Sorry, I just noticed that this is more about using herbs than growing them. I will repost on the herb forum. I will keep visiting here though - I did notice some interesting stuff here that I know I can put to good use.

Assuming the rose fits where you planted it... Depends on the rose and its class. There are roses for which pruning means only removing dead wood every few years. There are other roses that gradually stop producing well if not pruned. Certainly you can skip a season. I've done that when I was recovering from surgery. As a long term plan, I wouldn't skip pruning for many modern roses. I have roses that love nothing more than being cut back. My Teas and Tea Noisettes, however, can go unpruned for years.

Talk about the urge to kill.......... I was gone for two days and when I came home I found a big stray cat had decided to make a bed in my WS containers. It was a flat with eight pots in it and a plastic cover over it. It had plant markers but he had just wiggled them over and made himself a bed. I guess the sun had warmed the warm soil but the plastic kept him dry. I hate it when people drop off pets. Obviously he was accustomed to having a basket or bed of his own, so he didn't mind that it was on a shelf three feet off the ground. We live a few miles out of town and people get tired of their animals and just drop them off. This is the 2nd new cat in the last couple of weeks.

Hi everyone Thanks so much for your thoughts so far - they are really helpful and have given me things to really think about. Here are some pictures of the space - the house belonged to my husbands parents so it has not been decorated in decades. You can see there is still paneling on the wall. Please excuse the boxes - my husband was using it as a den and has packed up his stuff to move to his new office (still being built). It is a nice size room, big window, lots of light. Flooring My husband is building the cabinetry which will be somewhat in a 'Shaker' / "Cape Cod' style similiar to picture. I was going to paint them an antique white with black hardware but open to suggestions. This is a draft copy of the units my husband is building for me which will be placed on the long walls facing eachother. Here is the picture again I mentioned. It is still a work in progress as I am restoring an old wood frame by painting it. I am not finished yet with this. This is a picture of the print on a pair of sheer curtains I was "thinking" of using but I am not sure if they are right for the space. I did think of a deep gold but I have BM Dijon in my hallway and thought it would be yellow overload. Your thoughts? Or a Rose, raspberry or orange shade??? Any color suggestions are appreciated. Thats it - wow lots of photos - sorry but you can see I am really starting from scratch and I am totally lost ! hehehe. THANKS SO MUCH! p.s hope pics are not too big Haley