Thanks! I learned from this masonry project never to try any projects of more than a couple layers of bricks. Mortor work is a skill, and I have newfound respect for professional bricklayers.

Yes, and quite diverse. I am trying to start seeds of a perennial version, so once they are established, low maintenance year after year.

That is a multi-layered question. Most important is to pick varieties resistant to it. I use "Bayer Advanced" brand disease control spray with tebuconazole as the active ingredient. Mixed in a pump sprayer and sprayed preventively biweekly through the growing season has worked very well. The more I add disease resistant varieties and replace the least resistant ones, the less exacting I have become about the strict schedule.

I am super excited by the new Wedding Bells hybrid tea I bought last fall. Beautiful glossy foliage, perfect satiny medium-pink fragrant blooms and so far not even a hint of blackspot or powdery mildew. Pink is NOT my favorite color class, but this rose is winning me over. Any roses from the Kordes German rose breeding programs these days are worth a look. They have upped the ante on disease resistance.

Also, the better you nourish roses, groom them, fertilize, water in the mornings and provide good drainage, and build healthy soil, the better roses are able to resist disease.

@MikeInBatonRouge In my area, believe it or not, we have very dry summers. I have found if I trim the lower foliage and use a soaker hose instead of direct watering the problem is reduced. I will try the spray, Thanks.

Yes. I had never done any masonry before. It was an interesting learning process. Using used bricks helped irregularities in my mortor work not be as glaring. Lol

Thanks for noticing. I will look for pics. It took me a few months planning measuring, making my own trapazoidal concrete forms, tapered for weight balance, mixing and pouring by hand, waiting for them to set before moving on to the next, then mortering the bricks on top....the bricks were free from my boyfriend, who was happy to get them out of his garage. Then sourcing and shopping the topsoil, waiting for it to be delivered. ... and shoveling the whole pile from my driveway over 3 days.
Definite sense of accomplishment. My first masonry project ever.

Bought the house last May. Solid clay yard. The first flower bed was to define the property, and the rail fence helps. I had to dig down over 2 feet and lay gravel for drainage. That bed is only raised a few inches, so it also remains mostly clay to keep from becoming a soup bowl for runoff. That bed is for my shrub roses and wildflowers. The "real" roses got a proper raised bed, 28 by 8 feet by 11 inches high.

@MikeInBatonRouge Now THAT’s a lot of work! Kudos!

Water is crucial, to be sure. I am sure your heat is a lot more arid than the sauna-like conditions here. With roses, half the challenge is in picking varieties that WANT to be in your growing conditions.

@MikeInBatonRouge normally average of 15" pa. and as you say very arid - lol the whole country including monsoonal areas averages is very low:
[bom.gov.au]

@FrayedBear wow! 15"? Our data is from 2007, 62 inches a year, 56 average rainy days per year. That is all before the past 3 to 4 years, in which we have had recurrent record flooding and changes in weather patterns. Massive fossil fuel industry lobbyists have invested massively in propaganda to dupe millions of Americans (though at least a minority of them) into believing global warming is all a hoax.

@MikeInBatonRouge I know it is sick. There are currently plans afoot by an Indian billionaire proven to pursue shady business methods who wishes to open one of the biggest coal mines in the world. The environmental damage that has already occurred is horrendous. The destruction of the Australian Barrier Reef one of the natural wonders of the world will soon follow. The Queensland Adani coal mine should be protested by every person on this planet as it will effect them all.

@MikeInBatonRouge When I came here about 10 years ago they were nearing the end of a 13 year drought - that was dry. The local river featured in my avatar could be walked across on it dry dusty bed. Lake Hindmarsh is Victoria's largest lake at 52 sq miles surface area and an average depth of 11' when full was totally empty.[en.m.wikipedia.org]