Other than in a couple of raised beds roses have always grown better for me in large containers. So first Bob helped me move the wooden planters that had held some fairly ordinary plants and I refilled them with good soil so I could grow that which I REALLY love -- roses.

Then I painted some of the pots to match and rearranged them around the tower, which now will support a climbing rose, Nehema.

In the process practically every plant I have got moved and replanted with fresh soil, and every pot got fresh soil which I mixed using MiracleGro bagged potting soil, a treasure of 'black gold' compost discovered at the bottom of my 5 year old pile, manure, peat moss, pearlite, water holding crystals, etc. etc. Even the other plants that I was keeping in pots, such as three varieties of phlox, have fresh soil.

All the containers you see have new rose plants in them, including some Austin roses on fortuniana roots.

In the center bed I've planted several 'new' antique tea roses and a four varieties of Knock Out roses. The plant stands will hold the bougainvilleas when they come out of the green house.

I can't begin to tell you how much work it was, but the idea of doing it while it was cool kept me going as well as visions of lots of roses blooming in my garden once again.

But somehow during all this I managed to misplace a whole big bucket of amaryllis bulbs! Oh well, they will be peeking out from somewhere with spring weather.

So here's my 'before' pictures. Hopefully, there will be some prettier 'after' photos as well.

I would love to see 'before pictures' of your gardens, even if you haven't made the changes I have. It's good to take pictures to appreciate the difference a couple of months can make, don't you think?

Yeah, Carrie ... I was actually 'down in the back' and lost three whole weeks of playing outside when I first started shoveling all that soil. Seems I never learn to take it easy.

Jim, even with all the ammendments I've put down it seems like the roses don't dry out in the large containers as quickly as they do in this thin soil over rock. I drill several very large holes in the bottom of the pots with a door knob attachment so the roots eventually go out into what soil there is anyway. Plus I've got powerful water pressure and 5/8 bore water hose so I can pretty much stand in one place and water stuff 15 ft away.

However, I'm thinking I might eventually run a drip system to some of the pots. Anybody know a quality source of drip irrigation equipment in San Antonio? I used to buy the Submatic brand at Fertile Garden Supply, but they quit carrying it.

Thanks for your comments guys.

Did you make that triangle climbing thingy? or did you purchase it?

I want one for my garden...

Lots of great ideas, Roselee. Hope you don't mind me taking a few for my garden :)

Audrey

Please do take any ideas you want Audrey :-) That's why we post. It's in hopes that someone can benefit from our experiences. I'm always moving things around and trying something different.

I too love blue accents in the garden. The blue glass globe was a gift from a dear friend and the blue ceramic pot was on sale last fall at Garden Ridge. Cobalt blue paint has been used on a couple of other pots and as you see outlines the pigeon loft.

My hubby, Bob, built the pyramid trellis. He went by plans in the magazine, "Birds and Blooms" but he made it a little larger. I think mine is about 8 or 9 ft. tall.

Again ... thanks everyone for looking. Your comments are appreciated.

About the yellow and blue store/work room -- on top of everything else we totally cleaned it, threw a bunch of things out, and organized the stuff that was left. That burned a lot of calories for sure :-)

Also I'm turning the pigeon loft into an art gallery! Bob enlosed the whole thing in hardware cloth a year ago to keep the rats out of the pigeon feed, but they got in again anyway so we moved the few Indian fan tail pigeons we had left into one of the wrought iron cages and well, I had to do something with what was left ... lol. Weird, huh?

After moving to our present retirement home some years ago, which is half the size of our former home, there was not enough room for all the pictures and wall trinkets so they've been hanging in the garage. There's still a bunch of them there, but I thought it'd be fun to see some of them outside. Some are pictures my daughter and I painted.

It's fun to be able to throw caution to the wind and do fun things as I grow older!!!

Lin

Are those fence boards making the round raised beds?

Look forward to seeing the progress as the plants begin to recover here.

Shirley, the round planters used to be sold by Gardenville years ago, but then the man who made them retired. They are made of treated posts that are flattened on one side and stapled to 8 ft sections of sheet metal so each one makes a 30 in wide planter, or they could be strung together to make a large raised bed. I bought some and then was lucky enough to salvage several more sections from the houses that were torn down around here after flooding. I have eight total. Some are on the other side of the yard.

Thanks for noticing the verdigris effect! It took a long time for those copper pots to develop that color ;-)

BTW, I still want to see, and/or hear about, more of y'alls garden designs/anticipations.

Roselee, what a wonderful space - so creative, whimsical, beautiful and I'm sure it will be a feast for the senses.
I admire your determination and your back muscles.
And my favorite...FAAAVorite part is the outdoor pigeon loft gallery. I can't...won't stop smiling. :^)
A labor of love.

Is there a comfy seat or hammock for the garden crew and stewards from which to contemplate and take in this magical roseland?

Here's the latest additions to outlandishness ... LOL

They are all oil paintings, not paper, so can take the moisture. And it is dark back there so only a hint of color can be seen unless you are peering right into the pigeon loft.

Yes, there are lots of places to sit outside and enjoy the garden. There's a cedar swing, two cast aluminum benches, three wrought iron rocking chairs on the patio, and several wrought iron chairs from an old dinette set scattered here and there. We enjoy sitting outside, reading, talking, listening, watching the dogs play, in all the seasons except at the height of summer when it's too hot.

I hope this inspires some of you to do a few outlandish things in your gardens. If this isn't enough go to the Garden Junk forum :-)

Hmmmm ... Jim, it just hit me a couple of days ago what you meant by this statement. Since I'm always saying I'm going to cut back on plants. You meant 'remove' as in 'take away' -- not 'relocate'.

Well, ummm ... one of these days I'm really going to get serious about cutting back on the number of plants I have. Probably at the height of next summer :-)

Did you see my note on 'thumbnails' on the other thread?