am selective about the dimensions of my roses, so large climbers and ramblers are scaled back. With that said, fences, trellises and arches are my friends. I grow Yellow Lady Banks, Violette, Veilchenblau, Zephirine Drouhin, Alba Semi Plena, MAC, etc. Each one carefully selected as beloved and designed. My accidental Madame Plantier acquisition stumped me for awhile. but she's now in the mix. (Thank you to Paul Barden for your RVR Armide/MP heads up!)

I have ripped out/or am ripping out all my grass. My daughter runs at the park (our yard is super small) and our dog takes walks and has play dates in big runs. Roses are filling every bed.

Dividing my garden into "rooms" has been critical. Each division involves climbing structures and "doorways" with paths woven throughout. I inherited a deck with the house but actually hate wood decks and their maintenance. I am creating another small, mixed materials patio seating area. The front porch is fairly large and contains a bench and chair.

I terraced the small front yard. A stone mason friend and former business associate laid a stepped walk and small front patio centered in the dry stack double-tiered raised beds. I laid paths traveling to and through the skinny side yard. A wood fence created private garden spaces, inner city security and climbing rose material. I bartered with a contractor friend for a wood arch with a touch of gingerbread.

I "cottage garden" in tumbled swirls of shoehorned plants. Everything mingles--Blush Noisette and honeysuckle, clematis and Zephirine, Gallicas and geraniums, etc. Nary a patch of soil is visible. I do a lot of thinning, but weeds don't really jump out and scream, they just camouflage, blend and contribute to the mix.

When I first moved, I just potted up starts and dug some favorite roses and transferred what I could. The move was somewhat sudden, so I had to work fast. Knowing my top 10 keepers helped with my decisions. Sentimental plants were listed as top priority. Leaving the rest was a life lesson in finding joy in the moment, appreciating contributions from caring, generous rose friends near and far and learning to be mindful of the unique details of my current roses. I have 10 plants in my garden that Antique Rose Forum members have shipped to my doorstep. The spirit of the gardeners on this forum is an example of the way I'd like the world to be. Please let us know if you must leave behind something you wish to grow again. If it's in my garden and can be divided or propagated, it's yours!

I'm about to make a family IKEA run for my daughter's bookcase. Love those Swedish meatball dinners. :-) When I return, I'll see if I can unearth a few current garden photos. I will post more next year as I complete my construction and planting projects. Best wishes for the move! Carol

For me a garden of a quarter to at most a third of an acre would be ideal, provided of course that you could use most of it. While roses are what I love best, they are not the only kind of plant I want to grow. I've been reducing the number of rose for several years. I thought I was done reducing, but I lost a rose to Armillaria mellea (oak root fungus) a few weeks ago. If that continues I may soon have fewer roses yet.

YMMV, but for me, a well filled garden of favorite plants you can actually care for makes the ideal garden.

Thank you very much for the responses. Reading about your gardens only fills my mind with lovely portraits which aide ideas for my own garden. The yard is over grown, so cleaning up is first on the list. I plan to have help getting shrubs, and small trees back in to the ground, perennials I plan to do and will enjoy that. The garden is not only filled with roses, but some shade plants; ferns, hellebores, deciduous azaleas and plenty of bulbs and ephemerals, etc. The sun loving perennials will enjoy enjoy the high shade in areas such as the clematis and roses alike.

I will place what I can in the ground, then will share with garden friends, here on the forum and local, in hopes of a new home for the rest.

Again, thank you all for such a loving community here on this forum; it has been priceless for me.

Patty

This is a great community, isn't it? I wholeheartedly agree. :-)

For whatever they're worth, I'm going to drop a few photos of my tiny garden into your thread. The images are not the best, but they're all I could dig up using technology that talks to Houzz.

Below are two front garden pics prior to my mauve redesign. I do like soft apricot roses but I decided to break them up a bit and distribute them across front and back. The first image shows front steps and stone landing,

The second shows the corner of the front retaining wall with Perle d'Or. Always in bloom.

The last shows Clematis Etoile Violette which climbs the porch posts and extends across the front porch roofline. Carol

These are some of the hot colors I removed. They used to cascade along the front steps. Carol

I just found a side yard photo with my Apothecary's Rose. That's actually a few canes of MAC on the fence to the left.

Love what you've done.

Thank you, Jeri! Carol

My compliments, Carol.

I love everyone's lush photos!

I actually prefer smaller gardens because I love the layered lush look. My old garden was much smaller and my whole yard was beautiful and lush. I always wanted more space. Now, we are on about 4 acres and I thought, 'Wow! I can have a huge garden lots of room for plants' etc. However, it would take forever to get a lush look here lol. Sooo, I just have a few smaller areas with lots of plants still crammed together or pot ghettos and the rest of the property is treed or looks sparse lol. I guess old habits die hard. I think sometimes less is definitely more :)

~Sjn

Thanks, Melissa! Same back to you.

Sultry, don't blink or you may find your garden grows like my last one. I kept shaving away lawn and purchasing, propagating and swapping for roses and perennials until I was surrounded by a jungle of blooms! For the truly obsessed, lushness creeps in on stealthy, silent roots.... :-)

Carol