barbur, I do have knockout roses in two places in the front garden. I don't like plants that are too finicky so most of mine are tough ones that can withstand the extremes of our weather and are not too bothered with pests. The backbone of the garden are plants I've had years of success with in another home here in Houston. We've been in this house a couple of years and are just starting to rework the garden. I've used dward oleanders as foundation plantings on one long side of the house. The house is on a corner lot, so I've got an oval bed at the corner with Knockout roses in back and Nearly Wild roses in front. This fall I'll add an edging of daylilies around this bed. The Knockouts bloom with as little as 4 hours of sun, but I've recently removed two old mildew coated crepe myrtles that shaded them and they're much happier now. The front garden faces south and I have copper plants, pentas, loropetalum, iris, agapanthas, impatiens, caladiums, daylilies, salvias, butterfly bush, vitex, an espalliered Little Gem Magnolia, amaryllis, Mexican Bird of Paradise shrub, begonias and blue daze that are all doing great. The portulaca, coreopsis and perwinkles are all suffering from too much rain and fungal problems so they'll probably be up this week. If you see anything in the pics you need more info on just let me know. Your close enough that geographically that if it works here, it should work for you.
