Depends on what effect you are looking for. There are plenty of examples of groups, circles, pairs of trees which have grown up together and look very good. I was just looking at a group of 200 year old beeches in my local park, 5 I think, which stand in a circle and form one giant crown. But it may depend on your climate and whether you are prone to snow load, high winds etc. Not my own picture but this is the group I mean. Here is a link that might be useful: Group of beeches

I understand, Seil. More than 25 years ago, I would leave an overhead, oscillating sprinkler going over large areas of my Newhall garden, requesting the community gardening staff to turn them off when they left for the day, on triple digit days. The horse manure mulch disappeared quickly. The foliage was huge, plants even more so, and they flowered amazingly. Water was cheap and plentiful, so not an issue there and then. There were no disease or insect issues. The plants were fully clothed in very dense, durable foliage and there was no such thing as sun scald nor Flat Headed Apple Borers which became great issues once that type of watering had to be discontinued due to availability and cost. Black spot and mites were frequent issues with the own root plants we propagated as volunteers at The Huntington. I learned early when bringing home any new plant such as those to pull off all of the foliage before bringing it into the garden. I had an area in filtered sun under a tree where I kept a pile of horse manure. I'd clump the newly arrived own roots in their pots together, surround and fill between them with the manure, often inside them as mulch, then overhead water until new foliage began developing. No mites, no diseases and the plants exploded into growth quickly. A bit of hardening them off in larger cans and higher levels of heat and light and they were ready for planting once they'd filled the five gallon cans. Growing them up in larger cans also permitted me to move them around to see what position was best to their liking. It often made quite a difference. At the beach, I had a number of customers who regularly used my "proprietary blend" of Ultra Fine and Miracle Grow sprayed every two weeks except between the middle of July through the middle of October. In the Perma Fog, it prevented disease, eliminated the constant aphids and saw flies and kept really terrible things there, like one lady's beloved and hated Paul Neyron, viable. He caught her heart in books and she was determined to grow him. He languished until I suggested the Ultra Fine and MG foliar application. She had severe bronchitis, but made sure she brought me a bouquet of beautiful Paul Neyron from her bush! Used during the heat, that mixture did burn, but when there weren't heat and light intensities to contend with, it worked wonders. NO way I could have ever used it in any garden at home! I tried it once, learned my lesson the hard way right there and then! Anything presented as being even slightly phytotoxic WILL burn here. I am in total agreement with your walking the roses daily. I can't imagine having them unless I wanted to walk them every chance I got. Each has its own personality, likes, dislikes, needs and will quickly let you know if you don't provide them. It's the best way not only to head off problems early, but also to detect sports. They can happen so quickly right in front of you and seemingly behind your back. A big part of the serendipity for me! Kim

cecilt; Sorry I didn't see your message til now. We faced southeast, the only time we had direct sun was from around 11:30 - 1:30 in the heat of the summer. We are in southern BC, weather similar to westcoast of Washington & Oregon, temperate most of the year. The room was 14 x 12, it was built on post & pier as opposed to a full foundation. We never had a problem with extreme heat, in the full heat of the day it was only ever 1 or 2 degrees warmer than outside, believe me we tried to get it hotter just as a test. We didn't have air conditioning in the house, but it was never a problem. Just open the windows on the shady side & you would get nice ventilation. The roof was all glass, my only complaint would be make sure you have access to clean it easily if you have trees nearby. We had a small gas fireplace put in which had a timer on it, we would get up in the morning to find the room nice & warm & the cat rolling around in front of the fire. We had one small leak where the builders forgot to put in a piece of flashing, not on the sunroom part, but on the solid wall area, it was taken care of the same day that I called. Four Seasons is a franchise, so it is most important to check out the builders. We checked them out thoroughly, they were professional, wrote up a contract, we knew what they were doing & we knew what we were responsible for, they stuck to the timeline & the workers were clean & respectful. I don't know what else I can add, other than, if we were to do it over, we would have bought a bigger one, because we lived in that room. It's so wonderful to be out in the garden especially in the gloom of west coast winters.

Sounds like a good plan to me! It's your yard, so what you want, as long as your neighbors aren't showing up at your door with pitchforks and torches.