[Rose-list] Re: Rose garden design question

**"* <r*@transport.com>**

Hi Philip,

I think I'm following your design. I love the idea of a rose in the
center of a veggie garden.  Mind if I steal that....I'll probably
turn my (new) veggie garden into roses anyhow.. perhaps after 
the teenagers are out of the house.

I too have yet to build the arbor for my Climbing Cecile Brunner
(piece from our old farm/home of 16 years) and grapes (just
propagated this year) to the entry of my veggie garden just beyond
the rose garden.  It's a nice rose, at our old home CB grew 37 feet
long along a picket fence. 

Your garden ideas sound wonderful, artful and practical.  I just love
it when it "falls into place".  Didn't you say this was just started
last year ?  Roses are wonderful to work with, they serve so nicely
as flowers, shrubs and even tree like vines. Toss in history, more
artwork, fragrances, and even rose hip jelly and one could get
''carried away"...  :-)

From my windows you see just portions of each island, and those 
parts are ''full and content'', but as you walk about the paths you 
will see that more is yet to be done and plans are yet to be settled.
Revise, revise...

Test beds?!  for Hybrid Tea roses? Or for ''roses on trial''. 

I love Mary Rose, raised her at the old house (and here) nice blooms
and her sports 'Redoute' (pale pink) and 'Winchester Cathedral'
(white) are equal to her in bush form and very good bloomers like
Mary. Silly me I pruned my Hansa and didn't leave any heads for
hips.. 

> Do rose beds and roses in mixed
> borders have the same sort of constraints?

I'm not sure I'm following you here... do you mean rose beds as in
ONLY roses ?  Constraints? hum...  

I beleive many rose gardeners had become ''purist''.  I don't mean to
offend anyone, whatever floats your boat.  Personally I opt for
mostly old roses because HT didn't do well for me. (Here they are 
awesome shrubs in Arizona..)  I was about to get out of roses 
altogether before finding old roses.  We can thank
David Austin and his English Roses for all this ''rediscovering''. 

Many had grow Hybrid Teas for show which requires much spraying in
most regions, and very meticulous cleaning up of leaves. So it was
not only easier to grow them ALONE.. but it makes sense.... I grow
roses organically and don't spray with chemical treatments, choosing
roses that are near disease free as possible and using a baking soda
solution that I find works far better.  I also don't like to see bare
ground...(read in a book that said, ''even nature hates bare ground"
hence weeds or pretty little ground covers and mulch)... I love the 
shrubs of the old roses and used them as "backdrops" and then use 
lovely perennials about them. Plus, how could I go ''nursery
shopping''  having a garden full of just roses !  I can't even image
a garden without crocus and daffies to welcome me into spring.

Sincerely,       
~Carleen~
Keeper of Sheep & Old Roses

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