Hi Carla! Gee it's nice to see you! I'm not sure if I told you we lost one of our two dogs to cancer just a week before we moved? The other one, Megan, is now finished with her 6 month wait (she's been staying with friends) and we are going back to pick her up this month. It has not been the same without having a dog in the house, I know that when she is here she is going to love the island, and being able to walk along the towpaths, and best of all, I can take her into the local pub where she will be treated as a queen. This is the last photo I took of her before we left, I can't wait for her to get here! Isn't she beautiful? Ann, thank you for all of those wonderful resources!!! I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. Hi Joanne, it is great to hear from you. I have to say that I agree, the neighbourhood is amazing. I think Oxford is one of the most beautiful places in the world. I'm dying to start gardening, but now very much feel like the I am starting all over again, which is kind of exciting actually. :) Hi Carol, thanks for the welcome back! I haven't spoken to Jon or Joan, but maybe I will get lucky and they will speak up and give me some advice. I loved Mottisfont when I visited two summers ago, it was one of the highpoints of.. well sappy as it sounds.. my life. I had wanted to visit for years and it was every bit as beautiful and more than I ever dreamed. I'm hoping that if I can go this year I'll be able to really spend some time in the gardens, last time I was just too rushed to really appreciate all the wonder before me. Hi rozegardener, I don't know. I'm under the (quite possibly false) impression that England is equivalent to US Zone 8. I guess in my mind that I'm imagining it to be like Oregon or Washington. However, I'm already aware that people just a few hundred miles above me are having a much harsher winter, so that is part of my confusion. I'm just not sure how to "translate" Oxford into something that I can understand. Hopefully, I'll get some additional guidence from members, but at least the links from Ann are a great start! I think I can grow peony and lilacs here. Hurray!

Sarah Van Fleet is a rugosa hybrid that gets very big, and has murderous thorns. I saw it used as a clipped hedge at the Montreal Botanical Gardens some years ago - The side along the sidewalk was "buzz cut" to keep it from invading the sidewalk. I was too short to see over the top easily (I'm 5'3+"). The shrubs came together in a vertical mat that was so dense that I couldn't see through the hedge to the building on the other side of the lawn that the hedge was on. I had one as a single specimen that was easily 7' at top center and spread out at least 5'.

I have lots of leaves on my BB and roses too. Also oakleaf hydrangea has leaves. Also daphne 'Carol Mckie' (known to be a late dropper). My pansies are still mildly blooming. Geraniums and coral bells are looking good, but they are semi-evergreen here anyhow, so that probably doesn't count. Its been a very mild Nov/Dec so far. I love it! Although these oddities sometimes confuse our plants, they will compensate. I heard some crocuses are coming up. And someone I know mowed their grass recently!

If these are roses you have had in pots all summer, go for it. I have often made up my mind about the "real" garden spot for a rose this late. Have the hole dug, NO fertilizer, just good compost in bottom, water the potted rose well and slip it out of pot and into the hole. I have never had a rose planted like this start any soft new growth just because it was in the ground, not the pot. In fact, I have had more new growth on roses still in pots on the stone stairs (which hold heat, and so make a little microclimate I think). I have only done this with ogrs and some modern shrubs with ogr or rugosa history, though, never with the few HT's I have. Those wintered well in pots in a ditch under a thick layer of leaves and then all the snow we had last year.