Melissa - I know what you mean about roses taking over space from each other if you take your eyes off them for a while - yesterday I noticed that the Lamarque I thought was 6-10 feet away from one of my Anna Oliviers is now covering 80% of AO. I will have to do something about that...

Love your descriptions, as usual. Would love to see some pics of your mystery with rich pink blooms. Although I certainly don't need a rose which makes a thicket of some square meters, it would be a lovely sight to admire.

Jackie

Another winner post, Melissa! Survival of the fittest will be the rule here at some point too. I love rose suckers. I just noticed my Raubritter may have died. I'll have to investigate. A light pull did not take it out.

Jackie, I'll keep photos in mind. Mine aren't good, but the real pain is moving them from the phone to the computer using Bluetooth, which still seems the easiest option. DD is helpful here as always. Still low on energy--long Covid, the gift that keeps on giving!--which is however a reason to stroll around with a camera (smartphone).

Sheila, possibly there isn't a shakeout at some point, as I was thinking, but rather numerous overlapping phases of prepare, plant, see what works and what doesn't, then do it again, with adaptions based on previous successes and failures. I've paid little active attention to roses for some years now, working instead on structure, mainly hedges of all sorts. Last fall we planted over a hundred plants, only one of them a rose. Instead, abundance of phlomis, rosemary, kerria, caryopteris, and other. I also want to plant trees, IF ONLY I CAN GET MYSELF ORGANIZED. Next fall will be more hedge filling, I anticipate. I've repotted over a hundred plants this spring, and most of them are intended for hedging: shrubby or semi-shrubby honeysuckles, shrub germander, more phlomis, lavender; Ruscus hypoglossum for the shade. There are bed fillers like wild fennel and pinks, and some trees, though I need more of these, but they can be purchased.

Anyway, the roses are to some extent on their own. If I live long enough I'll get back to them, plant holes, and buy more, new varieties, but it will take time. The ones I've lost are a loss, but the garden as a whole is looking lovely this year, and full of interest. And it has its own character.

Hi, all.Melissa, I can truly relate to you. I myself have so many problems with getting organized; there's always so much going on in all the different "sections" of my life. Even if it were just my garden project that demanded my attention, it'd be overwhelming.

Recently I've been working on paying attention to some of the many long-neglected areas in my garden,sawing down tall grass and weeds,cutting down brambles that have become huge,liberating plants from all this invasive stuff ("what, are you telling me there are actually ROSES in there???",lol). To my delight, I discovered that my wisteria "Amethyst",planted years ago and subsequently presumed to have died, was not only alive and growing but was flowering!!! Eventually I'm hoping to cardboard up at least some of these areas...But now the weather forecast is for several days of rain,so I don't know when I'll be able to get out there again. This is one of the many problems of not having a house out there-if rain is predicted often I have to renounce going, because I can't make a dash for shelter. This weather may well compromise my spring flush, since many of my roses are getting ready to bloom, but I'm not complaining by any means. In spite of the droughty weather, l planted out about 40 new things last fall (mostly roses),and that was a big gamble, considering especially my "hydraulic" challenges, so even if this weather spells bspot, balling and boredom I bless and welcome it. Embrace the caos!!!

Bart, isn't that the truth. It's kind of a thrill to come back to a section of garden that's gotten little attention for a while, and discover that, in fact, some things are doing pretty well. Encouraging.

It rained here last night, delivering about an inch and a half of water, and with more forecast to come later in the week. If so the garden will be a wet mess until it dries out, but we do need the rain, so there will be no complaints from me.

My cry of distress was mainly due to so many items for the future, but I also have a bottomless job jar of current maintenance, a zillion tasks only half done: a pergola to finish tidying, grass to shear to see what's going on with the roses there, doing the rest of the repotting and moving plants outdoors, finishing pruning in the shade garden (ha), cutting wild plum out of the double line of roses in the bottom bed, and digging out the artemisia that has gotten established there. And always, looking at the once-blooming old roses that are coming into flower. hidden, neglected, but many of them handsome and thriving.

Well, anyway, good luck! I hope we both get a lot of rain: everybody needs it. Tomorrow is forecast to be a break in the weather, and I may return to repotting, which has the advantage that I don't have to wade through tall wet grass to do it. Another tree peony seedling has sprouted! If a snail doesn't get it first, I plan on potting it up and keeping it where I can watch it. Always more to do.

P.S. It is satisfactory when you find a plant you thought was long gone. I too have a wisteria that has surprised me by living: a white one in this case. And my orange peel clematis, which I thought was a goner, then last year it flowered for the first time ever: thick-petaled bright yellow blooms. Do you have any clematis? The ones in my garden surprise me by their toughness, at odds with their reputation for being capricious. I think they like Italian conditions.