Andreajp, these are lovely photos and a beautiful look to aspire to. It's a good idea to choose from the roses at the cemetery - pretty much an opportunity to find guaranteed winners for your garden. The photos really excited me because my front garden is finally getting mature enough that Souv de la Malmaison and Mme Lombard are looking like one bush because ML is reaching out wide. I don't mind (yet), because I've long been an admirer of the thicket look. I tried to plant 6' on center (but sometimes not) which pretty much guarantees that teas will be overlapping some, so plan accordingly and be patient with the blank spaces for a few years. Like Jeri said, fill in with annuals. One word of advise if you use Purple Coneflowers (which I recommend). They are thugs root-wise so don't plant them under or even near the canopy of the rose. Since my roses are fairly disease resistant, I don't worry about air circulation, but being able to get to the roses for maintenance is important. Give yourself room to get to each rose from the front and the back. Make an alley behind the roses if you're planting against a fence. Then squeezing in to reach the sides, if they touch at maturity, isn't too bad unless you have a bad back and can't reach awkwardly. There are definite consequences to planting too close. And remember in Zone 9 they will get big and probably even huge. If those photos were taken in the spring flush, those bushes will be a mess by the end of the season. Can't wait to hear which ones you choose. Sherry Here is a link that might be useful: If only sweat were irrigation...

TY for the encouragement on the Liatris. Yours are very stately Karen. I have the Lavendar, Thx for the Common names Gardenweed. I was familiar with Gayfeather, but not the Blazing Star. Actually, this is a new perennial for me, just acquiring it last year from my daughter as a Mother's Day gift amongst many other of her babies she wants me to baby and multiple for her. She thought they'd be better in my care. Here's kinda how the story goes and how I wasn't sure what the plant's name was. First off, my first yr having it and there wasn't a tag with it, but it got planted in two locations, and I was under the impression they were two different plants. Foolish me. The one you're looking at here was planted in more shade, probably the reason it only got to about 2 feet. The other 3 plants were in FS, but crowded perhaps in my over full Sun location, they did well, but perhaps not as well as Karen's where she has afforded them plenty of room to grow and take in Mother's Natures best. I do like the flower, although it is debateable with some, but being so easy to grow and how hardy it is, I think I'll keep it around and sow it into pots for my sale. I will be keeping everything produced by WSing but my extras I will be selling. Of course, everyone here will have first dibs on the seeds and I willl religously collect them and pay forward how generous everyone was to me. there is quite a bit of shaff in amongst the seeds but I understand that shouldn't be a problem. I haven't sown it yet but will with an added amount of delight and love. Happy Sowing, Micki

1. Kalanchoe humilis:) 2. Cotyledon orbiculata flanaganii. Would you say the flowers are more red or orange? I can't tell:).

I'm sorry this picture is so bad...on my computer it's perfectly clear! Jeri...in person the flowers were really large...5-6 inches. I'm not sure if Don Juan flowers get that big. But, it would be a rose I would expect to see in a public space like that one. I saw 'Linda Campbell' in full and glorious bloom at the San Jose Heritage and it was a sight to behold!! If I could find a place for it in my garden, I would...and I don't normally care for red roses as much! roseseek....I didn't even notice the Dr Huey blooming in the pic! So that means it's definitely a grafted rose. It looked to me almost like an Austin when I saw it...but that was just from the car. Hopefully, I will go back to Sacramento when the cemetery has it's rose sale, and I'll take a better look at the rose in Old Town. Thank you both for giving me your opinions!