What to do next?

You only get one chance in life clueless, dont put off plans for a rainy day or years to come as those days may not arrive. I have seen personal and sad experiances of this. Besides i dont like to molly coddle my kids, they know a rose bush hurts if you touch it, they also know not to eat red berries and touch stingers. Education is the key.
Being educated doesnt mean that you cant have fun.
Besides i have two girls and wouldnt break anything................ NOT
G

 

Thats better chimney.
You have a lot of potential there. Are those Box hedges you have ?? If so, im jealous

 

Right, designer brain on
I would paint that old breeze block wall, maybe a cream colour. I just think it would make your flowers and folliage stand out more. Green against cream looks great IMHO.
From my experiance, i would always put roses in the middle of a border, they need air to help keep down rust and black spot. Ideally, they also like a nice open sunny site.
If your concerned about thorns then you can get thornless ones and plants with not very many. I would also go for ones with scent. You can get the kids involved, my kids love the smell of my roses.
Here's a few stites:
http://www.britishroses.co.uk/
http://www.davidaustinroses.com/english/Advanced.asp?PageId=1909
http://www.apuldramroses.co.uk/Bare-Root_and_Potted_Roses.htm

I like to go for repeat flowing types as it extends the season. You can get very pretty roses, but only give one flush of flowers over a few weeks. Repeat ones just keep coming.
Good luck, as you can tell, i love roses

 

yes they are i baught little plants 5 years ago. dont know when the best time to trim them though?

 

....
Those hedges caught my eye too Mr G

 

How big were they when you got them ?? To grow like that in 5 years is excellent. Ive trimmed mine in late May, early June. I seem to remember Monty D chopping his back in late Sept early Oct and being stung by the frosts which damaged them. Mine have only been in for 10 months or so, so wont chop mine back for another 2 years probably. What to get some height into them first.

 

Your a lady after my own heart lolimac !
I just love Box, some say its boring but they certainly offset patio and paths brilliantly. And in winter, they keep their leaves and gives me interest even in the darkest of months.
They are my plant of the year so far

 

Derby Day is the traditional day to trim box hedging CRG

 

thanks thats a great tip about painting the wall i love roses too. i got Harkness ones at the mo.

 

The garden's looking better already chimneyrosegarden, it's amazing how just a tidy up makes a difference. Keep us updated on the progress, we're always interested to see what other members do with there gardens.

 

Like most people around my sort of age, I am still capable of climbing trees. Also like most people around my age, I dare not do so. The reason is simply that I've hurt myself enough times while growing up and since to know that risk is real and pain is bad, so instead of climbing the particularly knobbly mature willow tree in our local park, instead I look at it and think about it, and then think twice with a little bit of sadness that once I would have done it without thinking. My childhood has long gone. That's to be expected by my age, but its still a shame. Its this reason, and maybe I'm getting it wrong because I'm not an experienced dad, I've only been a dad for 3 years so far, but its this reason that I don't want my son to find out too quickly that life comes with a massive bag of pain. So I'm not mollycoddling the lad I don't think, but for every pointless risk I can eliminate, its one less chance for life to whittle him down. There is no shortage of opportunity for kids to learn pain. They'll get plenty of it when they come of their bikes or do a stupid stunt that goes wrong. No need for pain in the garden too, at least not for the sake of a few flowers.

 

A few flowers clueless, we are talking about Roses, the most natural thing to have in a garden........... gorgeous !!! So, we dont have fences just in case they get splinters, or paving just in case they fall over and bump their head or cats just in case they scratch them !! Come on, relax man and get those plants in

Only jesting mate. Hope it works out.

G

ps: I love climbing tree's, usually to chase my daughter when she been naughty

 

I'm not disagreeing, just different perspectives and all that

 

the size of the boxes is due to my mums amazing work on the soil over the years before she moved out. she is a real green fingerd lady she used to dig a massive trench in the border and filling it with peelings etc.

 

Look after your soil and the soil will look after you (and your Box).
I very wise women you mum