I have thought about this often lately because we are trying to plan a new section for the backyard that includes a path through the garden. I love exploring/discovering new things so a path that curves around and is surrounded by beautiful and fun things (garden statues, water fixture, etc...) is very appealing to me. I haven't quite figured out the design yet as I want to include a climbing rose on an arbor as well. I'm more of a planter, not a planner! Planning kind of takes the fun out of it for me. I like to move things around. If it's true "All gardens are a form of autobiography" then you would look at mine and say OCD! LOL I got addicted to daylilies and bought 88 in 2 years. Now I am down to 75 but idealy, for my small space, I need to further bring down my collection to 50 which will be very hard to do. I also deadhead EVERY day so yeh, a bit OCD. I getting addicted to roses now. :)

Kim said... >My original obsession was outrageously out of hand and I loved it. [...] I'm keeping to the level area as much as possible. Weeding that slope is offensive enough without having to traipse up and down, sliding on every other step, to maintain anything down there. I know I will resent the ones which go on the slope and will eventually allow them to go the way of the Dodo, so I'm choosing to rid myself of them, instead. That's a LOT of roses, quite a few of which are seedlings either generated through my obsession or those shared with me by other "obsessives", but that is what it is going to take to keep this "fun", doable and prevent the water requirements from eating me out of house, home and desire. Weeding through them to maintain those which are just happier to be here with me and those which are endangered, has been a real chore. Now, if there was a ton of level land with high ground water. Hi Kim, Back in the Dark Ages we lived in California in just the sort of spot you are conjuring up as a high ground water fix. But native trees really like spots like that too... and our house had lots of shade, too much shade for most roses. Still, we wouldn't have dreamed of cutting down a tree. We didn't own the house, we like trees, and anyway, removing a tree was illegal without a good reason for a permit where we lived (a Monarch Butterfly preserve). Anyway, we were relative youngsters at the time and didn't know just how wet that property was until our vegetable garden was swimming in water during the winter months. It was fine, fine black silty sand that held on to the water pretty well too. Your post made me think about what we'd do if confronted with your lack of water problems back in California again. What you're doing makes a lot of sense. But I also am wondering whether a bank full of Renaes rambling around might not survive and also keep the weeds down once they proliferated and established themselves? They might take over the other remaining roses, but if you weren't still trying hard to keep those... A bunch of Renaes might not require so much watering once established? I don't think a big crowd of them would look bad at all, depending on personal tastes, of course. In fact, I prefer that kind of look. We've done that crowded thing in a pretty good sized area with azaleas and rhododendrons here; they all grow together and if there's a weed under there somewhere, well, you can't easily penetrate to find or see it. Once in awhile there's a tree sneaking in that will have to be pulled up, but basically it's too shady under all the plant thickness for most weeds to grow. And I adore the looks of those crowded plants! No, we don't have big problems with fungal diseases, even with the crowd. Maybe fewer than average problems, though phytopthera wilt sometimes does require some cutting back of rhododendron limbs. You know a big problem with azaleas and rhododendrons is that they aren't drought tolerant. Well, we have lost huge numbers since our drought problems began big time here around 2001. It's been wonderfully rainy most of the time during the last couple of years, but the next drought period is probably just around the corner... and if we lose some more azaleas and rhododendrons then, well, I'm thinking of trying to establish some Renaes and Annie Laurie McDowells in their place in the relatively sunnier spots... along with some more camellias, which are drought tolerant after the first year. (Though blooming is less than ideal if August and September are dry.) We lost our Annie Laurie McDowell to Rose Rosette Disease last year, but I am figuring that if it's anything like our Renae here, well, it's as no-care, no-worry a plant as any other plant of any kind we've ever had in our yard. Not a touch of blackspot or any other disease here thus far (though that may well change just a bit as we get more shade as the sun angle changes during the fall). Anyway, I'm hoping for another Annie Laurie McDowell eventually too. Ours is a no-spray all-organic yard for everything we grow and Renae fits well into that way of doing things. I think Annie Laurie McDowell will too. I know it hurts to cut back some on what you are able to continue doing, Kim. But I keep thinking mostly about your achievements and how much you have helped so many others in what you have already contributed. Thank you! Best wishes, Mary

How wonderful!! My kids (all teenagers now) HATE gardening with me. But when my mom was alive (she died almost four years ago) they loved going over to her house to help her in the garden. By far their favorite chore was PICKING! Especially when they could pop the produce in their mouths. It was so touching that during the year and a half that she was ill, they volunteered to do some of her gardening chores for her. Keep it up and enjoy her, Cindy!!

HelpMeFind doesn't list any roses by those names. There are lots of roses with the name 'William' if that would help. We put in a small mini garden some years ago. My mother's name is Rose, but we didn't want to leave out my husband's mother by calling it Grandma Rose's garden, so we simply called it the Grandma Rose garden...that made them both feel special and solved the problem of leaving one of them out. Meg Here is a link that might be useful: HelpMeFind