Hmm. All three, depending. The garden is front of my house is very small (4' by 6') so almost every single plant in it is a single. Here's a picture from a few years ago. In there is one peony, one nepeta (catmint), one Siberian iris, one lady's mantle, one phlox, one geranium, one lamb's ear, one campanula. It's changed a bit over the years, but the basics remain the same - single color scheme, one plant. In this garden, there are groupings (the helenium and the agastache) and repetition (the geum on either side of the black mulch path and the lady's mantle which is repeated through throughout the length of the border)

By "tubs" I mean oversized flower pots, usually plastic, at least 16" wide at the top and about 2.5' tall. Most are not decorative, but as I get most of my containers at yard sales, I do have a few that are. I also have clems & roses in the larger tubs that have 2 rope handles that are a bit taller and maybe 24" wide. Never really measured anything. Large black plastic pots that trees and large shrubs are sold in also work well. My largest tubs are bathtubs, not the fancy old ones with claw feet, but a more modern type that rest flush on the ground, with the end opposite the drain raised slightly. There is not good enough drainage for clems, so I use these mostly for bog and woodland plants. The porcelain types are a bit better than the fiberglass, altho the later are a lot easier to bring home and maneuver into the desired place in the gardens. In earlier stages of learning to grow clems, I lost more than my share due to root rot, whether in the ground or in tubs. Now the first thing I do before planting is to take an axe to the upturned pot and whack it enough to produce a crack in the bottom, if not a hole. If the planter has an attached matching saucer I try to get that off first. When the reciprocating saw worked, I cut off the damaged top of a plastic garbage can so it stood about 3.5' tall, but clems didn't care much for it, But it is great for small hostas that have red or black leaf stems that you can't see very well when they are at ground level. A few have been here for several years without complaint. I don't have anywhere indoors to take them for the Winter, so the most protection the tubs get is having fallen tree leaves raked up close to the bases. One year I topped off all the tubs with bark mulch, but usually it gets too cold to want to work outside by the time I get my other Fall chores done. I think a 4 gallon pot would be the minimum I would want to leave a clem above ground in, but if you have someplace that you can dig a hole and bury the pot to almost the rim, the chances would be better for it. Or you could try tying bubble wrap around the pot, maybe with some leaves stuck in before tying. I'm thinking of doing that with the roses that weren't doing well where they were planted that I recently potted, and maybe stuff some tree leaves into garbage bags to place around them, as high as I can get, because I'm into climbing roses and want to minimize cane loss. So much to do, so little time.

Spring - Green, blue, yellow, white Summer - Green, pink, purple, mauve, burgundy, lilac, white Autumn - As for summer Winter - Green and any other colour I can get! My garden is microscopic so I have to restrict the palette. I think if you are going to do bright garish colours you have to do them boldly and within a suitable palette, not as random splotches. Also it depends a lot on your climate. Under grey skies and drizzle luminous salmon and shocking pink just look sad to me. Under bright sunshine they can look terrific. Currently the summer palette is being disrupted by a clump of magnificant yellow sun flowers which seeded themselves under the bird feeder. I don't have the heart to pull them and they'll provide winter entertainment from the birds when the seed ripens.

Frances, I 100% agree with you about Mel’s Heritage. Even though I have no other rambling roses to compare him to, I cannot imagine a more floriferous rose. Granted, I am in So CA , but Mel’s Heritage has been blooming since Spring for me. The Spring flush was absolutely astounding. I could hardly see the foliage for all the blooms. I wasn’t able to deadhead all those blooms, but as soon as they dropped, Mel’s Heritage started up again in earnest. Even during that brief period after the Spring flush, there were still scattered new clusters blooming. Mel’s Heritage has been blooming constantly since the Spring flush. There’s never been a time that I haven’t been able to cut some clusters to bring someone. He’s my “sure thing” nearly year round. Even this morning, I can see well over a hundred blooms on him. My Mel’s Heritage outblooms every single rose I grow, from all classes of roses. Our warm Fall days and cool nights have brought powdery mildew back to many of my roses, but not Mel’s Heritage. He’s never shown a speck of it, or any other disease. I do have to keep cutting back his stealthy, long, thin canes, or he will ramble over, under, and through everything in his path. He has become thornier with age, as well. That’s ok with me. Mel’s Heritage is my favorite rose of all. There’s really no other rose, (that I grow) that even comes close to this rose in terms of health and floriferousness. I know I’ve said it many times over past couple of years, but Mel’s Heritage is truly an amazing rose. He’s my very best performer, hands down. I’m going to climb the hill to take some pictures. Lots of buds still coming here in November! So many different shades of pink and apricot..... Lisa