That looks like lots of fun to play with! :-) Will you be growing something on the arbour? If so, what…? How busy is the road(?)

Oooh, new plants - always fun! I was going to suggest an Explorer rose for the arbor, but looks like you've got that covered already. My sister has a William Baffin, and it's humongous. What about adding some rugosa roses -- the fragrance is wonderful, and I find the thorny branches offer winter interest.

@porkchop_z5b_MI: I’m hesitant about rugosas, the ones I see here seem to grow all over the place. Do you know any that are well-behaved?

I don't have many roses in my garden, I currently have Morden Blush, Olds College, The Fairy and JP Connell.

That looks like a really great soace to play with. I can’t to see more pictures!

Define "well behaved". If you mean stays in a small, perfectly neat shape then no -- rugosas are not "well behaved". If you mean don't turn into unmanageable monstrosities, that depends on which rugosa you get. There are very large 7+-footers, such as "Rubra", "Scabrosa", and "Alba" that probably will eventually want to take over your plot, but there are smaller cultivars available that top out somewhere between 3-5'. A terrific, wholly landscape-worthy series is the Pavement series, and if you see "Frau Dagmar Hastrup" on the bench grab her and run, she's a beauty and not too large (boob height). Rugosas do sucker, but I find them easy to pull -- give it a tug, the root run will come right out of the ground and snip-snip it's gone.

I would never be without rugosas. There are no negatives in my book. Unless it's a cultivar that's a cross with non-rugose rose (e.g. Linda Campbell, Therese Bugnet, etc) -- disease can become a problem in these --> the more rugose the leaves, the fewer the disease problems. As in no blackspot. Ever. In other words, avoid rugosas without very rugose leaves.

I treated myself to an "Alba" last year for down by the road -- she can get as large as she wants down there; I've wanted one as long as I can remember but no where to put such a big girl until now.

The road sounds interesting…! How big is your property? i.e. how long a distance does the garden extend along the road?

My favourite rose we grew for a few years here was Blanc Double de Coubert. Heavenly scent!! No blackspot or other diseases but, unfortunately, Japanese Beetles loved it :-( so we eventually dug it out. Are those beetles a problem for you? If not, consider BDC….

Maz your hard work looks so nice!! Looking forward to seeing you fill it in....

@porkchop_z5b_MI: thanks for the rose recommendations! I’ll be on the lookout for Frau Dagmar Hastrup!

@woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada: Our lot ends where the large cement blocks are placed, you can see them well in the second pic that I posted. I haven't measured the garden bed, but it must be between 15-20 meters long.