Hahaha! I think you were reading my mind. I'm going on 1800, and still have a few this spring that haven't arrived. I keep wanting to add more, mostly because I keep finding a rose here or there that has died on me. Wanting to replace them. I really have got to stop myself. It's out of control. (I'm out of control) And every yr I'm getting older and more out of shape, and it's actually beginning to become a burden to go out and work in the yard. I was out there yesterday for several hours moving potted roses and raking pine needles, etc. My body hurt soooo much after only one hour, I thought I was going to die. I have arthritis in most of my body, and a really painful right hip, plus foot problems. I'm at least 50lbs overweight, and that doesn't help either. I was thinking to myself that I don't know how much longer I can continue to do this. My property is sloped and there are lots of rocks in the dirt, many of which are on the surface, after all the moving and digging we do around here. Those, plus the acorns, walnuts and pinecones all over the place make it dangerous for me to walk, what with my lousy eyesight and crappy balance. Yeah.... I know I have too many roses. Too many other plants and stuff to deal with too. If my husband or sons helped me out once in awhile it wouldn't be quite as bad. But, unfortunately, they rarely help me, except to rake up the pine needles and maybe dig a hole if I cant do it myself. I know it's time to stop buying roses. Where am I going to put them, anyway. I don't have much room left, except in shady areas. I keep saying to myself I need to give away some of the roses that I either don't like that much, or that don't do well enough. I'm sure I'd be happier with about half of what I have.

I have a T-shirt that says "Never enough roses", so I don't think there are too many. When it gets to be a job instead of a hobby it may be time to stop obtaining more.
I try not to get 10 more than I have room for. That guarantees an ever expanding rose bed.
Right now I have 30 rooted cuttings of varieties I don't have, growing in my greenhouse to be planted in my garden, plus 26 more coming this this month.
Will I never learn?
An illness or disability will slow you down but you soon find ways around them.
I began growing and selling hardy own root roses just to satisify my rose lust.
If I can't have more, I'll cause others to become addicted.

**I try not to get 10 more than I have room for. **

Oh my I just busted out laughing!! If ever there was a cry-out for a 12 step program!!

(BTW...don't try it Karl...I would drag out out of the meeting and back to your garden if you did!)

Oh, Harmony, you are asking the wrong crowd this question! Every year I say "I have to cut down.", "I have to get rid of a few of the pots!", "I have no more room!", "I have to cull the seedlings" and every year I buy more and start more seeds. This year I have 3 in the basement already, a gift card for one more and 10 more seedlings to add to the nursery that has close to 200 in it already. And that doesn't count my want list!

If there is such a thing as too many, I certainly haven't gotten there yet.

Well said Hooveb!

We left 250 rosebushes back home in NJ (on a piece of property that was only 50 x 100, including the house). When we knew we'd be moving to Florida, we stopped adding roses to the beds, but right up until that decision was made, we were trying to finagle just one more rose here, and a couple more pots there.

We moved to FL in late November of '09 (I refused to move until -after- the World Series, and was well-rewarded with my Yankees won #27), and during 2010, planted a grand total of 8 rosebushes, all in one bed in the front yard in front of the window of one of the two spare bedrooms. Right now, we're a lot closer to 100 -- I planted 40 in one week, 17 of those in one day. We have roses in front of the dining room window, climbers (2 Spectra) in front of the columns that support the cupola at the front door, roses in a semicircle bed between two live oaks in the back yard just past our well (two more will be going into that bed in two weeks), roses in a bed around the HVAC unit (four minifloras and one HT, Sister Jane, all on Fortuniana), and a long bed that runs beside our driveway and will hold 27 rosebushes (4 left to plant there -- they'll go in tomorrow). I have 4 climbers left to plant along the fence at our driveway (two High Society and two Blossomtime -- I'm just waiting for our lawn guy to run drip lines from the existing fenceline irrigation pipes), and I'm buying my husband two own-root HTs from Whit Wells (My Wife Kathryn is a no-brainer) as a present for our 31st anniversary later this month; they'll go in pots in what we call the playpen, a fenced-in area for our dogs off the pool cage. There's another bed outside the playpen, which holds 18 bushes, and one each outside the playpen gate that gives easy access to that part of the yard. And I have 18 minis and minifloras in pots, too.

Right now, I'm plotting and planning next year's beds -- one in front of one of our bedroom windows near the bed by the HVAC, another long bed alongside the one that flanks the driveway (I'm starting soil prep on that tomorrow -- newspapers, hay, topsoil, peat moss, and cow manure, all covered by landscape cloth) and a semicircle bed in front of the first bed we planted last year, which will hold grafted minis and minifloras -- that will probably give me a total of 45 more. Eventually, we want to plant another bed two rows wide with a path between them about 15 feet behind the pool cage, and tie it into the existing playpen bed, and that will give us probably another 50 roses when that's finished.

I'll try to be the voice of reason and self-control here--but you need to know how much I envy gardeners who have 100 or 200 or more roses! (1200--hmm, I don't know for sure about that. LOL! )

I only have about 60 or so roses. I started out like most of the posters when they fell in love with roses--buy 20 here, 20 there, etc. So much fun pouring over catalogs, looking roses up at helpmefind.com, reading the various comments forum members make here. I was actually proud when I passed the 50 mark. Then, by the time I got up to 60+ roses, I discovered something. My body just can't keep up with that many roses! I guess its a bit of arthritis--bending over to perform various rose chores soon tells on my back and hips. I was so disappointed to realize that I would never pass the 100 roses mark.

In fact, I'm working real hard on NOT replacing any roses that die or have to be spaded up (like RRD, for instance). I think I better try to get back down to 50 roses. That would keep me busy enough without my roses becoming a burden. I keep telling myself I will have more time to enjoy each of my roses.

I think it was Harryshoe who expressed some similar ideas a year or so ago. Since he still has a gorgeous garden, even if he had to cut back to only 50 roses (I think he said), I feel encouraged every time he posts one of his lovely rose pics.

So I would say, when rose gardening produces more pain than pleasure, yes, you have too many roses.

Kate

I don't have as many as you people but I do have 5 new ones ready to be shipped to me. Here was my poblem. I just turned 80,had 2 knee surgeries over 10 years ago,that didn't stop me had a TIA several months after my son died and yesterday I got to thinking" I can just see this place when I pass on, the boy who bought our farm is like his dad he calls flowers weeds" I just talked to myself and said I am going to enjoy them until that day.

For me, yes, there is such a thing like having too many roses! Somehow the turning point came this year, when I realized that I simply can't care properly for the roughly 75 roses that I have bought. So I decided I will go through a very strict selection process and will only keep the roses that I love the most in my garden. Another requirement is that they are healthy in my climate, since I don't spray and garden organically. I expect to get down to approximately 50 roses and I am sure I will be quite content with that number. As a matter of fact I am kind of looking forward to this selecting process "in search of the best"!

Christina

Here is a link that might be useful: Organic Garden Dreams

finchelover,
I care for my 400 plus a greenhouse full of rooted cuttings from the seat of a rascal scooter due to a severe stroke 9 years ago. Where there's a will there's a way and I do everything.
I have similar problems with my son-in-law regarding failure to care for my roses. That's why I've left them all to a local arboretum, either upon my demise, or sooner if I become unable to care for them. They get the greenhouse also. They said they'd make a memorial rose garden in my name.
Couldn't ask for a better memorial. I'll ask my family to cremate me and spread the ashes over the garden that way I'll always be a part of it.

I will say emphatically, YES! Not because I'm an old poop, but because I'm getting older (this is only my 4th year growing roses), and the work is getting harder. I have 94 roses on a 60x120 lot that has a house on it and no grass. Coincidentally, a week ago Sunday I posted on my blog on this subject. I was feeling the burden of my garden and the guilt. Being able to care for the roses is one thing, but you also have to be able to meet all the other commitments in your life - spouse, job, home maintenance, whatever. If you have help, that makes a difference, because having NO HELP means you do everything. Need an irrigation system? You put it in. Need 6 pick-up loads of manure compost spread in the spring (every spring)? You spread it. Need to feed the roses in July, August & September in the heat & humidity of summer? You feed them. All of this multiplied by the number of roses you have. It's not all sweetness and light and pretty flowers. The more roses you have the less time you'll have to stop and smell them.

I had a very thoughtful comment on my post, and here is part of my reply to him: Perhaps if nothing else, someone might read my thoughts from yesterday and see it as a warning against over-committing resources - time, money and self - as well as against losing self-control. It was a wild ride there for a while - buying roses, digging, digging, digging and buying more roses. I do regret that I was not more restrained in my enthusiasm and not just because I am now left to live with the burden - which is what it is. **More is not better, but I acted like it was.** I don't adhere to the old adage "all things in moderation" because I don't believe all things are good for us, but "all good things in moderation" is a good motto. Moderation is something I have had difficulty with. In order to moderate now, the questions would be which roses to take out and what to put or not to put in their places. Eventually, I will have to answer those questions. Should it be sooner or later? I think sooner since I'm 60.

I'm only saying, don't lose control. (If you're 30, that's a whole nother ballgame.) A good way of not buying too many roses is to strictly adhere to maintaining enough (and even extra) separation between roses. Don't fudge. (I did.) Your roses will grow, and in a couple of years you will be overflowing in rose bushes. So you may as well buy the right number instead of too many which you then have to remove or be constantly trimming them to make them fit. And don't forget to leave room for companion plants. (I found that I didn't like my rose garden until I added the other flowers and evergreens to it.)

When you fall in love with the photo of a rose bloom, just consider how many people really look like their glamor shots. Find out all you can about the health, size, and appearance of this "rose of your dreams", because even then, it's likely that you'll be saying goodbye to many of them for one reason or another - soil, disease, shape, color, vigor, flower, drought, heat, cold, and on and on. I have removed nearly as many roses as I now have.

I love my roses and my garden, but with a full-time job there is almost no time for 94 roses and anything else. Weekends and evenings belong to the roses. DH cooks or we would be eating who knows what because I am beat when I finally come in. Roses are wonderful, but I'm thinking 50 roses would be better for me than 94. The hard part now is which 50.

It's your garden, Harmonyp. Make it the way YOU want it but make it SMART, and you'll love it for years to come. When you count the cost, count more than just money.

Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: If only sweat were irrigation...

What a great thread! Thanks for posting it, HarmonyP.
I'll second Karl...HoovB put it perfectly. When you can't properly take care of the roses, then you've passed your limit. Kudos to Karl for keeping up with those 400 roses! And what a wonderful plan to leave them to the arboretum when your time comes.
For myself, my peak was years ago growing roughly 80 roses. I'm 43, and knock-on-wood, so far I'm physically able to handle all the care needs. But my practical limit mostly comes down to what my yard can adequately accomodate. I have just under 40 roses right now. All are in pots and they are perhaps slightly crowded but doing well. I could imagine squeezing in another dozen or so, but only if I was willing to significantly overcrowd them and/or put them in inadquate sunlight conditions, and I don't want to do that. I have to laugh at myself in that every early spring and again each mid-fall, when weather is the most pleasant here, I feel a burst of energy and wish I had room for a hundred and fifty roses. Then by the dog days of summer I'm questioning why I "need" the 40 I have. So my practical limit isn't even completely stable. What I try to remind myself is that I grow roses for enjoyment, and my desire for ever more roses has more to do with curiosity--desire to try out and learn about more and more varieties--than it has to do with actual enjoyment of taking good care of the roses I have. I do enjoy the cultivation process, but if I had much more than I do have, my enjoyment would not be any greater. There comes a point in which you have enough roses to always have some available for cutting and some for garden color; beyond that number, the enjoyment of the hobby doesn't seem to increase that much, if any, with the number of roses. Several here have said somewhere around 50 roses seems to be a good target for them. That's probably just about right for me as well. But since space limits me a little more than that, I just have to be extra choosy when shopping and really savor the few selections I make each year for new roses. It really does mean choosing to let some roses go to make room for the new ones. In that way, I keep a lid on it.
We had a local rosarian here who has been such an inspiration; for many years his roses graced the local rose shows and typically occupied the lion's share of trophy/royalty spots at those shows. When age, declining health, and family care needs forced him to severely pare back the size of his rose garden, the few remaining bushes he kept continued to produce winners at the rose shows. Even show rose showing is not much my thing, that was inspirational to see, that small garden size does not have to mean that one is any less a quality rosarian.
Mike

Thank you so much for your thoughtful postings. This thread has been highly meaningful for me. I have about 50 roses, with age just a few more than rose count. Have a full time job, long commute, horse ranch where I do most of the work, and DH. The roses have become my therapy, and while they take valuable time away from the DH and horses, it is time that I need for me. They don't feel like to many, and I feel I could easily do with maybe 10 - 20 more. The greatest thing about the roses is the enjoyment each and every one gives me daily, and the day that daily individual enjoyment turns to "work", is the day the entire joy is negated. I knew before posting this it was time to slow down on acquisitions, and that has been confirmed through this thread. There are still many I want which is a great part of the fun. But the additions will be much slower and well thought through now.

Re: roses as therapy.

They're about the best therapy you can imagine. In August of 2005, my world turned upside down. It was the month from hell for me. On the 1st, my mother (then 86) had a severe vertigo attack, bad enough to keep her in the hospital until early evening of the next day (I thought my heart was going to stop when my father turned to me in the ER and asked "Is she still breathing?"). Two days after she came home, my father dropped dead in their living room at age 90. Knowing how much I loved our roses, my five bosses sent three gorgeous arrangements of red roses to the funeral home where my father's wake was held.

Two-and-a half weeks later, my husband's appendix burst late on Sunday night just before we were due to start our vacation. We'd planned nothing more than hanging out in the yard, working with the roses (which numbered about 200 at that point), maybe going out to dinner a couple of nights, and one day trip to the Jersey Shore. Instead, he spent 11 days in the hospital (both peritonitis and gangrene had set in by the time they opened him up), 9 of them with nothing by mouth, and ended up losing 25 lbs, and being out of work for about 8 weeks (and, to be honest, he went back too soon. Maybe that duration of recuperation works for a younger guy with a desk job, but for a 54-year-old man who was a department manager of a supermarket, who spent 10-hour days on his feet, unloading trucks, stocking shelves, going in and out of the freezer countless times, it wasn't nearly long enough -- but we had to fight the State of NJ in order to let him stay home as long as he did, because apparently, one size fits all when it comes to disability).

During all that, the rose garden was my sanctuary. I was out there every morning (I was off for a good part of the month, between bereavement leave, a week of sick time during the first week Bobby was in the hospital, half days during the second week, and then a week-and-a-half of vacation) -- walking the garden, deadheading, weeding, spraying. It was the only thing that kept me sane during that horrible month. And it was very comforting for both of us to be able to bring roses from our garden in to his hospital room.

Neither one of us is in good physical shape -- he has degenerative disk disease and arthritis, I have arthritis and mystery pain in both knees (x-rays ruled out arthritis, but our insurance company says I don't need an MRI). Yeah, I have pain when I plant, and I have to rest between each, but it's worth it. It gets me out, it gets me moving -- and being able to be out there is so uplifting (I had cabin fever so bad back in NJ, and here, I can be out in the yard pretty much all year long -- yeah, it's humid, but I'll take that over NJ's winters any day!).

I have abt. 150 roses, MOL... I am alone now, age 84, with RA also regular arthritis, wear a back-brace due to spinal problems, and have other body-problems and take 10 meds. daily...I use a cane for balance and carry a rake or hoe in the garden to keep from falling, and keep my cell-phone in my pocket..... I have found that my garden is what keeps me going.... I have always had roses, but when my hubby was ill and then died of cancer and I was in Hospital 2 weeks, I came home and could hardly get up in the morning... I went out in the garden and realized it was up to me now, with no help, I could either give up and go back inside and lay back down , or get myself out there and do what had to be done... since then I have added 30 OGRs by digging up more grass in the yard, pulled out some Ixora that died in the freeze and installed pavers in that area for a patio around the Guava tree behind the main rose-bed, with chairs and a lounge, refurbished the rose-bed in the back-yard and planted companion-plants in all the beds.... I dug and refurbished another bordered bed in the back and have potatoes, sweet-potatoes, onions, tomatoes, peppers, dill, papaya, and other edibles there....I have another bed dedicated to Butterflys with milkweed and other plants they like, another bed for Hummingbirds in progress... I have found that by forcing myself to get going daily that each day becomes a bit easier with a bit less pain and I can go longer and do more.. and just walking out into the garden and dead-heading and pulling that weed and spreading that compost and planning, planning, planning makes life worth living... sally

I am finally internalizing the phrase "looking at the world through rose-colored glasses". During phases of our lives that can be nothing short of horrific, the exquisite perfection of the rose reminds us of beauty in life that we either can or cannot choose to embrace. Choosing not only to embrace, but to perpetuate and enhance this beauty is a choice for the positive side of life. I think if I ever get to retire, there will be no such thing as too many roses...

Harmony, this rose garden is what we've looked forward to for so long. Yes, we had more roses in NJ, but we didn't have as much time to care for them. Starting from scratch has been hard, but we have so much to look forward to. Since neither of us is old enough for Social Security, we've been pinching pennies out of our pensions to get these gardens set up (and I've sold a lot of books and a good chunk of my DVD collection on Amazon). But it's worth it. With three dogs and five parrots, vacations are out of the question, so we're turning our property into our own little piece of paradise.

I moved into a new house and new yard 10 years ago. Roses are the one thing I've had success planting, and I have almost unlimited sun so I wound up with 100 roses (thanks to the wonderful enablers here). But now I think I'm out of acquiring mode and into maintenance mode. I don't want to add any more roses right now. I'm going to concentrate on companion plants, taking better care of my existing roses and overall garden management.

But that doesn't mean I still don't see a rose and say 'ooh, I'd love to have that.....'

Wow, I loved reading this thread. Sometimes I think that it's not "too many roses," just not enough "me." My husband calls my rose garden my "Happy Place." I, too, like to experience just growing a new rose and see what happens. It's sort of like a game or experiment and we're the scientist in our laboratory (garden). There's so many variables that no 2 years are alike and I love it!

I ordered 12 roses this year, have room for, um, 2, OK, 3 using my scientific spacing method ("Look! There's room here!"). And, I have 4 left from last year that don't have homes. I'm trying to figure out who gets first dibs on the spaces in the ground and who ends up in pots. I think the one that's been in a pot waiting for a space for 3 years gets the prime spot. But, I don't have "too many", 'cause I still have the lawn (aka, "potential rose bed")!

Wow! I am incredibly envious of everyone's collections. I only have been growing roses for 4 years, and I only have 4 roses, including a mini. I was planning on adding to my garden, but it looks like we may move soon, so I'll be starting over from scratch in what may be an even smaller space.

This thread was an incredible read. I enjoyed seeing what stages of rose gardening we are all in. I also have serious osteoarthritis the length of my spine and am waiting for full knee replacement surgery. I am still in the acquisition stage of rose gardening, but hopefully, I'm planting and planning this garden so that when I'm through, there will be little maintenance unless I choose to do it. Like deadheading. I've noticed the roses still bloom whether I deadhead or not, maybe just not as much.

I have given my roses plenty of space; I've heavily amended the soil with organics; I have chosen roses that are relatively disease free here. Yes, right now, I'm like Sherry, backbreaking work that I won't be able to continue indefinitely--unless I turn out to be as tough as Sally. So I'm hoping when I'm through acquiring, digging holes, and amending my sandy soil, all that will be necessary is an occasional scoop of alfalfa, cotton seed meal, or whatever my choice of organics is.

This may turn out to be pie in the sky dreaming, but this is how I'm hoping it will turn out--or the nematodes could devour every rose I've planted, and it will be back to the planning board.

Rather than wanting a "rose farm" I was always more interested in how the roses would integrate into the whole garden and into the wider landscape, since I have views of hills all around. The hot climate was also a limiting factor, and in the case of roses limitations can be a good thing since so many of them seem so desirable. Through trial and error (in my case much error) you learn what will do best. After discarding approximately 80 roses, I'm left with around the same number, but these are now all roses that I really like and are tailored for my climate and for what I hope to accomplish. Undoubtedly, a few more will come and go, but I feel safe in saying that the main framework has been established and I can now concentrate on enjoying what I have and watching them grow and mature. Since I have mostly old roses many of them keep getting bigger and more beautiful every year so the scene is always changing. I certainly had a period when SO many roses seemed desirable, but once I had them the honeymoon was soon over and I began to realize I really had to research every new purchase instead of jumping in at every pretty face I saw. Except for some Austins, most of my modern roses are gone because they didn't fit in with my vision of a romantic, somewhat wild-looking country garden. Having some sort of vision of what you're trying to accomplish in your garden, having a theme so to speak, can be a great aid in narrowing down your choices. If,on the other hand, you love to collect roses, the more the better, there really is no help for you. Just enjoy!

Ingrid

It is so interesting what the addition of a single rose can mean. I am at the phase that Ingrid just mentions - where each new addition is carefully researched and planned. The wild bulk addition time is over. I have my list, and am now slowly adding one by one.

Yesterday, my little Jerry passed away. I found him at about 4 weeks old accidently delivered in a stack of alfalfa hay, about 8 years ago. I raised him from a little munchkin, into a 6 lb little dwarf kitty. His abnormally small body clearly wasn't meant to live the length of a normal cat life.

In kind of a robotic state, I drove down the street to our local nursery - a strange anomaly in the middle of nowhere to have a nursery that markets Weeks roses. They don't sell many out here, and most I saw had been there from last year, and had lots of BS. None of the ones on my "list" were healthy enough to purchase, but then I came upon a row of Honey Dijon's. I had not considered adding one to my collection, but they were in perfect health - not a spot of BS or PM, thus clearly a nice hardy rose. What a perfect choice for the day. Somewhat off and odd in color. I had no interest in cheery on this day.

So home I went with a beautiful Honey Dijon. I dug the planting hole twice as wide, and three times as deep as normal. I lay my little Jerr Bear gently at the bottom, tearfully covered him up with much soil, then put Honey Dijon on top, and finished the task.

I know at some point during the decomposition process of one, and growth of another, that the two will meet. In that rose will a beautiful reminder...

Its hard not to wonder about how things will change when you retire and have all that time...

I've been retired for a whole week now and don't yet feel a desire to dig a new bed. I'm down to fewer than 30 roses (from 55). Two more were shovel pruned yesterday simply because there wasn't enough room for them and their neighbors to grow and be healthy.

I also sp'd my Mandarin Honeysuckle because it was overgrowing the adjacent rose. A few other plants are gone too.

The good news is that Tamora and Rose de Rescht have each blessed us with a new sucker child. So I guess I broke even on the rose score sheet.

I'm focusing on plants that give me pleasure without the requirements for constant maintenance. Iris are my current interest while remaining beautiful all season. In my garden, the non-bearded types need little attention. In a recent visit to upstate NY, I met Madgallica at her garden and she traded me three interesting irises. I'm excited to plant them in prominent locations.

Harmonyp, your story is poignant and touching. I can sense that your little Jerry had a wonderful life with you. He was separated from his mother much too early but soldiered on for as long as he could and you've now given him a beautiful place near you to rest. I'm so sorry for your loss.

Ingrid

Harmonyp, I second what Ingrid said; what a touching tribute to your friend who gave you much pleasure.

When my youngest son and his three children (ages 2, 4 and 7) moved in our tiny house "just for a little while", I told him no pets - ex wife gets the pets. Right. After everything was unloaded he went out and brought in the hugest, fattest cat I had ever seen; I was not pleased.

Long story short, five years later he remarried, they moved out (finally, yikes!)and guess who stayed. Yep, Sampson is the spoiled kid in the family now, and needless to say, has given us so much pleasure!

ogrose

Well, just the mention of the word "cats" is what brought me out again.... I ask myself daily, several times.."how much can you love a kitty?" I have room in my heart for each and every one... and I have 9 ( nine)... or rather, they have me... Let me count the ways.... sally

First, DANG, Sally! I'm an RN, so KUDOS TO YOU! Best therapy ever. I hope that when it's my time, my kids will find me in my garden. What a way to go THAT would be for me :-) When we had the opportunity to move back to S. California after a 13 year "hiatus", with my husband's job taking us to N. Indiana for 10 years, then 3 more in Maryland, we got to come back home to the greatest place to grow roses in the world - N. San Diego county. I promised myself I would not go too hog-wild. So, I think I have about 70 all together in my front and back yard, and about 10 more going in, including an arbor front and back that I'll be putting some climbers on with clematis. I promised myself that would be it :-) I was careful to select varities that do well in my area and are well-behaved and for the most part, very disease resistent. I have enough to take care of with that many roses, as well as about 60 different fruit & berry trees. But, my garden is my solace and my therapy, too, and I thankfully have my health so it's a fun, fulfilling thing, even with a full time job. I work from home, so I love walking through my garden when I can take a break. I don't have much time during my work hours to do any gardening, but I do get to take a break, and enjoy all my hard work and efforts. It's just a little piece of heaven on earth for me :-)

Patty S.

It's not only roses, but too many perennials in general. I had a small (compared to most of you) collection of roses some years ago. I didn't like all the chemicals it took to fight disease. One fall I did the MN tip (we still buried them to keep them through the winter) and I didn't dig them up in the spring.

Now, I am buying a FEW. The newly developed hardy ones don't require tipping and many of them are disease resistant. I won't buy any others at this point. If there is a space that needs a rose, I buy one for it, no more.

I am 72 and beginning to do the same with other perennials especially hostas in my mostly shady yard. But my cottage garden is so mature and I got carried away buying hostas, so there is rarely a space.

Actually, what I should do is get rid of all my gardens, but I still cannot bring myself to do it in spite of all the cost for help to keep them looking good. After many years, DH now likes to help outside too, but we are both physically limited in what we can do.

We must do something new, for privacy and to hide the neighbor's mess, out back tho. The heavy snows broke down 9 mature trees and a bunch of shrubs. I think I'll have a fence built and grow a few clematis and roses against it. I was drew the plans for a new garden in the area, planting all the terraces and putting in boulders and a water feature, but thankfully this article has brought me to my senses, so I think I will stop with the climbing roses and clematis.
Thanks to all of you for knocking some sense into this old noggin. gramma jan