I, too, love these Dirt Digger.

This thread reminds me again why I like this forum so much. All these pictures spark ideas in my mind that I can incorporate here and make my gardens better. Not that I can grow a garden in Arizona like you grow in Maine or Alabama or Pennsylvania, etc. I can’t and I won’t try. But I pick up ideas that I can adapt to my situation and make better plans than I could without your input. Thank you, everyone. Keep the pictures and garden ideas coming! And Carol, I understand your struggle with the big picture thing… I have struggled with that for years! It doesn’t come naturally to me and I do so many things by the seat of my pants… but slowly, slowly, I am starting to get a feel for how to make my random ideas become a bit cohesive. I still have so much to learn!! Some of my spaces I planted 7 years ago show some real flaws that would have been avoided if I had better foresight. I’m going back and reworking them as I have time and space to think through how they could function better. I want to think that someday I’ll be able to work primarily at upkeep, but I’m not there yet.

Thank you judi, I have only been at this house for four years and it was a blank slate as far as gardens go. The previous owner was not into gardens which in a way has been easier for me.

We have a short growing season and high disease pressure on roses, a constant battle as I don't spray or use pesticides. Things are continuously changing. Always looking for roses that will do well in this area.

Lovely thread, Dianela! Beautiful roses & landscapes Friends! Thank you for sharing!

Photos of my new land parcel in Bremerton, WA! I will be moving there in spring possibly whenever home in NY sells. Much to do. I plan to build raised beds on top level part of hill of 16,000 sq ft property, clear out blackberry bushes, and remove a couple trees only. I am taking about 59 roses in pots from my NY garden to my PNW new garden-land parcel. I will be building a new home next season.

I may have to grow them in pots for part of the season because it will take time to re-landscape property! Pretty Exciting! I can see the Puget Sound from top of property!

Pretty long hillside & level on top of photo.

Chickens & a rooster from neighbor’s property like to fly over fence onto my land. I think Anastasia will enjoy chasing them. LOL!

I will remove blackberry bushes near bottom of property near riad and plant a hedge of privacy fur trees.

Royal Palace, a favorite! She will travel to WA with me.

Bellarosa, I really had used a LOT of annuals and certainly miss the big punch of color these provided! Marigolds, zinnias, fibrous begonias, hollyhocks, amaranthus, rudbeckia, ageratum, nicotiana, salvia etc. Of late, more perennials have crept in along with roses, heliopsis, phlox and grasses etc, is fun, is ever changing!

Carol, I understand you have poor rocky soil and container growing works best for you, we find inspiration and enjoyment in your bounty of roses and admire the work and tending that goes along with it all! :)

FrozeBudd....your borders are so colorful and overflowing....I would love for mine to look that way someday. I still have so many gaps between roses to fill.

DirtDigger....I love gardens on the edge of woods....the trees make such a pretty backdrop for colorful garden beds. It looks like you've made lots of progress on your new property....so pretty!

KitttyNW....oh my goodness, that is so exciting that you are moving to Bremerton! That is very close to where I live on Bainbridge Island. I hope you will come and visit my garden. You will love gardening and growing roses here....but get a deer fence!! Your piece of land is beautiful....which direction does it face?

dianela....you have the beginnings of a beautiful garden. I was actually going to suggest to the Fine Gardening people that they contact you to a video in your garden about how to grow roses in the SE. They are always looking for regional rose growers they can feature, since the advice is specific to different regions.

Since you asked for any inspirational photos, here are a few from a trip to England I took last summer. It's nice to see these pics to get design ideas...I was hugely inspired.

This is a garden I visited in Scotland called Carolside. It holds the National Collection of Gallica roses in Britain. It was a spectacular garden! I was only there for two hours, so I wasn't able to get as many photos of roses as I would have liked. I'm hoping to return next summer. This is a mixed border....the owner gardener named Rose is very careful with her color palette. There are some large roses mixed into this border....they had not quite come into bloom yet.

The rose garden is a 17th century walled garden. Outside the wall is a large bed filled with huge roses and edged in this catmint with the lighter colored campanula behind it. It was so beautiful.

Inside the walled garden, there was a straight path with rose beds edged in lady's mantle. I love lady's mantle so much...it can do sun or shade and it's so billowy and covers the edges so nicely.

Charming garden benches add so much....you can't have too many benches!

Box edged rose beds....they never go out of style

The romantic style rose garden

This was a room just off the garden room in Roses's house. This was her children's playroom. I literally felt like I was in a Merchant Ivory film :) Sorry this is not a garden pic...but the house and garden just went together so well!

This is Rose's garden room. We sat here and had afternoon tea. It was like going back in time...and a gardener and rose lover's dream!

Here is 'Gloire de Dijon' growing at Hidcote Manor.

This garden is more about structure, sightlines, and vistas....really important to think about when contemplating the "bigger picture"

Adding vertical elements is so important.

Evergreens and hedges....the bones of the garden as they say in England. So important, especially as a backdrop for flowers a roses. Even dotted around instead of done formally, they add so much.

Things in Pots. I loved this display of begonias! Pots mixed into borders, at the edge of borders, and just in arranged displays are so pretty

A small private garden in the Cotwolds...'Ghislaine de Felingonde' on this brick wall

In the same garden....a lavender walk

A most romantic garden...Cerney House. This garden has a huge rose collection, mostly inside a large walled garden. I was there at the tail end of the first rose flush....but I would love to go back earlier in the season to see it in all its glory!

The walled garden is situated on a sunny slope...lovely for viewing from above.

So romantic!

Imagine all the happy people who have sat here over the years

charming!

So English garden-y

I loved this little garden with its pruned fruit trees and boxwoods

I’m 100% drooling over here. These gardens are genuinely works of art, just WOW!

@judijunebugarizonazn8 I’m so in love with your garden. The Secret Garden was one of my favorite books as a kid and yours really speaks to me. Mel’s heritage has been on my list because of you. Also thanks for the pro-tip re: mysty spires, I’m going to look out for that this spring.

@Rosylady (PNW zone 8) I need to know, how much time per day do you get to spend in your garden? It is truly magnificent and I think I would just never be indoors if it were mine. I’m also completely incapable of designing something so spectacular. I notice you have a lot of tall trees, as I do. Do you have any recommendations for particularly shade-resistant roses?

@Dirt Digger Z6NH You too re: recommendations for shade tolerant roses and other flowering plants. My house is also in a forest of coastal oaks, bays, redwoods, etc. and I’m constantly experimenting. I would love to have a garden like yours.

@Lilyfinch z9a Murrieta Ca you set the bar entirely too high with your first pictures. I love the cohesiveness of the colors you chose for the front yard, stunning. Your esthetic mirrors my own and that bird bath situation is *chef’s kiss*. I think I might have to add Pearly Gates to my list.

@susan9santabarbara I think it’s so incredible that the majority of your roses are grown in pots. Honestly, it’s your garden that has inspired me to keep going with roses in pots and not give up due to the fact that I basically live on a giant gopher colony. I sometimes fantasize about sticking dynamite down some of the holes à la wile e coyote chasing the road runner. I don’t think that would end well, but a girl sure can dream LOL. Are your irises in the ground or do you have those in pots too? I’d like to experiment with some of the re-blooming varieties.

@FrozeBudd_z3/4 your handle is giving me a good laugh. I’m originally from Toronto so I understand a bit what it’s like in zone 6, so I can’t imagine how you’ve done what you’ve done in zone 3/4, impressive!

@BenT (NorCal 9B Sunset 14) Your roses always look unreal, it’s ridiculous. That riot of colors is everything. What do you feed these things?? And what is that stunning peachy beauty in the 3rd photo? And the pink in the 4th? I probably already have them but they look nothing like yours lol. Your clematis is making me want to try one out this year.

@dianela7analabama your garden is a literal sea of roses, wow. They’re so wild and free, in the best possible way. Thank you for starting this thread, it’s so inspiring.

@titian1 10b Sydney I love seeing your pictures and reading your descriptions. You have such a lush and diverse garden with an incredible complex ecosystem, it’s absolutely fascinating. And gorgeous!

@KittyNY6 I cannot wait to see what you do with your new property, I really hope you’re able to take us along on your journey through this forum. I’m buckled-in and ready ;)

Rosylady, such photos of inspiration, I wonder if I could possibly set a tiny home someplace among it all, lol :)

I so often change up my place that reoccurring gaps and holes are frequent to be found! ... though, heaps of nepeta, ground covers and grasses and utilizing some really nice conifers are really helping to create better bones and continuity about the place.

SD Shine, I had a good chuckle when coming up with my profile name, really fitting for my far north location and that it rhymes with rosebud, roses are one of my passions and even I enjoy to dabble a bit in the breeding of very cold hardy repeat flowering roses. Indeed is a challenging climate that I focus on what works, though photos do not show of the very many perennials that thrive in my summers of generally moderate temperatures and comfortable low humidity, when we do receive it, I absolutely can't tolerate how muggy sticky weather drains the life force from me!

Thank you all for the glorious photos!

SD Shine, thanks for your kind words! All of the iris are in the ground. I inherited this variety when we bought the house... it's not fancy at all, but I love it and it's ultra-fragrant. I've tried for years to get it identified with no luck. I call it my Grape Kool Aid iris, and have shared it with many friends over the past couple of decades. I'd offer to send you some, but now isn't the time... remind me next summer if you're interested. Here's a close-up:

Thank you everyone for the nice compliments and sharing your photos. It's always nice to get new ideas and inspiration.

SD shine, the majority of my gardens only get about four hours of direct sun give or take as the sun moves around throughout the. Some get morning some only get late afternoon sun.

All of my roses seem to bloom well with the exception of one or two.

The funny thing is that Bathsheba is in the one area of the yard that gets full sun all day and it's only given me a handful of blooms in three years, I'm hoping this will be the year that it wows me because I hate to replace it.

@Rosylady (PNW zone 8)

Wonderful! You are on Bainbridge Is! I will be near Illahee Park, just a little west of you! Can’t wait for us to visit! Your gardens are exquisite! I have questions about growing roses & the rainy weather?

Do you have a deer fence? Lovely garden photos of your England trip!

Thanks for starting this thread Dianela! I always love a thread where we share beautiful images with each other, especially in the winter. What great timing! These are a few images from my garden this past season.

Thank you everyone for sharing your beautiful pics!

This one is kinda chaotic... that's why I took the pic. It's funny how sometimes you don't realize all the plants you have planted in one spot until they all start blooming at once! Not great for garden design, but pretty hilarious if you ask me. Just wanted to share the front bed chaos corner :)

Rosylady, could you please post the link to the interview Fine Gardening did of you in your garden? I googled it and couldn’t find it.

Sunny, what's the blue gauzy thing in your last pic? Halloween webs?

going to try and post in a couple of posts in case they disapear. Forgive misspellings, some time it wont let me click on the word to correct.

Thank you Judi!

It is hard to star over for the third time in a decade, but hopefully this one will be my forever home. I am excited to try new roses and plants in general. I have developed a like for evergreens, conifers and small trees I didn’t have before so my new garden may have more variety.

Frozebudd your garden looks spectacular. I love how lush everything looks and how you can’t see the ground.

Carol you are definitely too kind. If you lived in the mild conditions I do I am sure you could do better than I ever could. My secret is simply the fact I have mild winters and lots of rain. I know the humidity is what causes the heavy blackspot but it also makes our plants grow very well. I also struggle with the big plans or design so I LOVE these threads where I can get some inspiration and ideas.

Dirt digger your garden is amazing! I love the borders you have created and your variety of plants, specially for such a young garden. You have accomplished A LOT in 4 years.

Kitty what a gorgeous new place you are going to have. The pacific northwest is at the top of my list to visit in the near future. Everything looks so fresh and green.

Rosylady thank you so much for being so kind, I won’t have much to show for a few year. really appreciate all your pictures. Your garden has been a huge inspiration with your great use of evergreens and other perennials. I realized my previous gardens had very little structure or anything green during the winter so I am trying to do things a bit different this time. I really really love the look of lady’s mantle, but have never seen it available around here. I will ask my local garden center to find me some to try, but I am afraid it may not do well here.

@susan9santabarbara yes the blue gauzy web is spider webs. We decorated for Halloween and all the plants were still blooming so we just draped it on top :)

Dianela, maybe order some Lady's Mantle seed to give it a try. It grows very easily from seed if it will grow where you are. Just sprinkle seed in a garden bed to try. LM is great in cold, so I'm not sure about it growing in your area. Maybe in a shady area.

Sheila thank you for the idea. It never occurred to me I could try seeds since I have never been good at those, but cant hurt to try so I am going to do it.

Sunny....I love your pictures and especially the rose and clematis growing together. That looks like maybe it's clematis 'Comtesse de Bouchard'? It sure is lovely.

judiejune....I can't seem to post a link here. If you go to YouTube and Fine Gardening's channel, you will see the video of my garden. It's called Growing Roses in the Pacific Northwest, and it was posted a month ago. You can also view it on their website (if you have a subscription) and their Instagram.

dianela...I am so happy to hear my garden has inspired you. I feel the same way about your gardens! I think Lady's Mantle will grow in the SE if you give it shade...it can grow in full bright shade very well. It like summer water, but if it gets raggy looking, you just cut it back and it will grow again and be fresh and lovely. It like hardy geranium in that way. Have you read P Allen Smith's original gardening book called P Allen Smith's Garden Home? I learned so much about garden design and adding structure from that book. I highly recommend it if you're starting a new garden...and a bonus is he is in the SE, so his plant recommendations would work well for you!

Thank you rosylady I have not read that book, but I will look for it.

Thanks, FrozeBudd, for your providing your plant list - amazing! I'm truly enjoying all of the pics , so thank you, thank you, thank you, to everyone who have been posting them. So many beautiful roses and gardens. Looking forward to an amazing gardening year!

Thank you, Rosylady. I found the interview and enjoyed it a lot! I especially found it interesting that you use a lot of horse manure in your gardens, because that’s the secret ingredient for my gardens as well! Horse manure and compost is what I amend all my beds and gardens with. I have a neighbor who supplies me with all I want.

I hope you do more such videos of your gardens, especially in spring. I would love to see a drone photo showing the whole layout of your gardens! I think I’ll order the book you mentioned.

Judi, you're so lucky to have a neighbor with horses... that's one of my dream scenarios!

judi....I am so glad you enjoyed the video! We didn't show much of the garden, and it was in mid October when things weren't blooming very much. I am thinking we may do a winter/pruning/fertilizing video and then one during bloom time. They want these videos to be five min.....I hope we can do a longer video at some point.

Horse manure nearby, and having our own well for water have been two of the biggest secrets to growing so many roses. In fact, from the back windows of my house, I can look out at the farm and see a giant manure pile! It must be twelve feet tall and fifty feet long. All the horse owners on our island take their manure to this farm. It is extremely well aged...the farmer is very picky about it.

5 minutes is wayyyy too short. A good 30 minutes video which shows the names of the plants would be amazing.

These are old videos from my old garden in 2020. They were made with my phone and I am sure I destroyed the names.

https://youtu.be/gy3YHsuF298?si=J_iJ_NP5IEWw9mS9

https://youtu.be/eF7dZMkLD_w?si=z3iARzMFTL2ZU9Be

There are too many photos of exceptional gardens for me to comment individually, but they're all soooooo beautiful. It's such a treat to see these pics. Thanks to all of you for posting.

Judy - I thought that such beautiful garden plans and outcomes were just intrinsic to some people. They probably are. :) :) As you said, for some of us, it takes years of trial and error. You have certainly learned a lot. Your gardens and hard structures are heavenly!! Your design skills are exceptional.

Frozebud - thanks so much!! I can't believe how wonderful your flowers look in zone 3/4. Well done!!!

Rosylady - what a wonderful vacation that must have been!! My favorite picture is the one with the Lady's Mantle flowers. I would love to go see a garden like that.

Dianela - nope. lol I couldn't do better than you even if I lived in milder conditions. lol :) :) I remember when we lived in Fort McMurray, and I had my husband dig two beds parallel to each other that were roughly the size of a person, and my neighbor leaned over his patio deck and asked who I had buried there. His wife shushed him. lol He was so right!! I had my hubby dig between the two "graves" to make a square bed. So you can see that I really do mean it when I say I can't design anything. lol

Wow! Everyone's garden is so amazing! My plot is small, with a third of it being steep slopes and the flat parts not exceeding 2000 square feet. Yet I've crammed in about 180 roses and hundreds of perennials. It sounds wild, and it really is! Besides annuals started from seeds, I also pick out some pretty weeds to grow each year. This year's superstar is foxglove. Here shows some photos.

Front Yard

(a humming bird ↓)

Because of a mature black walnut tree, the backyard is in high shade, and with strong winds in spring and fall, I mostly grow larger roses and tough perennials.

Only a third of the front yard gets full sun, so I filled both sides of the walkway, including the hellstrip, with roses and plants, and used native strawberries as a living mulch—no worries about rabbits or dog pee. LOL.

There are two tricky full shade areas: a narrow bed next to the garage, only 15 inches deep, and another bed in the south side yard with a fir and a plum tree—typical dry shade with root competition, which I used early spring flowering bulbs, native plants, and aggressive plants. They seem to be working quite well.

A full view of front yard

A very blue container

Feiy, I am dumbstruck. Your garden looks so amazing! The word that came to my mind while I scrolled through the photos is “ riot”. I mean that in all the best ways. What a gorgeous, happy riot of colors and textures and types of plants and it all comes together in such harmony and vibrancy.

judi, riot describes it perfectly. That slope on the other side of the road is just begging for some attention too! Feiy, I'm pretty sure it's you that has an amazing Garden Delight. I planted one this year and am hoping one day it will look a fraction as good as yours.

Gorgeous Feiy! It is sooo much fun to scroll down this tread and enjoy all these gardens. I just received a box from Heirloom today with roses like Madame A and Eden and after seeing this I am so excited to go out there tomorrow and work in the garden.

Feiy, your pictures of your garden have always blown my mind. It is one of the most gorgeous, spectacular things to behold :-D

Sheila, Judi, Trish, Dianela, Susan, thank you for your responses. Your encouragement is very meaningful to someone like me who has only been growing roses for five years. When I came to the US ten years ago, I never imagined I would become a gardener—all of my friends couldn't believe it until they saw the photos. The rose forums have really helped me a lot.

I love the word 'riot'. My dream is to create an incredibly colorful, vibrant, and environmentally friendly garden. Everyday I enjoy strolling in the garden, admiring the flowers, and observing insects and wild animals. This year I probably photographed more animals than flowers. *smile*

Trish, Garden Delight is such a healthy, fragrant, long-lasting, and vigorous rose. It's already the top rose I've recommended to friends. I believe yours will thrive!

dianela....your YouTube videos are wonderful! I could watch you touring your garden for hours....so beautiful. Your quality of your blooms is extraordinary...they are so large and petal packed. I especially loved the 'Earth Angel' that drapes elegantly around the rose bed and blooms luxuriantly. I look forward to seeing your progress on your new garden!

Feiy....wow, wow, wow!! You garden gets more spectacular each year! I am sorry I wasn't able to see it last summer. Hopefully I can see it this year. I planted the ''Dr Robert Korns you gave me and it is a lovely rose...so drapey and pretty.

Just for fun, a few more pics from my place ...

I totally love this delphinium, came up as a chance seedling, is compact and sturdy.

Who doesn't love some annuals !!

Feiy - SWOOOOOOOOOON!!!!! Your garden is unbelievably gorgeous!!!!!!! I'm gobsmacked!!! I love the riot (perfect word, I agree) of color and bloom sizes!!!! Incredible!!!! Your Garden Delight is exquisite!!! I love your foxgloves sprinkled around your garden. I tried to grow them one year, but they didn't survive. Not sure why. Your Mutabilis rose is very striking. Thank you for showing your beautiful oasis. :)

Frozebudd - Your last picture blew me away!!! I adore those lilies and the flowers you surround them with. Wow to your delphinium!!! What a great chance seedling. And it's sturdy, which is a blessing for delphs. Those are such beautiful alliums. :) :) Wonderful!!

Feiy, I would love to hear more of your story, if you care to share. You said you never imagined you would become a gardener… what changed that for you and put you on the path you’re on today? You are obviously an amazing gardener now.

FrozeBudd, I love, love your white delphinium!

FrozeBudd....your garden is spectacular! I love how you've mixed annuals in to give a very abundant and flowery look. I especially love your delphinium. I've just gotten into them and they are addicting....but very hard to grow to perfection...like yours!

Feiy, if there's one phrase that has guided my gardening for the last 30 years, it's "riot of color". I plan placement to achieve it, because it makes me very happy. I'd also love to hear how you morphed into a gardener :-D

FrozeBudd, your pictures are gorgeous!

The story of why I became a gardener is actually quite unremarkable. When we bought this house, the owner left behind a rose bush—fragrant and beautiful. One day, I noticed it had sprouted some red stems. Worried something was wrong, I cut off a section (!!!) and took it to the local nursery for advice. That's how I fell down the rabbit hole.

I've always been a nature lover. My hometown is mountainous, and my greatest hobby was riding my motorcycle alone through those high mountains, enjoying the scenery and chatting with the locals, sometimes for weeks at a time. After coming to the US, I had a small plot of land with only boxwood hedges and lawns, and I didn't think much of it until I started studying roses and found myself deeply attracted to these recurring flowering shrubs. So I started planning to renovate the yard, redesign it, hire people to remove all the ugly hedges and lawn, add a patio, and install an irrigation system (which turned out to be the best decision I ever made). The project was intermittent due to the pandemic, but finally, five years ago, I started my own garden.

From the beginning, I wanted to emulate the chaotic yet orderly style of nature, but I also wanted ease of maintenance, so finding a balance became paramount. Perennials, annuals, native plants, starting from seeds, plant propagation, soil composition, light conditions, seasonal interests, colors, textures, beneficial insects, pollinators, birds, wildlife, erosion control—these are all considerations I value and hope to address in practice. I'm grateful to live in a golden age of gardening, able to learn and make friends online. My greatest gain is a deeper understanding of life through this process.

The rose that caught my attention is New Dawn. The photo was taken in 2023. I rejuvenated it in 2024 because it was too large for my little porch. I'm currently retraining it and hoping to see its beauty again in a few years.

Rosylady, so glad DRK has found a wonderful home! I love your garden very much. It looks even more beautiful than the last time I saw it! I look forward to visiting again this year.

FrozeBudd, your meticulously cultivated garden is absolutely gorgeous. Every picture is postcard-perfect.

Carol, thank you for your kind words. Mutabilis is the first rose to bloom in my garden, and it continues to bloom as long as the temperature stays above freezing. Bees and I both adore it. And, the foxgloves are actually weeds in my garden. I just threw away the unwanted ones, so I have no part in their growth. LOL

Susan, my understanding of "riot of color" is using the most common yellow, white, and pink as a base color, then adding orange, red, purple, stripes, and bicolor accents. With slight adjustments to saturation, any color can be adjacent. Where there's conflict, there's focal point; not to mention nature has no conflict. *grin*

Feiy, I loved reading your story. My approach to the riot is similar, except that my very favorite combo is yellow & orange & purple/lav, so I always put those three together as my base. Then I put the rest in, with the most mixing possible. I try not to put the same color together, but when Trumpeter and Lavaglut were next to each other on my driveway years ago, I discovered that together they made my heart sing, so I'll always have them next to each other. And I always keep my fingers crossed that they bloom at the same time :-D

Feiy....thank you for sharing your story of how you became a rose gardener. It's so interesting to hear how people's addiction began:) And I agree with you about irrigation....I've heard it said: water is a rose's favoruite fertilizer. For those of us with dry summers like Seattle, it is necessary!

To keep the inspiration going, here a some more of my favourite garden photos....

This is my mom's tiny town garden which I helped her with. These are 'Moonlight in Paris' roses with erigeron and germander. It's a very hot, south facing border.

This is Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC. A paradise for flower lovers!

My garden in June, just before a garden party

Tiny back garden at my mom's...this was about three months after it was planted.

View of my garden from the bathroom window. I designed the bathroom first, then designed the garden from above as I looked out the window! It's fun to take a bath and look out at the garden. It's a dream come true.

Thank you for sharing your story, Feiy. I loved it. And Rosylady, I like your garden better than Butchard Gardens. For all its beauty , it’s too stiff and formal and fussy.

Feiy, holy moly! what a fiest for the eyes! i like blasts of color and you have it in spades!

TwiTwilight Zone