Go around to public gardens and look at roses. Now, during the next couple of weeks or so. Is this something you want in your front yard? If not, you have your answer. If you can deal with it, move on to the next stage.

Austins will require spraying. Are you prepared to do that?

'Over the top' is about the last way I'd describe a rose garden. Relatively one-dimensional, lacking winter interest - those are more the issues to deal with.

Can you ever be too over the top with roses? Say it isn't so:)

I personally think you should go for it. Since what you're describing is what we did this year. Things just worked out that the space in the front yard you see below gets the best sun all day long with respectable soil. The roses there have done well and although we also are completely socked in with snow just now I can't wait to see how they do next year.

Under construction after removing grass, rototilling, this is planting day. It was a freakishly hot day of about 100 degrees in May.

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Pardon the crime scene tape:) We ended up putting up a small corner fence to deter neighbor kids and that was the beginning of it.

I'm really happy we did this. The only thing I would do differently is listen to the many wise voices who told me I was overplanting for how much space I had. I have a plan for doing some reorganizing Spring 2009 which includes giving away a couple of roses and moving several around.

I think if it pleases you to use that space in your front yard you should. There are a couple of threads floating around on the Rose Forum which show some very nice front yard rose beds. Good luck on your project.

Kate

This is sort of what I am trying to do too. However, I believe a front yard is for landscaping, not maintaining a rose collection, and therefore roses should be interplanted with companion plants - much more beautiful. Just my personal opinion though.
Masha

All but 2 of my 60+ roses are in my south-facing front yard. There is too much shade in the back yard. I don't give a hoot what anyone else thinks, it is my yard and lest some municipal ordinance says I can't (and there was such a fight in a neighboring town), that's where they will stay. The neighbors seem to like it too.
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OK, so this last photo is from 2005 when things were much more orderly...

Diane that's really pretty. I think one should grow roses to please themselves and no one else. If the neighbors enjoy it then all the better. I know I got a lot of compliments on my new roses once they matured enough this year to show some color.

Kate

Mixing the roses with moderate-sized evergreen shrubs, hedges, and structures and/or sculptural elements provides plenty of winter interest.

Roses do need maintenance, so that is something to think over carefully!

The one issue no one's mentioned is the public picture made by a gardener skulking around in ratty, mud-streaked clothes. Goodbye, vanity. Hello, friendly walkers who compliment me on the beauty of the roses so often that I've come to feel it would be selfish to hide them. It's fun to share.

My entire backyard is deeply shaded so the majority of my roses must be in the front. I also have a fair amount of lawn (my husband insists) and mature trees at the borders. I cram in too many companion plants along with too many roses. I don't spray and aim to grow only healthy and vigorous varieties so the maintenance is reasonable, enjoyable rather than onerous.

Colleen

Colleen surely speaks the truth, that's why I try to finish up by 10 AM but there are always the dog-walkers! :-)

NO roses in the front yard??? I couldn't survive!!!! It does look nicer to mix in other perennials and shrub so you have year round interest and color. Good luck with whatever you DO decide to do! Here's a partial FRONT yard shot of some of my roses..... April

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Wish I could plant in the front yard, but too many trees and shade there. Go for it if you have the sunshine.

I was under the impression that Austins grow rather well in the Connecticut area. Why don't you post a separate thread about the best Austins to grow in your area. Getting a specific response from actual Austin growers in your corner of the world would be the best way to determine how much you should or should not focus on Austins.

Since we are talking about the front yard, the one thing I would do is read David Austin's descriptions very closely and pick out only the roses he labels as "very healthy" or "good disease-resistance" or some such phrase. Mayflower, for instance, is very disease-resistant, but some of the most beautiful Austins are real disease magnets. A number of his latest roses seem to be much better on disease-resistance.

You should be warned that Austins often take a couple years to become full and lush. No instant garden beautiful, if that is what you were looking for.

Keep us abreast of your plans. Sounds interesting and fun.

Kate

Wow! I'm so glad to have received such an abundance of great responses. Opinions run the gamut which is exactly what I wanted to see. :) Thanks also for sharing your wonderful photos. The more the better!

A good point is made about winter interest. I presently have two cornus florida (very mature), a mature Spartan Juniper, a recently planted kousa, a PG hydrangea standard, a Japanese maple and a callicarpa which I think structurally all provide an interesting winter canvas. It seems it would be OK to intersperse roses amongst these elements no? i.e. it wouldn't be a unilaterally rose garden per se. There are also some mature Rose of Sharon and some hydrangea macrophyllas that I don't dead head because I think they look pretty cool in the winter. I like the advice about mixing perennials with the roses though.

Also Kate good idea about posting a separate thread on Austins in CT. I'll do that now! As far as waiting for them to fill in. That's OK. I'm a patient man. It's the journey that's fun anyway.

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What??? No roses in the front yard? Are you insane?

Grass is good for paths and golf courses so I say go for it.
At my last house my whole front yard was Roses and I thought it was great.
My neighbors thought I was crazy that first February when I was out there tearing out all of the sod in the monsoon rains.
Soon I noticed that people who I'd never seen before would take their walks on the block and stop and smell the Roses.
When production was high I hung a bucket of water on a trellis next to the sidewalk and put cut Roses and other flowers in it with a FREE sign.
I did grow other flowers so it wasn't one dimensional but lack of winter display was an issue, although I didn't personally care.
I'd rather garden than mow so I enjoyed it and I met a lot of my neighbors when I was out working after dinner.

I agree with MG. I have only one KO in my foundation planting and it is on the end.

When the roses are at their best, they look great. But, when they are ugly thorny sticks in the winter, covered in BS in the summer or burned by sun and drought, they do lower your curb appeal.

AND.....who wants this by the front door?
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I have a front yard rose garden. Most of my roses are in the front. Is it too much? Depends, I like it and I get a lot of comments on it. I'm sure there are some who don't like it, but I don't really care.

The only thing I'd say is that you need some background, probably evergreen because it's going to look very very bare in the winter/early spring. Here's a pic of my front:

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Great photos. What roses are these?

Harry yikes! Point well taken.

Susan I love your use of river rock. Buford your garden is very tastefully done. I wouldn't mind you as my neighbor. :D I'll need to think about working in evergreens.

I'd rather garden than mow as well.

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Don't encourage me!

I don't know about a rose garden, but the front of my house is loaded with roses and throughout the yard, front, back side. Roses, iris, and bulbs are the only thing i have any luck with. Yes i have overdone it, but the front faces the south so i plant all my half hardies there. I got rid of 2 large junipers planted together by the road that was evergreen but looked like crap, and was loaded with bag worms that would drop down on you, so i tore it out this summer and have about 10 or 12 roses there now. I have a low side that stays wet for long periods and almost drowned a rose, i have 2 swamp roses i just bought that are in the garage, they will probably go there. I read something by peter beales that said he probably wouldn't plant a mme. hardy in the front yard,lol, but i didn't read that until after i planted one there, oh well! When they bloom, it will seem like the best idea in the world. If you need more green, just don't mow the grass.

Well, like all the rose-obsessed, I also don't have the typical cookie-cutter landscaping I see in my neighborhood.
Instead of traditional shrubs, my foundation plantings are roses where it is sunny, and hostas, ferns, Korean lilac bushes, tree peonies, clematis, and the like.

Last year, my DH decided part of front yard was too steep to mow, so I took the opportunity to plant roses and companion plants. The rose bed runs the whole length of the street on one side of the yard. There's been a lot of increased traffic, including walkers, cars, and a little lady who drives down in her golf cart to visit the roses. I've met a lot of my neighbors who I didn't know and I've lived here 23 years. Folks always stop to talk when I'm out working. I've learned roses in the front yard can be ways to make new friends.
-terri
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I have both a front yard rose garden and a backyard rose garden. Who the heck wants to watch grass grow. The front yard garden contains ogr's, floribunda's and HT's that
are basically garden roses. The backyard garden contains
exhibition HT's on fortuniana. This is my cutting garden.
All of my neighbors, the walkers and joggers from blocks
away enjoy the garden as much as I do.
BTW A very Merry Christmas to everyone.
Ray

Front yard, back yard, side yard... the neighbors yard... whatever yard you can find, it needs to be a rose garden :o)
My front yard:
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Merry Christmas All
Lioness

I have to agree with the masses here. Of course you should plant roses in the front yard!! If you're concerned about appearances, then landscape a bit by interspersing other plants and perhaps a little hardscape. If you just love roses, stick with that. Except for one hydrangea and a honeysuckle vine on the side fence, my front yard is all roses. I don't have as much space for all the roses I want, so I'm certainly not giving it up for many other plants. lol

If I didn't grow my roses in the front yard, I wouldn't have any, because the back is mostly shady. Like others here, I've heard only positive comments from passers-by, and it does help meet neighbors.

If someone considers growing roses purely for a "look," they should skip it. You grow roses because you love roses. It's pretty simple. If you enjoy the process enough to keep up with pruning and fussing over them, then they will generally look just fine to neighbors. Even when I'm less than fully-pleased with how my roses are doing at a particular time, other people still comment on how "great" they look. Even if you have a substantial winter, the winter rose beds can look pleasant if they're neatly kept; maybe some underplanting of cool weather annuals or something. Of course, if one is in the frigid north, my answer is "MOVE SOUTH!!" I love that we can have 10 or 11 months of rose blooms here. Yea! Sorry, couldn't help a little gloating. It helps me make it through our dismal July and August here.

Almost forgot to mention; before I moved to my current house, the front yard here consisted of lots of weeds and a couple of garbage cans that the college students couldn't bother to move to the side yard. NOBODY complains about my roses being "over the top." : )
Front yard? --Go for it!!

I like front yard rose gardens and have one myself. You may want to employ some structure to give it a formal appearance -- or not. An opulent cottage rose garden is also charming.

One thing you may want to consider, especially if you plant hybrid teas, the roses most people think of for cut flowers, is that a number of forum members have reported roses being stolen out of their front gardens over the years. Seemingly respectable people can be quite shameless about it. So if you do decide to plant HTs or other popular roses in your front garden, you might want to seriously consider a fence to protect them, or at least a hedge that would make picking them more challenging.

Best wishes what ever you decide.

Rosefolly

I think roses belong in the front where the world can enjoy them!

I have very limited space, so plant roses as well as other plants I love in my back yard, front yard and on the sides of my small lot. These are all front yard picures. I do have roses mixes with evergreens and other plants. I just love the look of mixed beds.

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Olga

Well I'm sold! I'm gonna do it. Looks like more lawn is coming up. :-) Thanks for the encouragement everybody. Now I'll have all winter to think about how I want to tackle this... I may start with just a few varieties in order to figure out what I want to plant and what works well in this climate.

Olga- wow just wow! Beautiful. What is the rose near your railing in the last photo? I like the use of evergreen with it - Is that some form of Pinus Thunbergii? Also is that 3rd picture an Abraham Darby? If so, is that one bush or a grouping?

I removed 3 potentilla shrubs from my front foundation bed and replaced with Carefree Beauty roses. They were just planted this past summer so not exactly spectacular yet:

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I also planted two Ramblin Red's at the front walk which I've had to prune back to keep from snagging our clothing:

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I live in a very old small town type neighborhood. My neighbor across the street has pink flamingos in his yard and my neighbors on my side of the road are not super close and are hidden by trees so I feel comfortable experimenting with my yard. Someday I may turn my small front yard into a garden, but I'm going to think long and hard about how to design it for spring, summer & fall interest (winter interest is usually buried under snow). I'll probably use roses as an accent and not the main attraction.

The rose in the last photo is Buff Beauty. Very good Hybrid Musk, wonderfully fragrant. Can be grown as a climber or free standing bush. I am not sure what kind of pine it is. It was already mature bush when we bought our house.
The rose in the third picture is Abraham Darby, just one big bush.
Thank you for your kind words.
Olga

Thanks Olga. I hadn't considered Buff Beauty but I think perhaps I will now. :)