My husband and I moved into our home eleven years ago.  We really liked the location and the front and backyards were already landscaped, a big benefit since we were both working and commuting at the time.  The irrigation system was already in so my husband only had to tweak the system or replace parts that got run over by the lawnmover from time to time.  We had a basic gardening service take care of the lawn and trim the hedges so we didn't give it much thought. It was pretty and green.

A few years down the road and we both agreed that it would be nice to have some rose bushes.  So we shopped for roses on the weekends and found spots in the back garden for our new treasures.  Of course, we choose our roses by color, fragrance, and size.  My earlier experiences with roses had been rather lucky.  I had planted bush roses that bloomed and thrived in the East Bay climate with virtually no pests or diseases.

We were happy with our beautiful roses and as we ran out of room in the backyard, we decided to remove one of the lawn mow strips in front yard and plant some more roses.  These new roses would benefit from the daylong full sun exposure with the south west orientation;  something we were beginning to realize might be a problem with some of the shady backyard planting areas.  We had a dedicated rose bed encircled with tree roses which were doing very well until I decided to plant a cute little fig tree in the vacant middle part of the bed. A couple of years later the fig had to go, as it grew up it provided a little too much shade and attracted the squirrels, much to the chagrin of our two large dogs. (to be continued on October 12)