Thanks Cindi. I agree. There are so many wonderful roses and so many plants that complement them. I love Toni's idea of using caryopteris. My inclination is to plant it with yellow-flowered roses such as Sunsprite or Berolina, then to add a dash of red or orange. Maybe six Sunsprite, three caryopteris, and two Kardinal? What would go with that? Maybe some california poppies?
Too often, though, my cunning plans get interrupted by the need to find a spot for a recent acquisition. Another problem is that a really strong design depends completely on the well-being of every single plant. One plant out of place or in the wrong color or one year too young, even, can ruin the effect. So it's just hard to pull off. It's hard to imagine doing even a plan of moderate scale until one has complete confidence in one's ability to keep every plant in the design alive.
Mary, the rail fence is a great prop for the garden. Quadra and Happy look really good on it. BTW is that Happy or the climbing version? I only ask because I just planted a climbing Happy to replace a Chevy Chase and I wanted to know how big it gets. And whether I could expect that many flowers from it .
