JKOM, thanks for the complements on the garden! Adrienne, what appears to be a solid patio of stone is in fact a cantilevered wood structure support deck with waterproofing membrane and large sized travertine tile which spans the undisturbed slope around the pre-existing Maytenus boaria(Mayten Tree) that is all that remains from the "before" garden prior to my design. The tree canopy is in fact about the same size as the terrace below. This did require building a 2 foot tall reinforced concrete perimeter wall on the uphill side of the tree/edge of terrace to span and support the terrace and allow filling against at the uphill side to create a level lawn area. No tree roots were cut, the majority of existing slope around the tree was undisturbed, and the tree has roots all over the yard so that it doesn't need any direct rain/irrigation immediately adjacent the trunk. A raised deck is often a great solution for creating a level patio/terrace/deck around an existing tree, and making it solid is often a better solution for easy maintenance than a wood deck which traps debris between the deck boards and eventually rots out. I've often used this type of raised deck with solid tile for new gardens, even when they were flat and didn't technically need them, to raise up levels to better capture a view or create a special spot within a garden. Six years later the tree is perfectly happy and healthy still, and makes a superb anchor tree for this terrace, although Mayten trees are notorious for constant leaf litter drop. Mayten trees are a moderately slow growing evergreen from Chile that make great substitutes for a weeping willow sort of look, but are definitely only appropriate for zone 9/10 climates. As to no "triffids", sorry to disappoint; while this garden didn't originally start off with any palms, adjacent the terrace there is a rarely seen Trevesia palmata/Snowflake tree from Burma which definitely looks palm-like with branching. I've since added new smaller understory palms within the garden for the owners who purchased this spec-built home/garden 6 years ago now. I planted a Shaving Brush palm, Rhopalostylis bauriei cheesemanii and several clumping Bamboo palms, Chamaedorea micropadix and Chamaedorea tepelijote in an extra large pot at the terrace in the back yard, and also added two Windmill palms, Trachycarpus fortunei in the front garden. You should realize by now, that the "triffids" are everywhere here, there is no turning back :)! I can't say that I have ever encountered a new design client here in northern California who didn't appreciate the appeal of palms in a garden setting, especially when one avoids the problematic and too large growing types that are so much more prevalent here. This fall, I also added a recessed jacuzzi and leveled the previous sloped flagstone terrace at the upper garden for my clients, along with an outdoor shower off the tool shed/play house which is screened behind that wall with the Bougainvillea vine.

My top 5 (plus a runner up): Quietness Marie Pavie Aunt Honey Julia Child Belinda's Dream Heirloom Marie Daly, although an 'Earthkind' Rose does get BS enough to defoliate about the bottom 1/3+ by the end of August, Why it is 'Earthkind' and Marie Pavie is not, needs some explaining to me. Marie Pavie is the better rose of the two, IMHO. More restrained growth, more flowers and slower to rush through a blooming cycle, and some very little BS on only the bottom 1/5 and then only at September's end. I do not believe there is an entirely BS proof rose. Even the Knockouts can show some BS, but usually only under extremely stressed growing conditions. Even if a rose who was well researched, was found to have glowing disease issue reports, and it proved to be BS free in your garden for 10 continuous years, it can have a bad 11th. year for BS and throw the owner into a tailspin. Generally such incidents are glitches with things returning back to normal in subsequent years. What usually causes such an episode are extremely favorable conditions converging at that time so favorable for BS that no rose could show full resistance. Such events are encountered very rarely, fortunately.

How does this rose do in the Southeast U.S.? I'm 6b/7a and hot humid summers mean plenty of summer days in the 90s--although statistically the "average high temp in August" is 89. I've got a northeastern facing wall--sunshine from dawn until about 1pm. Thoughts?

...thanks so much everyone.... soncna in Slovenia, I hope you had a lovely time here and enjoyed your garden visits. towandaaz.. Gosh, thank you... my only inspirations have come from visiting lots of gardens here, up and down the country, which fortunately being rather a small place, one can get to see quite a lot of it over the years. The internet, and these forums, are my top resources these days... I'm very limited with what I can do in my garden as it's really very small, unlike the wonderful garden on another thread which has 8 acres - I would need staff for that - more typically we have quite small patches to deal with. Learning to garden with such restrictions is actually quite a challenge, and requires much improvisation. ...fortunately, the regular rainfall and mild climate, helps us to garden virtually all year round, so I can function on a whim, but I'm never satisfied with it. I wonder if any of us are, perhaps that's how it is... I've heard Tucson has a wonderful climate, and I've seen nice photos of a place called Sedona, but I'd be terrified of bumping into a snake...