How exciting Paula. It seems like a great plan to me. I always find the idea of a new garden area to be almost irresistable. I just finished planting a new garden. It is all succulents and cistus. I can tell you that I am very pleased with Mel's Heritage. It is spotless, healthy, and still blooming in December.

So, Rosefolly, how big an area is this lovely Hillside Garden going to cover? It sounds just gorgeous....

Susan

Pamela, that is good to know about Mel's Heritage. I cut mine back a bit so that I could handle it more easily. Moving that big pot and the rose's long waving tentacles took quite a bit of muscle. Actually that is what is taking me so long about this process. There is so much sheer muscle work involved. I don't need to tell you that working on a slope makes it more difficult! I'm being careful not to strain my back anymore than I can help, especially with our trip coming up so soon.

I'm very much looking forward to seeing your new garden area next time I am up that way. This is exciting. A third non-rose garden, after the Shady Garden and Michael's vegetable garden. Have I missed count of anything?

Rosefolly

Rosefolly, hearing about someone else's new rose garden and envisioning it in my mind is almost as good as having it myself, minus the backbreaking work. I especially enjoy it when there is a rationale behind the planting, which in your case seems to be color-harmonious roses. I sincerely hope we're going to see lots of pictures next spring, if not sooner.

Ingrid

Paula - don't worry about the bulbs being planted "too late". We are in the same climate, and I have discovered that if I plant my bulbs in Nov as recommended, they come up in late Dec! Then they get smushed by our Winter rains. I have learned two things: only buy short ones (i.e. daffodils that get 12inches high, not 16-18), so that they will not fall over, and plant them LATE, so they have a chance of coming up in the early Spring, not in the middle of Winter. I think our climate is just so mild, (the ground NEVER freezes) that bulbs do not act here the way they do anywhere else. I have narcissus that have been in the ground for years coming up and blooming right NOW!

Jackie

I'll be planting this week, too! My DH surprised me today by saying "let's go to the rose nursery"! What a sweetheart. :) I refrained myself and only got a few, but this post reminds me that I need to do some serious planning for my next new garden area.

Your hillside garden sounds lovely! Those are the colors that I love. I can just imagine glints of gold shining through the olive tree, with a hill in full bloom behind it. It will be gorgeous.

Progress continues. I planted four more of the roses today: Keith's Delight, Madame Lambard, Jude the Obscure (singing Hey Jude off-key with rose words the whole time I was digging) and Molyneaux. The first dozen daffodils went in the ground as well.

We are expecting some rain. If it holds off, I may get the remainder of the roses that are ready for planting into the ground tomorrow. The last three will probably wait until the middle of January, possibly later. They just aren't big enough yet. I would like to dig the holes and place the root guard cages. That way it would just be a matter of slipping them into the ground, not a big deal.

Holley, thanks, and happy planting. My front garden is all cool colors, pinks, dark reds, purples, and blues. It is in the back that I am planting a warm-colored area. I like the contrast of the back garden being different from the front. Well, the front garden is level! All by itself, that is quite a difference.

Jackie, I've noticed that about certain daffodils, especially the paperwhites which are blooming under my mulberry tree right now. Others seem to come up later, though never as late as they would in a climate that gets true winter. Someone once told me that tazettas are the best in our climate.

Ingrid, not much to see right now, mulch with wire cages sticking up and a few twiggy branches, with a high fence to keep the deer out. I'll see what I can do once there is something to see. Oh, and a ham radio antenna tower. That is my husband Tom's hobby as roses are mine, so it comes with the territory. I decided some time ago to simply regard it as a garden sculpture. These days I hardly notice that it is there.

Susan, I don't know the exact dimensions of this bed. It is a sort of irregular rectangle tucked into the upper corner of the fence. I would guess that it is something like 20 feet by 30 feet, more or less. I've just been concentrating on making sure I'll have room to walk around between the roses to maintain them, and admire them as well. I may add two or three more smallish shrubs once these develop, or I may leave it more open, as it is right now. Time will tell.

I should mention that two rather different gardens inspired this effort. One is Pamela's incredible (and much more extensive) enchanted hillside garden. The other is the garden of Jon of Wessex. I love his effects of layers of color, and am trying my hand at something reminiscent of that, though using fewer ramblers and growing in a completely different climate.

Rosefolly

Your color scheme is wonderful. I have a shortgage of yellows in my garden, just a few really, scattered around except for Alexander Hill Gray and Duchesse d'Auerstadt right next to each other and Crepuscule about 10' away. Oh, and Rd'O down the side. One bit of planning that has worked out. Hmmm, I may have to move Jeri Jennings to this area. She needs more shade.

It does feel GOOD to get them in the ground, doesn't it? Of course, all those other stages along the way felt good, too, right? Keep us up to date with photos. Would love to see your hillside now. :))

Sherry

My favorite colors.
Renee

Watch those hillside roses. I have found here that drainage can be too good for roses--some on my slope are always always thirsty.

regarding narcissi - all you southerners could try triandrus (Div 5), our mediterranean narcissi - most well known is Thalia, but others to consider are white wings, tresemble, petrel. 2/3 nodding heads, usually around 12-14inches high, often white. Jonquils (Div 7) are equally lovely with the advantage of fabulous fragrance - not the cloying smell of paperwhites, but a much fresher, spring scent, almost like primulas.
Tazetta, I agree are also goodies, as well as giving lots of colour for the money. Finally, the tiny hoop petticoats (div 12, I think) are wonderfully tough, with grassy leaves and delicate flowers which appear to be all trumpet.
Yep, narcissi have long been faves for me as well as being reliably perennial.
Rosefolly, your plan sounds completely magnificent. Tumbling cascades of brightness. Like you, I am making new beds (but on a smaller scale). So exciting.