Also, has anybody done a theme type of Rose Garden such as using Anne Boleyn and the Mary Rose, or maybe a Shakespeare Garden.....

Thanks for sharing

I garden in No California, not far from SF Bay. We have a Mediterranean climate - long dry warm summers, and cool, wet (at least when we are not having a drought) winters.

I prefer OGRs and climbers in my garden. We have deer, and they are not very tall! Also, the old tea and china roses like our warm weather a lot.

Here is a pic of roses growing around our back patio:

Jackie

Jackie

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Several of my beds sorta specialize in certain color combinations. In the center of my backyard is a larger bed I usually think of as my Red and White bed--lots of red roses when they all bloom at the same time (they don't always) and white hardy geraniums and white lilies and white daisies--oh yes, and my big beautiful white hydrangea paniculata.

Here's one view of the Red and White bed, showing the Perfumed Path right down the middle. Fragrant hybrid teas line the path:

As you can see, there are other colors in there also. I also have a red climber out there--Dublin Bay!

Here is another view down at the other end of the bed--shows more of the red and white. Starting at the far end, there is white Arctic Queen clematis, pink Pomponell floribunda, white Gourmet Popcorn mini, bright red Eutin (I have several of them scattered randomly throughout the bed), white Green Ice mini, and the remnants of a white peony.

Here's a view down near the end of the red and white bed but later in the summer--the white lilies make quite a show along with the red rose (and golden Black-eyed Susans):

Here's a very narrow bed on the eastern property line in the limited space I have between my neighbor's (ugly) garage and my driveway. Here I picked hybrid teas and hybrid perpetuals that are narrower and tall and alternated the colors down the narrow strip--pink Mrs. John Laing perpetual hybrid, white/yellow Elina grandiflora, and hot pink Peter Mayle hybrid tea, etc.--with blue pansies at their feet. Note, however, that we had a brutal winter and several of the roses had to be spring-pruned almost to the ground, so some of them are not forming the continuous "curtain" of color that is supposed to hide the neighbor's (ugly) garage. Hopefully next year they will be 2 to 3 times taller.

I have a couple other beds with their own color schemes also. One thing that is different is the row of big sprawling hybrid musks I have at the back of the property (Buff Beauty, Felicia, Ghislaine de Feligonde--to which, next spring, the old rose/noisette/bourbon Boule de Neige will be added. Oh, there is a rugosa out there too.) The reason they are there is because my neighbor on the south has a big oak that casts a lot of shade back there part of the day, so I picked these big sprawlers for back there since they are shade tolerant. They are all shades of pastel blooms--creates a soft impressionistic effect as one pastel merges into the next pastel.

Hope that gives you some ideas. Although I don't have a bed just devoted to Austin's literary named roses, I do tend to pick the ones with literary names--Lady of Shalott, Scepter'd Isles, etc. I guess if I had lots of room I might actually think about making a bed of just literary roses--but I'm out of space once I plant my old rose I'm getting in the spring.

Kate

I'll be adding 2 buck roses in this bed next year...

jim--such healthy-looking annuals mixed in with your roses. Great color combinations also!

Kate

Kate

Jackie