Sorry, I know the question about irrigation was for Diane, but I'll answer my experience: Even when the sprinklers aren't running, there is still water sitting in the underground pipes. If it gets cold enough to freeze down there, the expanded water can crack the irrigation pipes and ruin them. So if it's a concern for you (not sure how far down your ground freezes) then you'd turn off the water to the sprinklers, use an air compressor and hook it up to the compression valve outside, and then use the air compressor to force air through the irrigation pipes until all the water has been blown out of them.

Spin foliage

Mons Tillier

Madame Lombard in Fall

Star of the Republic.

Wonderful photos Sheila!

I am glad to hear your summer was reasonably good... :-)

We all learn as we go and make the changes necessary... You will do great!

What a feast for the eyes! I love what are called Mountain Maples here in Pittsburgh. Are they what I am seeing in your photos? The colors they show, even at a young age are spectacular at this time of year.

Is that Gaura growing at the base of your retaining wall in photo #2? What a workhorse of a perennial it is around here, but it does not exceed 3' in these parts.

Sheila, you have paradise right outside your door. No need to look for it elsewhere.

Moses

Anna Jung

G Nabonnand left, Papa Gontier right

Gloire de Dijon

wall

Oregon sky

Madame Lombard Fall

Madame Lombard in Spring

Gene Boerner very cheery

Cressida

Davis Store Rose from rosepetals

This is also Davis Store rose, if you can believe it.

Darling George Oliva from High Country Roses

Spirit of Freedom

Baronne Henriette de Snoy

Her again

Ivor's Rose

My Cabernet Sauvignon grapes

Darker Madame Lombard over Devoniensis

Paul's Won Fang Yon. I have never met a happier rose.

Comtesse de Leusse

Niles Cochet

Etoile de Lyon

The barn with my little dog Tiger.

Souv de Pierre Notting in an orange mood.

Arcadia Louisiana Tea is always blooming.

Mel's Heritage

ALT

Munstead Wood

Celine Forestier

Souv Pierre de Notting peachy

Comtesse F Hamilton

General Gallieni

Davis Story again

Souv de Mme Leonie Viennot growing through Albertine

That Anna Jung bloom 😍

I love your landscape there, Sheila! It's so open. And the color in the sky is very intense. How do you choose your roses, they are all so beautiful? Are some of them antique roses? Hard to pick a favorite, they all have something about them. I like everything about Ivor's Rose, but the color in particular. Pretty form, buds and foliage. That photo along the top of the wall toward the evergreen, I'd enjoy having that view every day.

Sheila, everything looks great! Wow!

Sheila, thank you so much for sharing your incredible gardens. I agree, so hard to pick a favorite, you have a wonderful assortment. I love the natural look to everything like it was always suppossed to be there.

We are blessed in southern oregon with such perfect conditions arent we.

Sheila, I feel like a broken record, but I’m gonna say it again… I love your gardens. They have such a peaceful, unpretentious look. If I was your neighbor, I’m afraid I’d be gawking over your fence every chance I got.

Absolutely stunning. Everything looks so beautiful and looks perfectly placed. There is a freedom to your pictures that is so welcoming

Gorgeous, as always!

Sheila, I will never tire of seeing your garden and the view around your home. It is magnificent!

Sheila, I'm going back up to enjoy your photos, but first I want to clarify about the sprinkler blowing out thing. Here in zone 7, it doesn't get cold enough to do harm to the hoses when they have water in them, though the water can expand when frozen. The hoses have some flexibility. It's the valves that are vulnerable because they are made of harder plastic. They are expensive, too. I had the drip system's valves replaced last spring because they had aged and were starting to fail in one station. In your zone 8, you probably can get away with not blowing our the system. Some winters our ground doesn't even freeze, and your ground is probably even warmer. Now, back up the thread. Diane

Sheila, the trees! the sky! the roses! There is nothing like south west Oregon, and your wonderful garden does this special place justice. What a sky. The roses are spectacular, but Souv de Pierre Notting keeps popping up and really catches my eye. I'm going to look again and again at your gorgeous photos. Diane

Thank you all for your encouraging and kind remarks. I really appreciate all the plant talk and beautiful photos you post.

Thank you, Diane and Magpie, that really explains things to me. I agree I am warmer. If it prevented emitter clogging etc I wanted to know, but I do agree we are probably not needing it for cold. Magpie and others are cold for sure. We need a filter on our system and will probably get it this Winter.

Moses, our gaura here get huge and 4 ft tall.

Prairie, I read a lot when I gardened in Alaska for 33 years. I tried to get a lot of the classic Old Garden Roses I found mailorder to grow down here. I learned about Tea and China roses on this forum from Ingrid, and Jeri and all the Californians and the Vintage Roses catalogue and added them. They are mostly Antique roses and Paul Barden and Kim Rupert roses as well as David Austin. They are a hodgepodge of Alaskan and Canadian rugosa and spinosissima too.

Let's face it, I loved them all.

Sheila, we just disconnect our hoses and have never had a problem.

When we moved to this house 9 years ago , I brought a Dixie cup with a tiny maple tree start that popped up from a seed ( and I can hardly grow anything ffom seeds that I purposely plant ) I planted it and this is today , taken from my second story balcony. I have no idea how tall it is but maybe 30 ft.

Sheila, gardens like yours inspire me to keep looking at the antique roses and look for a place for them. I haven't tried a Paul Barden but I should. And I love that they are all so hardy.

Beautiful, Kristine! Great story. Good to know on hoses.

Moses, I don't know what kind of maples I have. Mountain Maples sounds really nice. My husband grew up in Maine, and they called them Swamp Maples there.

Lovely pictures, Sheila, and thanks for your company and everybody else's on this forum.

Sheila, do you have any new barn pictures?

I love the Fall Sycamore and Oak tree colors with the barn.

A beautiful spot to live, Sheila, and you have beautified it even more.

Sheila, I don’t know if you added more but I just looked again and I’m noticing a few more I really like…

Madame Lombard Fall, your grapes really look wonderful too. I love a bunch grapes on the vine! Are they eating grapes? Paul’s Won Fang Yon…such a cheerful red! I don't have any reds, so I am particularly drawn to them. One of these days I'm going to add one. There's so many pretty ones, I'll have to pick one or two.

We have eating and wine grapes, Prairie, and chickens and raspberry bushes and asparagus and apple, pear and apricot trees.

Sheila I didn't know you have chickens, I'm so jealous! I wish I could have some chickens or ducks. What a paradise you've got :)

Oursteelers, I can't imagine not appreciating the beauty of the cycle of deciduous trees. I wonder if those people would feel the same if they suddenly lived somewhere that didn't have them. When I lived in Arizona I desperately missed the cold seasons that I grew up with, and there are hardly any trees to speak of (where I lived) let alone ones that gave beautiful autumn color. When I moved to Colorado I was really heartened by the beauty of the seasonal changes, it fulfills something in my soul.

All wonderful photos Sheila :-) I'm really enjoying this thread! :-)

Just heavenly!

Your garden really stands out for having the roses grown naturalistically with plenty of room to expand in such a beautiful setting. Seems you had a dream of how you wanted it and it has slowly taken shape and come true.

That is exactly right, erasmus. Thank you.

when I see places like this it makes me want to move out of Texas, sigh..maybe one day. Thanks Sheila for the beautiful photos!