Hi Mary Kate has given you a great set of principles to judge how closely you can plant. You have to balance how wide/tall a rose grows in your zone when mature (which can vary widely), how vigorously it grows first thing in the spring (so it doesn't get shaded out), how much they're interplanted with other filler plants, and how much you need that air circulation. I can get away with totally cramming roses together much closer than they're "supposed" to be, because my climate is mostly dry and BS isn't as bad a problem as you have in the east. I figure if David Austin can recommend that we plant 3 of the same variety of rose on 18" centers, why can't I do the same with 3 roses of different varieties, if I can get the heights/vigor of the roses to match. With low growing HTs and floris that get pruned to the ground each winter, I can get away with having the main canes around 18" apart, but this means the roses totally grow into each other when mature. The official wisdom is to leave the main canes a good 3' from each other at least for HT/floris even in our colder zones, and much much wider for any old garden roses even for us. Warm zones can rarely get away with this kind of close planting. One other thing you need to consider is the ultimate care of the roses. If you have a small bed that you can reach from all sides from a safe distance, you can get away with close plantings and fewer consequences. With my beds at least 12-15' deep and chock full of roses, I tend to live quite dangerously in traveling through the beds for maintenance. Picture the movie "Karate Kid" - each step through my bed is "crane" - no, "lotus blossom" - no, "down dog - quick!" (trying to avoid face planting into a rose). In good years, I pay the price for close planting with intensive scratches on most exposed body parts. Sometimes I'm really glad for strategically placed hardy geraniums or daylilies just so I can pause to catch my breath without risking life and limb. To help you imagine this, I've posted a shot from last year where the photo is accurate - there are only about 3 thorn-free places to put your feet in weaving through this bed, but I love the "rose chaos" look enough to work with it. Like most things in rose growing, it's a matter of balancing your style and preferences against the reality of your growing conditions, with trial and error learning. It's always better to err on the side of planting too far apart, since new rose purchases can always be fit in between if it's too far over time. In the meantime, you can fill in with annuals until the rose grows to full height. Cynthia

If the roses you have are on the Vintage Gardens web site check their size comparisons. If it shows a wide growing type of growth, say six feet tall and wide plant the roses as if they are that large now. It looks funny for the first year or so but planting a 1.5 foot rose in the right spot is so much easier than digging up a 7 foot rose to make room. For the most part my roses are widely spaced but they were not always planted far enough apart. I used to cram them together, I mean this stick is only just a foot tall. Jude The Obscure was a little Heirloom band size bush when planted, now it it is seven feet tall and wide. Most of my gallica's have not been suckering monsters and even they are taking up three or four feet each way now. Lance

Call me a nut, but I have LOTS of these growing which I started from seed. The oldest are about 6 years old and two were planted 1 foot apart. They've grown very well every year reaching at least 7 feet last year. If you do plant 4 feet apart, I wouldn't plant something in between for the plain and simple reason that it will be hard to access when your BBs are mature.

Skimming here there are some things to think about The eye sore part: -You can barely see the towers now so there must be some current trees between the house and the towers --but what if something happens to the trees? Disease, more development, the power people feeling the need to cut them down *I would definately try to get a handle on whether there is going to be more development between the house and the power lines -Will winter affect being able to see the towers? -Someone mentioned upgrading - you might want to call the electric company and get an idea of whether they will be upgrading - although it will be hard to find any office or employee that has a clue, you will have to have patience and persistance The risk thing - hard to know. When I was younger I used to worship at sciences feet. As I've gotten older I find scientists tend to be arrogant and absolute. When new findings throw out previous findings which is the nature of science, they don't even blink. They just tout the new findings as the now absolute last word with the same arrogance. I try to do research with information from all sides and apply some common sense and gut feeling. You have to do what feels right for you and don't let anyone make you feel bad for it. Resale - Given a choice I would prefer not to be near power lines. That is of course getting harder to do. You need to really evaluate the bigger picture of the areas people "like you" are looking at. Sounds like schools etc. are important. How many "good" neighborhoods in your price range are affected by a negative (hwy, power lines etc.) Do people have choices? Lkplatow comments: madmartian - I'm in surburban Philadelphia -- close enough to NJ to have the same problems I guess. Too much development, not enough land.... Really the elephant in the room everyone is ignorning is population growth. Although of course I realize a lot of people with chime in with population moving around - growth (whereever it happens) still is a bottom line problem.