Neal, sounds like you are off to a great start! Nice to incorporate other plants with your roses. You have a lot to deal with in creating a new garden bed. I'm in a typical suburban setting.
about the herbicides, but sometimes there aren't alternatives. We used chemical weed killers many times & it never really worked for us...duh..but kept on using it. My husband now uses a dragon to stay on top of our weed situation. It works and he loves burning those pesky weeds!