ProfessorRoush

I don't know if you were looking for plant suggestions, but my suggestion for a focal point would be a simple small statue, something in the 3 foot range. Something to your individual tastes that would please your eye every time you saw it. I have a 2 foot seated girl reading a book on a 2 foot pedastal in a similar area that just satisfies my eye.

For snollygaster; the rain wasn't accompanied by much wind, was it? Here on the Kansas prairie I find that I lose a lot of promising new vigorous spring canes unless I "tip" them when they reach 2-3 feet the first time. The delay in geting going again does seem to give them time to "harden off" and strengthen up as Mr. Zimmerman suggested. As an added benefit, of course, they get bushier and I get more blooms the next cycle.

Grows well here in Kansas too....as do most of the Griffith Buck roses. If you like 'Quietness', try 'Freckles'.

Nice video and nice technique. A little tough, though in my Flint Hills Kansas soil to do that since the soil at 1 foot is mostly flint rock of various sizes.

I'm interested in that you didn't seem to cut it back much? In a drier climate, would you cut back the rose more?

ProfessorRoush(http://kansasgardenmusings.blogspot.com)

Excellent post and also educational with the use of terms like "discontinuous fuel source." Believe it or not, we face a similar problem living in the Flint Hills in Kansas where the prairies are burned yearly to control noxious invaders and enhance their nutritional value for grazing. One of my solutions, that you didn't mention specifically, was to surround the house with a circle of some kind of stone, asphalt or concrete...sidewalks, raised beds edged with stone, asphalt drivway, etc so that there is a completely nonflammable barrier encircling. It's detailed further in a gardening book I wrote about the Flint Hills; "Garden Musings", available on Amazon.