Whoever said that Carding Mill would be 3 feet wide must be living in northern Canada! I didn't have mine that long (wrong color) but it was getting to be double that at an early age. I've underestimated the size of most of my roses and the ones in my "tea rose row" are already hugging each other desperately. It will only get worse but there isn't a single one I could bear to get rid of and there's no more space. Of course two more are coming in the spring, roses imported from France by Vintage Gardens. People who love roses, especially the old ones that mostly tend to be on the large side, are always going to have overcrowding. If it's the worst problem we're ever going to have we're pretty lucky! ilovemyroses, your last sentence so resonated with me. That's what it's all about, that feeling of joy when you look at your beautiful garden filled with roses.

We've been looking at houses with guest houses/casitas for my mom. We saw an interesting one last weekend. The guest house was a former tool shed that had been converted by the architect owner into a really interesting space. Although it might not be at all what you want, it was an interesting exercise for me in thinking outside of the box. Every room is a pass-through room, with the flow something of a serpentine through the rooms. It has 862 square feet and is based on a grid of 9' squares (sub-optimal, but he was working with the cards he was dealt, it appears). I thought to post it here because it has no true hallways. We would consider making one tweak -- a door from the Office Space into the bedroom, so that the "ante room" or whatever on the way to the bedroom could be its own private bedroom and/or storage area for the main house that is "separate" from the guest house. The spiral stairs go to a sleeping loft over the bath and kitchen area -- large enough for a queen mattress.

Well, one down. While we were taking a walk, I stopped by another nursery that is within a walking distance from me and they also had a few DAs, but only Crown Princess Margareta was in bloom. I instantly fell in love. I was very impressed that all the blooms made it through rain last night. When I carried it back home (just half a mile) not one petal dropped at our slightly windy condition today. I did notice that the color is differently reflected depending on where it is positioned so I don't think she should be exposed to afternoon sun, likely to fade I think. Here she is at her new home (I already put bamboo stakes with twine to hold the stems as they are still weak while blooms abundant): It doesn't seem that CPM would go well with MR and MW, so I definitely have to get the second one. :-) I'll go back to the nurseries in a couple of days, when they start to bloom, to see how 'Charlotte' and others look like. 'Tess' on obelisk sounds like a grand idea too! This is the only picture I have of the area with 'Mary Rose' (at the bottom corner) & 'Munstead Wood'. I'll move MW more up front because it doesn't grow too large for me and then perhaps another DA right behind or between them.

I get bathrooms to bedrooms to an extent. But excess is just money. Kitchens and bathrooms are always reliably more expensive than other rooms. Kitchens have been doubling for a while too. Couple sinks, couple ovens, couple fidges, coolers, freezing drawers. Couple islands worth stuck into one. Cooking vs show kitchens. There are of course some more mundane reasons to have doubling, but a lot of it is just design to spend more money. Excessive bathrooms are design doubling to spend more money. Show bathrooms like there are now show kitchens in some homes. It's smart business from a sales standpoint. It can be difficult to start a trend of excessive wants are actually desirable needs- but if that ball can get rolling it can generate a lot in sales.