Yes. Yes ("better drainage"). Yes.

Thank you

Make sure to plant your azaleas shallow. I’ve killed so many, but my husband especially loves azaleas so I keep trying. I *think* azaleas prefer a slightly more acidic soil than most roses prefer, but take that with a grain of salt because of how many azaleas I’ve murdered. :-(

If I could give my past self any advice it would be to spend a little more $$ and effort on good soil or amending existing soil. It’s much harder to correct later. I would break up that clay and add whatever I could to it so it drains very well. I’ve been adding compost, perlite, shredded leaves, and bagged potting soil to our beds with a pitch fork, shovel and garden weasel. Most of our beds are basically raised beds because our yard is 90% rock. We got a great deal on soil when we built the beds, but now I’m spending extra $ and effort because the great deal was on not great soil.

Im a rose newbie, but I’m finding the distinction of morning versus afternoon sun to be very significant for roses. It makes sense because 4 hours of our morning sun is nothing like 4 hours of our blistering afternoon sun.

Is the sun in the area 5-7 hours of constant sun OR a little sun here and there throughout the day totaling 5-7 hrs? For example we have two Golden Celebrations in a shadier part of our yard on opposite ends of a bed. They get more morning sun than afternoon sun, but the sun is a bit here and there as it passes the open areas between trees that branch over parts of the bed through the day. In total one GC gets a bit more sun than the other. That one flowers more and is a larger plant.

Right now both of those GCs are growing like crazy, but the trees over them haven’t leafed out yet. Perhaps something else to consider if your shade is created by deciduous trees rather than a structure.

There’s lots of knowledge on this forum. They’ve helped me a bunch. Good luck with your roses & azaleas! :-)

Shannon

Agree w/^^^ about planting azaleas shallow. https://www.rhododendron.org/planting.htm

Other responses are needed here. My affirmative responses come with caveats. Am I correct in presuming you are in SW Arizona? https://www.nrel.gov/gis/images/eere_csp/national_concentrating_solar_2012-01.jpg

That is great advice I will thoroughly break down the clay soil and add good soil to it. I will make sure the azaleas are shallow. I think we might try to plant the roses first and go from there.

Good question. I'm in Colorado where it was 75 degrees a couple days ago, supposed to snow today, 50s and 70s next week, and who knows after that.

The area is right next to the house so sun starts hitting part of "section 1" around 10am and by 12pm that entire section has sun. Meanwhile the stairs are shading "section 2". Around 1 or 2pm the shade is in the middle but now "section 2" is getting a lot more direct sun and still the same direct sun by 5 and 6pm while "section 1" is slightly shaded by the skinny stairs.

Maybe it be better to plant in section 2 so they have more afternoon sun. I'm sure both sections will have more direct sun and consistency during the summer.

Thank you