It rained like crazy the day before the tour; of those all-day downpour varieties. Knocked down some peony and rose petals, but left some for the visitors. The rose border is about 300' long. The first decade of working in this border was absolutely hellacious. It ran alongside what was then a hayfield, not mine, and so serious grasses and weeds came in under cover of darkness. Big problem watering, too. So much flower border, south-facing, very hot. Solved many problems with heavy duty landscape cloth -- I thought! Some problems solved, new problems arrived. Cannot put in new plants once the cloth is down and this cloth also stopped desirable plants from spreading. So over time, we ripped it out, put in irrigation system throughout the garden, and mulched like crazy -- thirty-forty yards a year in early spring before bulbs and perennials break through the soil. We may have overdone it a bit this year as the mulch discourages the t.b. irises. However, the roses are happy! And that's what counts.
Originally,I planted old-fashioned French ladies. Some of them are still thriving in the border after 30 yrs. But I like to plant for effect and the effect I wanted was rolling waves of roses. So, I put in some rugosas, clippings from honeymoon in Nantucket 16 yrs. ago, then, other rugosas like pj grootendorst, hansa, agnes, Sarah van Fleet. A Canadian rose, William Baffin, impressed so I have him, too and then, I let the much reviled multi-flora have a place (love it here! See it over the gates) and also a couple of dog-roses that came in from the road on their own. These wild roses get along fine with the French ladies! Under-plantings are peonies, veronicas, nepeta, a fancypants fringed poppy and some gray-leaved sages. Phlox always makes it into the border when we have too much of it elsewhere and puts on a nice show when the roses are out of bloom. Weeding is still nec. but not like before. Maintenance with irrigation and mulch has worked out well!
You'll see a tunnel of a japanese willow (don't know name). That is two plants. Only. They came in five-gallon jugs. I planted one with sun, one in shade. After about five years, I got the message and moved the one in the shade out to the sun. It's happy now.