Thank you zuzu. It's really great to be able to share and learn from such a distinguished group of rose lovers!
It's funny, for most of my life I have wanted to live in CA just north of SF. But it never worked out. It's got to be one of the best places on earth to garden, especially if you have supplemental water in the summer.
I have been told that roses grow very well here, too, though there are a lot of zone 8 &9 roses and other plants that I have to cultivate in pots or leave alone. I have been told that irrigating them can be expensive. A passerby (lots of retired people out walking during the day) told me of a friend of his who had hundreds of roses and spent $600/mo. on water during the summer! When that happens to me, I might move more rocks into the garden, and cultivate succulents and grasses that go dormant during drought.
