Help me plan my garden - I haven't a clue what I'm doing

[GinAndOnIt]

When we moved into the house, there was a rose plant at the top of the path which gives gorgeous flowers but is in need of a bit of attention I think - it was tangled in a bush and only 'set free' by me when I saw the flower. It's then grown three flowers since then and not done much else. I cut it back according to MIL's direction so hopefully it will be better next year.

Anyway, I was at the garden centre at the weekend and got three rose bush plants for fourteen quid, so that combined with a little rose plant DP gave me when we first moved in, I thought I could plant them with the existing rose and create a little rose garden at the top of the path. (It's a long path and I feel people need the little reward of seeing something pretty after completing the trek )

But I've started digging up a little area and now I think it's not big enough, and the plants will be too close together and/or too close to the hedge. I can't dig further towards the path as there's brick work there (?) so I'm stuck.

Do they look too close together on this pic? Am I better planting elsewhere? I could do a circular patch nearer the bottom of the path which could be bigger if they'd look better there, and maybe plant some other flowers with the rose at the top of the path.

What do you think? And what flowers would look nice and grow well in the original plot if it's too small for the roses?

I've attached a picture of where I wanted them to go, and also a picture of the bottom part of garden where I could dig a bigger patch.

Thank you!

Autumn is spider time, with all the harvest spiders about

It is also bulb planting time, so if you are looking forward to snowdrops, daffs, crocuses etc start planning and buying soon.

can you give any of your garden details wombat

Hi Sprocker. I'll try post a picture

Hope these work

Excuse my washing pole

The second photo is a closer view of the bottom bit. There is an ancient wall in front of the raise overgrown bit.

It is the raised bit that I would like to cultivate. It is about 17feet wide and 13feet deep.
Between the wall and the main lawn, DH has dug a 2feet deep trench because the bottom of the garden floods in heavy rain/winter. It is filled with tree branches and gravel but doesn't prevent the flooding.

I would need to put some paving around the raised section so we could cut the hedges

To the left of the photo is the garage and there are some plants behind there, out of shot.

I am standing on an elevated paved area with the house behind me. The sun rises on the paved area and moves down the garden. It reaches the end bit by about 4pm. There is a tree on the right which casts quite a bit of shade.

Hope this isn't too much info

Also worth mentioning is there are a lot of snails out there and quite a few toads.
I put a dahlia on the paved area in a pot and the following morning, half the leaves had been eaten by snails (the snails were still in the pot)

Should I have started my own thread? Sorry for hijacking yours Gin

Not at all - it's good to see other spaces and pool ideas.

I started a bit of cutting this evening - looks like I've done NOTHING but it was exhausting. The area where bin is was thick with whatever plant is behind it. The bamboo type thing. Easy to chop but SO MUCH OF IT.

I've done another hour or so of chopping before breakfast and it looks no different from the picture I posted last night. I hate noisy things but I might have to just get over it and use the hedge trimmer. :(

FIL said yes to the boys doing a day's work here with trailer at bottom but not until winter, hence why I'm hacking away at some of it now. I did think if I left the obvious chainsaw bits visible then DP would get excited and start having a go if it rained one day.

Keep at it Gin. I'm going to have to use some sort of weed killer to kill the bottom of my garden before I dig it over.