Chuck, I talked to the people at Dripworks when I installed drippers at my old house years ago. They're very helpful and will give you the info you need to build a system to suit your needs.
I recently bought a misting controller and valve setup from them. The original controller I ordered was not the kind I needed. The service tech watched for and changed my order to make sure I got the proper one.
He maintained e-mail contact with me to answer all my questions.
A malfunctioning selinoid on the valve prompted me to order another valve. The service tech remembered my previous order and our conversations and called me with the info they would be sending me a replacement selinoid and canceled my order for the valve. Everything's great now.
If you can put in a well at a reasonable cost, that's what I'd do, then build off of that. A similar water bill at my old house prompted me to have a well drilled.
Like I told my wife, we're going to pay for a well whether we get one or not. It was just chosing to give the money to the town or to the well driller.
I understand that many areas have strict limitations on well drilling due to low water tables. Luckily I don't live in such an area. We can hit potable water at 15 feet and I can pump all day if I need to. I think our proximity to Lake Michigan and all the sandy soil at this end of the lake helps.

Here is a link that might be useful: DripWorks

Putting in a drip line was one of the best things I ever did. Not that I've had to use it much this year with all the rain we had in my area. I didn't realize that were companies online that specialized in this. I just used what I could find at Walmart and Lowe's but I think I'll check into this link since I'm trying to finish a rose bed that should have been done a month ago.

Count me as another satisfied Dripworks customer. When I designed the irrigation for my Rose Field, I had to order 300 feet of 1/2" tubing. To do this, I ordered three 100-foot rolls. Within 10 minutes of my online order, a tech phoned me to make sure I hadn't accidently clicked the 'Buy Now' button too many times and over-ordered. THAT's service.

Connie

Another for Dripworks. And a caution: overhead watering is not only the most inefficient and wasteful, but it not good for roses. They don't like their leaves wet--it promotes mildew and blackspot.

We water our 500 rose garden with a Dripworks system. We have them divided into 4 zones and on timers. We do have to check periodically for clogged heads but we totally recommend Dripworks to any who asks.

catsrose;
If done early in the day so the leaves can dry, overhead watering can help keep blackspot to a minimum. It keeps the spores washed off the leaves. The bs spores need to sit on wet leaves for eight hours to germinate. I admit it is a bit wasteful but if the sprinklers are confined to the rose beds and carefully aimed, waste can be kept to a minimum.
Most of my bushes are clean. Any with blackspot are in areas where sunlight doesn't hit until later in the day.
Any mildew occurs only on mildew prone bushes no matter where they are in the garden. I don't spray fungicides. Roses taken to a Master Gardener class I taught last week got comments on how clean they were, so the overhead watering method I use works for me.

Another vote for Dripworks. I can find tubing and some parts locally, but when I need to put in a new section, I go back to Dripworks for the parts.

Thanks all for the recomendation. I'll map it out and give Dripworks a try.
As for overhead watering I don't have issues with BS and I water early in the morning so the Roses have all day sunshine.

Karl,
You are correct, but my recommendation is a rule of thumb on the side of caution. Most people who use overhead watering don't necessarily do it early in the morning on sunny days when the leaves are sure to dry or aim it just at the roses. More often, they turn the sprinkler on when they get home from work. It's been my experience that when you tell people how to do something you have to think about all the ways they are going to misinterpret or minimumly hear what you say.

How one waters depends heavily on soil, humidity, temperature, amount of mulch, sun/shade, and the root systems of the plants concerned. But trying to explain that to people...That gardens do as well as they do is a testament to the strength of plants and not to the care they are given.

Gee, I just go to the local landscape irrigation store. I use shrubblers on a stake for roses. The model I use can spray an area at least a yard in diameter. We've found that the Adjust-A-Bubblers fail much more often. Both must be checked every couple of months because the tops blow off (we have pressure issues on sloped sites) or block up or magically readjust themselves.

Twelve years of drip experience tells me four things.
Don't skrimp on the filter. There's stuff in water pipes, even municipal water, and especially in well water.

Don't skrimp on the large drip pipe. Lots of installers like to run the .5 or .75 tubing in a snaky way through your garden so that you use less of the tiny .25 inch tubing. Don't do it. Put the drip pipe, as we call the larger stuff, in a predictable location, or you'll be putting your shovel or weeder through it every time you plant or weed. It's much easier to patch the quarter inch tubing than the drip pipe, and you'll waste less water till you figure out you have a leak. I locate the drip pipe along the edge of a garden walk or the outside edge of a garden, where I know it is in every garden.

Don't think drip=install and forget it. Drip is a high-maintenance system originally designed to be replaced annually each time the field was replanted. The parts are cheap and replaceable. You will be replacing parts often. You'll need to recheck each and every emitter every spring and at least once during the watering season. Oh, and if you have ground rodents, they love drip tubing almost as much as they love to eat the coating on electrical wiring. Just a word of warning.

Don't water in the middle of the night, no matter what they tell you about evaporation. Time your watering so you'll be present at least weekly to check for geysers and other drip failures.

Are you going to do a faucet-end system or are you going to install a timer and valves?

The key to installing a drip system is to keep it simple. Use PC (pressure compensating)button drippers. While the mini micro sprinklers and adjustable sprayers seem helpful they end up being a pain. Knocked over, clogged and off kilter really easily. I learned the hard way.
Using button drippers is a lot less expensive too. Very easy to replace.
I use the dripstore.com because they are local. The website has a lot of good info for newbies.

Here is the info I received from a (landscaper)gardenweb member:

*** I prefer to run a 1/2 main line and then use individual 1 or 2 gallon emitters, either regular or "bubblers" placed close the stem. The aim is to get the water down deep, so the roots are forced down. This keeps the roots at a more even temperature and also anchors the rose more firmly. Obviously, the amount of water changes as the plant grows; newly planted roses need more water than established plants. Heat, humidity and soil drainage play into it; sandy soil drains more quickly than clay. Roses don't like to have their roots standing in water, so it is better to err on the side of too little than too much.

Rule of thumb, I'd water twice a week for 45 minutes if your plants are bands, bare-root or 1-gallons. If your plants were 3-5 gallons and were well-rooted I'd start with an hour. In the third year, I'd cut back to once a week. Also, water in the morning; roses don't like to go to bed with their feet wet. If your leaves start getting soft and yellowing, you are watering too much. If they just get droopy and or dried, too little. I use the same timing for soaker or drip (but for different reasons. On a drip, I'd use 1/2 gallon emitter for bands, 1-gallon for 1 or 2 gallon or bare root plants and 2-gallon for 3-5 gallon plants. I use only 1 emitter per plant, except for enormous ramblers. ****

Hope that helps :-)
Allison

Karl, I had the impression from a past post of yours on irrigation systems, that your sprinklers are actually on a system, but it has overhead heads as opposed to drip or the low watering jets that one sees around.

We are in the process of very soon putting in a sprinkler system. We have a large property and quite honest, the whole thing scares me to death. We want the water but are mind boggled on how to give our place a good irrigation system on the whole.

What you say about overhead sprinklers on the roses, makes sense to me, despite it is what we have avoided in the past.

If you can offer any more advice on the way your irrigation system works for you, I would be happy. Meaning, do you just have sprinklers on your roses, or do you have a whole system, designed for the different zones in your garden.

Thanks, your comments would be much appreciated.

Our garden is huge with lots of different beds, borders and rockeries. Our system will be coming from a holding tank, sunk into the ground next to our pond. The tank is fed by springs, then overflows into the pond which overflows via a pipe to the salmon spawning creek which runs through our property. It all seems so daunting to me, but we have to get going with it.

Obviously, the work is already completed, re holding tank and the pump even, just got to move along from there.

Thanks.
Pauline

Firstly I am by no means an expert but a newbie however one of my clients grows a large amount of flowers for both national and international export both on the island of Hawaii, and another location on the mainland.

He uses, I believe, well, pond and municipal water. Well and pond being the predominant sources.

He stated the following was the easiest to intall and maintain, virtually no clogging and great UV resistance. Our UV index in Hawaii is very high. He further stated after many tries with other products this is the best so far.

He told me to install the Netafim non-clogging "CV" Dripline, not regular, it drips directly from the line (so no fiddling with additional lines or heads) and according to him it hardly if ever clogs. It can also be put under the lawn (about 4"). The in-line drippers come in various GPH about , 0.29, 0.40, 0.60, and 0.90, according to the type soil. He did state that one should not use NetafimÂs relive valves but simply put an open close flush at the end (flushing once every one to two months). It will also work on a gradient with special relief valves position as instructed by Netafim.

He also told me to put in a 180 Micron filter just after the back flow preventer valve, or at the beginning of each run to keep it absolutely clean of particles.

The turning radius of the tubing is 7" and can be laid in very long runs, typically 12" to 18" apart. Water pressure needs to be less than 50 psi or restrictors should be employed . They do have a useful US website. The "CV" line is located under the agricultural section, the tech support people are easy to reach and very helpful.

If you have a very invasive area, an emitter, position at the beginning of the run, is available that drips a tiny amount of poison to keep the emitters flowing.

If not all sections need to be watered one could employ non drip tubing in those sections, however if many sections are to receive no water then the "Dripworks" might be better.

Hope this helps

Follow up:

If your line is 1", then the maximum line length is 2,500 ft with 18" spacing and 0.60 GPH flow line at a pressure rate of 22 GPM

If your line is 2", then the maximum line length is 10,227 ft with 18" spacing and 0.60 GPH flow line at a pressure rate of 90 GPM.

If the flow line is a lower flow GPH say 0.40, 0.26 the length of the run can be longer, if higher say 0.90 the length is shortened.

Maximum pressure on a 2" line is 140 psi. Netafim CV Techline Dripline recommends a filter of 120 mesh.

Got this from their website but best to check with their tech support I could be reading it incorrectly.

Hope this helps.

Final Follow up:

If your lawn was 120 ft wide by 50 ft deep you would need approximately 4,000 ft of line with 2" main line if spaced 18" apart assuming a 90GPM flow rate.

As you can see main line pipe width, pressure and flow rates play a very important part as to how much each station can put out and how far the run can be.

I believe but am not sure that they Netafim can design and/or advise you on your best solution if you supply them with your ground/landscaping plans.

This would avoid costly errors and make sure the pressure at the end of the line is the same as the beginning avoiding I think low flow/dry areas.

Hope this helps.

Pauline
At my old home I had a combination of Drippers and overhead sprinklers to accomodate the various conditions in my garden. Most of it was rose beds with small areas of lawn scattered here and there.
I had noticed the roses near the areas of grass that were watered overhead tended to have cleaner foliage than areas with just drip irrigation.
Here at my new home, I decided to just go with overhead sprinklers. The main reason was due to the stroke I had before the system was installed. The roses were not planted until after my stroke so for a few years my rose beds were a work in progress. Installing drip irrigation was beyond my scope of ability at the time. I could probably do it now but the system I have works.
Due to my experience with the clean foliage from the overhead watering, I opted to just go that way.
My stystem comes on at 4:00 A.M. and finishes by 11:00 A.M.
By noon most foliage is dry.
At this late date my roses are mostly blackspot free except for a few small areas that get little sun this late in the season. Most beds have good air circulation that helps things dry. A few dead air spaces have roses with blackspot. I'm working on moving roses from those areas.
Due to the cool temps we've had all summer, I've not had to water as much as normal. Right now the system is turned off.
When on, it waters each of 8 zones for one hour every other day. a rain shutoff keeps the system shut down on rainy days.
My very sandy soil lets me water often and very wet soil is dry by late afternoon on hot sunny days.
My water source is a four inch well with a one horsepower submersible pump. Our water table is high. Most in the area have wells only 20 feet deep. Mine is 40 feet deep. While a few in the area have pumped air during periods of drought, mine has never faltered. My sandy soil and proximity to Lake Michigan possibly helps keep our water table so high. We've all got septic systems so any water used stays here and doesn't run off into storm drains or sewers. By using mostly organic fertilizers and no pesticides, I avoid any chemical fertilizer or pesticide contamination in my water.
All these factors must be considered or eventually one will run out of or begin to pump contaminated water.

Karl, thank you, Ok! It seems vey scientific,to me. I think that in the end, it boils down to individual's situation..........and it is all so different.

OK, The one thing my husband pointed out, was well, what about the damage rain does on the roses here. Some of them get bent necks, others get filled with water and others get so rain spotted that it is not what we are hoping for.

So please tell me, that this does not happen with your roses, and why?

.......It may be just to do with different climates!

It has been an unusual rose year for us. This is the first time that we have gone NO SPRAY. I thought things looked good, because I found that blackspot and other fungus were not really enhanced. But I was so disappointed, because I got thrips this year, the first time ever! So ruined most of my blooms. Systemic sprays have been taken off the market totally in Canada, so my first year without. I am not impressed with thrips which I have never had before.
Grrrrrrrrr!

Anyway, just chatting with you here, and we are certainly looking into your method of asprinkling system.

Tahnks so much for your advice. Will keep you informed for sure on the route we will eventually take.

Thanks Karl,
Pauline VI

I've learned that in the end Mom Nature has the final word. Rain at the wrong time of day, too often, or too much will ruin many well laid out plans. Lots of my roses have been rain spotted but they fade and new blooms soon appear.
During long periods of no rain with lots of sunlight my roses stay spot free and relatively disease free due to when and how I water.
Acheiving a balance of nature in the garden doesn't happen over night. It takes a couple of years for the predatory insects and other helpful critters to get reestablished. During this time you have to put up with damaging insects.
Meanwhile put out bird feeders and places for them to nest. If you spray an insecticide once, you'll undo any progress you've made thus far.
Unless you exhibit, perfect roses are a personal thing. I find my less than perfect roses nice anyway.
Grow enough of them and they all blend in anyway.
Like I tell visitors, if you walk quickly past an imperfect rose or drive past an imperfect garden you don't see the imperfections.