Hutchae - I got it from the Kinsman Co Gardener's Catalog - they call it a Moon Gate Arch - here is the link:

https://www.kinsmangarden.com/category/Moon-Gate-Arches

Please take "BEFORE" pics so you can show us the difference when you are done with your project (and some time has passed for the plants to grow).

Joey - your skill in building beds with local rock walls is amazing! Please take pictures and post them in the Spring.

I find all of these stories and pictures so interesting and inspiring and full of good ideas for other gardeners - we need more of you to participate with BEFORE and AFTER pictures and explanations of large or small projects in your garden! IMO pictures of projects, and the results, showing full shots of entire parts of a garden are a nice break from just close ups of blooms.

Jackie

A few years ago we excavated a hillside and put in a retaining wall. The area was heavily overgrown and we discovered a beautiful pink rose blooming under the weeds and brush. So I rescued it...

Before:

After:

It's beautiful!! Did you ever get an identification on the rose? I love your rock wall too :)

Charming! Is that Red Cascade?

Joeywyoming, I have enjoyed your rock wall too! Isn't wall building fun? Vaprovac, good eye, yes that's Red Cascade. No ID on the rose, I occasionally put out a request on the antique forum but have never found anything certain. Once blooming, slightly mossy, suckers like crazy.

It's heaps of fun building rock walls! Like doing a giant jigsaw puzzle with really satisfying results because you don't have to put it back in the box when it is done :)

I love seeing everyone’s transformations!!! What amazing gardens. It’s delightful seeing the differences!

I was also noticing how I “know” so many of your gardens. I was scrolling through, and saw a picture that took my breath away, and I thought, “That looks like Daniela’s garden.” Scrolled up, sure enough, it was Daniela! Even though I don’t post much, it is such fun getting to “know” all of you lovely gardeners. <3

Hey folks! I have mostly just been lurking on this forum, but I’d like to start posting too. I just want to start by saying that I just got about 1,000 new ideas for my evolving backyard garden. Really impressive work everyone!

Ratdog, what a find, and a great reward for all the work you put into the retaining wall.

Hutchae, that was a huge undertaking for anyone, but especially at 8 mo. pregnant with two little helpers. The bench at the end of the pathway is the cherry on top. Do you have a new baby yet?

Lotus, we love lurkers, and we love it even more when we get to meet you. Welcome! I've been here for years and I am still learning something new every time I log on. There are a lot of Southerners here who will love to connect with you and who are familiar with your climate.

Jackie, thank you for the info about your Apple Blossom. There is one in the display garden at the Rosarium Garden Center (Northland), so I'm sure it does great in this climate. I've admired it for years. However, it may be the Burbank version. To my untrained eye, they look alike. It is always nice to see a reference to Anne Belovich, whom I admire. There was a wonderful video with her that I viewed from time to time, but it is now gone. It concluded with her standing by her split rail fence with a massive Dortmund surrounding her. I can't imagine why something so lovely and educational would be taken down. There are still other videos of interviews with her, but none like that one.

I appreciate your answer about dead heading. Some of the old roses are almost impossible to deadhead. Pruning is another story, and I love the ones that don't require it, like Therese Bugnet, who, I've read, prefers no pruning, but continues to bloom beautifully either way.

Ratdogheads - that is UNBELIEVABLE!!!! You totally changed the area!! You've made it into a glorious rose resort!! Oh my goodness!!! I went back up for another look...and it's even prettier than I remembered!!

Lotus - Awesome!!! I'm so glad you decided to immerse yourself in our group!! Welcome!!!

Unfortunately I've lost so many of my pictures...that I can't contribute here. But, I'm REALLY enjoying this!

Flowersaremusic-yes, my baby is now 2 years old! The first pictures are right after we bought the house and it had lots of raised dirt piles full of weeds, so I spend that summer weeding, leveling everything and laying some stone. The next year I rototilled and did the grass. This year we did the fence and I'm waiting for everything to fill in, lots of small roses and clematis among edibles and other things and I just planted 6 baby bolero bands. I was going to take one yesterday as an in progress after but realized nothing is really in bloom. I should have taken more this summer.

He's SO ADORABLE, CUTEST BOY EVER !!

Ratdog, that is amazing - not only did you save that rose, but you used the rocks from your own garden to build that beautiful wall! If you have any sort of Rose Society in your area, you might take a cutting from that mystery rose when it is blooming to a meeting, and see if anyone can ID it. Have you posted close-up clear pictures of the blooms, buds, foliage (including new growth vs old growth), hips (if any), and canes on the Antique Rose Forum? Since it is a once bloomer, and obviously cold hardy, that should get you some good responses. Oh, also pics of any mossy bits.

flowersaremusic - I seem to recall that Anne thought the 1932 introduction after Burbank's death might have been an error, and they just found Dawson's Apple Blossom on the Burbank property and assumed it was one of his roses. If that is the case, then they ARE the same rose. Did you know that Anne has written 2 wonderful books about roses? Look them up - I can't remember the titles right now, but one was about rambling roses.

Jackie

Hutchae - oh!! He's so adorable!! He looks like he's evaulating plants. :) Your yard looks great! I love the colors!

Jackie and Sheila - this is OUR Anne? How amazing!!! I'm so proud of her!!! :) :)

Thanks Sheila, for posting the one about Ramblers! I found the other one she came out with recently - it is on Large Flowered Climbers, and I like it because it is the only book I own which has info on many hybrid Giganticas, which fascinate me (I know, I'm weird).

Meanwhile, we need more "BEFORE AND AFTER" shots of all of your gardens to cheer us up! We all need that, for one reason or another in addition to covid.

(I need cheering up now, especially because there are NEW huge fires in Napa and Sonoma county, which are just North of here - we are getting a lot of smoke from them. Many wineries have burned down, and they think the entire grape harvest has been lost - we are right in the middle of the time that they would normally be harvested and crushed- because smoke is not a flavor you can do anything about).

Jackie

I have another in progress to share. I wish I had afters but I need a few years for things to grow in. I had troubles finding "before" because I hated this space so much, it was small, right off our kitchen, dead trees, weeds, chain link and so much mud during half the year. The first picture is looking into the dreaded corner and the second two are what you looked at directly coming out of kitchen.

In progress afters, we still have some work to do on the deck. We want to get a fountain for the back corner by the Camilia(we live in a city) and I planted two star jasmine which I hope will fill out the 35 foot long pergola in a few years, I'd love to layer an Eden rose over it. I also have a Cloud 10 rose I'm training up the middle of the fence which will hopefully fill in more next year. I have 3 huge pots with Sudachi citrus trees and panicle Hygrangeas but I'm hoping to get some pots with a few Evelyn roses. The rest is filled in with Roxanne, Hygrangeas and agapanthus, anemones and silver swan spurge. Still working on it but so glad I don't want to cry when I look at it anymore.

What beautiful pics and work! I hope I can share my before and after next spring!

I only have before, somewhat before, and in progress photos. I just started planting this month.

a jungle of invasive trees and ivy.

Pulled the weeds out, saw off tree trunks, digging up old bricks, pavers, rocks in preparation for planting. I started planting some of my roses in the ground in the back

Continuing the work this week, rushing to get my roses in the ground so they can establish before frost. My baby Honeymoon planted a week ago gave me a bloom today, how encouraging!

So far I really like this Honeymoon climber. New branches keep on producing buds and blooming even though it’s a young band. My other Kordes climbers didn’t bloom much in their first year.

—Stacy

Beautiful Stacy! can't wait to see the final vision. That Honeymoon rose is lovely, your making me regret not picking one up when I saw one for sale a few weeks ago.

Jackie, I did know Anne had written some books, but I don't have them. I just loved listening to her talk in the interviews. She spoke so much like my mother and grandmother, no nonsense, humble and very dear. I only have 2 ramblers and really know nothing about the class.

Sheila, that's a book I would like to get someday. I'll save my pennies. An Amazon reviewer showed some pages that made me want to keep reading.

A few years ago the staff at Northland visited Anne's garden and said it was truly charming, not at all like a public garden that has a staff to keep it pristine, but like our home gardens with a few weeds, things that needed attention, and charming in it's authenticity, and that Anne and her husband were hospitable and gracious. They were quite old then, and I believe they are both gone now. A loss for the rose community.

Hutchae84 - WOW! Your pictures are amazing. I love that the old camellia is in both the Before and the After - it makes it easier to orient oneself when trying to figure out where things are. You definitely got rid of that "dreaded corner". I hope you will post some more "in progress" (or After) pics next Spring, so we can see how the new roses are doing!

Stacy - your work on what I assume is your back yard/garden starts out making a huge point about how important fences are! They not only make "good neighbors", they define the space, and bring the sight lines back into focusing on your garden, not the neighbor's property, and of course provide privacy. You have done so much hard work so far! The planting part is more fun, of course - I hope you enjoy it. Can't wait to see your "After" pictures.

OK - Thank all of you who have been posting pics - this is working great - I hope more of you will post more BEFORE and AFTER pictures!

Jackie

@Hutchae84: thank you. So far I really like Honeymoon. The foliage is healthy and glossy too. I ordered another one from Palatine and hope the grafted one will grow even more vigorous than my own root band. You are so creative. Your garden looks like it was done by a professional garden designer! What’s the creeping plant that you grew between the pavers?

@Jackie: I was planning to plant this past spring but the Covid situation delayed the fence installation and the renovation so I lost a whole growing season. But I grew some roses in nursery pots on my patio so I now have a number of good sized climbers to put in the ground. I am so looking forward to the spring!

-Stacy

Flowersaremusic-I just realized my comment about your garden didn't upload. I love how private your garden is and all the trees, feels like a park. Those white roses (mind if I ask what they are?) and strawberry Hygrangea are some of my favorites. I'm on the west side of the mountains so I am jealous how big your lot is. I assume you are closer to the Canadian border because of the trees?

I agree Jackie! All these pictures are lifting my spirits and giving me some motivation. I miss the plants in the winter but I love the time to reflect and plan. Also gives my wallet a break from the nurseries ;)

Jackie, your pic of Anne's other book just appeared. I'd love to own both. It would be hard to choose only one.

Jackie - so scary!!! I wish you had a torrential downpour that would put all the fires out. Stay safe.

Hutchae - you have tamed the wilderness and created an oasis!! It looks refined now! :)

Stacy - what a ton of work!!! And the fence looks great!! Your Honeymoon blooms are such a nice prize for all of your hard work! Happy happy!!

Jackie - well said about fences!

stacy - me too!!! Come on spring!! I want to grow my Palatine french roses from NIRP!! :)

Carol

OK, time for someone else to post BEFORE and AFTER pictures of your garden, or a part of it, to cheer us all up.

This thread is definitely cheering me up, and I need it - yesterday there was smoke here so much that we could not even see our local mountain, and it is not far away, and 3,000+ feet high! The fires in the Napa and Sonoma wine producing areas just North of here are only 5% contained, sigh. (I am contemplating a visit to a major art museum - they have to have very expensive systems to control the air in the museums to protect the art, and most of them have indoor lunch places. When this happened last year we went to the Crocker in Sacramento for a planned look at a particular exhibit, and it was so nice to be in clean, cool air that we stayed for lunch, and all day, looking at everything in the entire museum - I would have slept there if they had let me!).

Jackie

I bought a house with a nice established garden but that doesn't stop me from changing things.

Summer 2018

The patio area, spring 2019

Early summer 2020

Edhelka - I love what you did with that patio corner! Adding outdoor seating is always a good idea, and it looks as if you have vegetable beds now, and a greenhouse - is that what that is? Such a transformation. Thank you!

Jackie

Jackie, thanks. Yes, vegetable beds (herbs and blueberries in the first, strawberries in the second and the third is for whatever I want every year, usually beans and courgettes). The greenhouse is small but good enough for overwintering small plants and a couple of tomatoes and chillies in summer.

There will be roses on the pergola and on the fence panel but they are still small.

Everyone's garden photos are beautiful! My gardens are messy......

Before: this place had no roses, brought 12 potted KO rose trees from the suburb to the country.

Started a lazy garden by digging in the lawn (2018):

Bought some bare root rose trees from JP in 2018, a year later they were soaking up the sun (2019).

Everyone is happy under the sun, roses, weeds and grass (2020).

Will do better weed control next year. :-)

I love exuberant flowing gardens - way my favorite over gardens which are all neat and tidy. The Lord knows my garden is NEVER neat and tidy. You have done a lot in a short time!

Jackie

Thanks Jackie! I always want a garden like yours and a house dressed in thousands of blooms, breath in fragrant air day and night.......but in this ice hole it's not an easy task to catch such a dream. :-)

Jackie - what a clever idea!! I never would have thought of that!! :)

Edhelka - you really improved your area!! Beautiful!!! I love the rockscapes you did!!! And the plants are wonderful!

Summers - I love those tree roses!!! They REALLY add to the space!! And I love all of the roses you added! :)

Great pics! Enjoying this thread, really inspiring to see everyone's spaces change into beautiful gardens and great to see wider shots of everyone's roses to understand their growth habits and not just flowers. I'm still new, but hopefully in a couple of years I'll have some to share.

What fun! I love seeing everyone’s transformations. Here are my Before pictures.

These are the After pictures.

Of course the roses went in too!

A year later things have grown and I couldn’t resist Sweet Chariot, Softee and Marie Pavie in the “annuals” beds along the patio.

I also like a bit of a wild look, and so knowing this about myself, I put in very strong outlines of hardscape so it would never look too messy. I designed everything myself, but had a wonderful landscape designer help me put it into reality. She really like my design so didn’t change anything about it. There is butternut squash out there now running amok. I love butternut squash. The green babies are fabulous in stir fry. Made Kung Pao Chicken today with one baby butternut plus red peppers from the farmers market.

I love that stone path and the variety of colors and soft natural plants !!

And pictures today with smoke blowing in making the light very gold.

The Gulf Fritillaries are not eating my passion vine fast enough! I will have a lot of work cut out for me in January when the caterpillars are gone and I remove it all back to the trunk. There is a constant flutter of butterflies in my garden, which I love! The passion vine is just for them. Also, Crimson Glory should be coming from Heirloom next week and it will grow along the cable fence shown to the left of the row of Lomandra ‘Platinum Beauty’ in the brown planters.

Stephanie, your pictures are amazing! Such lush beauty, where BEFORE there was nothing, or not much. I like what you did with your house, too - adding a covered patio - great for the summertime! All of your baby roses will grow quickly in your climate - I can't wait to see pictures from next Spring - please post them.

You will love Crimson Glory - here is a pic of mine:

Stephanie - You really have an eye for design!! I have none. I couldn't design my way out of a paper bag (if that makes any sense LOL) Beautiful transformation!!! And I love your idea about having certain plants for butterflies/caterpillars. :)

Jackie - talks about RED!!! Fabulous!!!