My wife came home with a bunch of roses from the store that were not necessarily suitable for our climate. They thrived the first summer and I loved them, but most didn't make it through the winter. This started my love of roses. Finding the right varieties for my climate and conditions has been an enjoyable challenge.

My rose obsession started by working at Crabtree and Evelyn. The signature scent was Evelyn and I was hooked! I bought David Austin's Evelyn and the rest is history!

Slumgullion, I felt the same way about roses. No interest whatsoever. I come from a family of gardeners from way back, but none of them grew roses. In my early gardening years, HTs were popular and seemed too common. The advertisement for a Roses of Yesterday and Today catalog caught my eye and I was introduced to Old Garden Roses, or, Antique Roses, as they called them. I'd never seen or heard of roses like that and they were definitely not common. I grew mostly OGRs in SoCal, then found I also like modern roses here in a colder zone. And, I've grown to appreciate HTs, and have a few.

Thank you to everyone who replied. Sorry it has taken some time to reply. I will reply better later. But I did want to say how much I enjoyed reading everyone reply. It's neat to see similarities, and different opinions.

My obsession kicked in when I worked at Harry and David and we owned and carried Jackson and Perkins roses. I couldn't come home from work without a new rose.

They also carried David Austins, wow! I just loved thst English style bloom.

We were also gifted a dozen bare roots at tbe end of the season

They were in a big plastic bag so we didnt know which ones we got

It was fun trading with our co workers to get exactly what we wanted

I have always loved flowers, but not the roses in my grandmother's flower shop, nor my paternal grandmother's red and yellow scentless flowers in her garden.

My obsession with roses probably started in my thirties when I went to live for a few months in Syria for work. There, people grew roses in pots in their courtyards, and those were scented magenta and pink roses. When I came home and had a small garden, I chanced upon Rose de Resht and I thought I could grow it in a container. My tiny garden was very shady so I researched what to grow, found Ghislaine de Feligonde and Souvenir de la Malmaison. And the rest is history!

Kristine, how lucky you were. I remember the old Jackson & Perkins, a wonderful company located in Southern Oregon. I had read a number of times about Austin roses in Victoria magazine, and when I received the J&P catalog, there were the latest Austins. This was before the Internet as we now know it existed, and before Austin had a website, of course, So I got my first Austins from J&P, and that's when my love of roses really kicked in. I was growing some lovely Royal Bonica and not so lovely The Fairy roses, but it wasn't until I started growing those Austins that I got slightly obsessed. Diane

The old J,&P with Keith Zary was awesome!. We had onsite test gardens and as part of my tour when the factory slowed down, I would take tourists on a visit to the test gardens. Seeing what they were trialing was so cool. Plus those were the days when individuals got to test roses at their homes

Kristine, and even before that, Mr Perkins was a leading hybridizer of roses. Super Dorothy was named for his wife. But what a great experience you had working for J&P. Sounds like a perfect place for a rose lover to work. Diane

If I had worked at a donut shop I would have eventually gotten tired of donuts. If I had worked at a candy shop, I would have eventually gotten sick of chocolate, ( ok maybe not ) but sick of roses, never

My rose obsession has a more indirect connection to Jackson & Perkins, but they are one reason I became hooked. In those days it was mostly about hybrid teas, even though I knew almost nothing about growing roses. One year I ordered a few rose bushes from J&P and had enough success that I was hooked. In 2005 was when, with the help of my late husband that we had some amazing roses. Since then I’ve had off and on success. My interest in types other than hybrid teas has expanded. I am envious of the beautiful Austins and Teas that some of you grow, but am trying to concentrate on types and breeders (Bourbons, Kordes) that I’ve had more success with.

My parents are both avid gardeners and introduced me early on to the joy of growing things. However, my father was very practical, and if a plant didn't produce food, shade, or lumber, he didn't consider it worth his time. I loved beauty and wanted to grow plants just because they were beautiful. When I was about 7 years old, someone gave me a rose catalog that featured a few of David Austins early creations. I dreamed of "cabbage roses" from then on. I must have been about 15 when I successfully started my first rose from a cutting and was so pleased with my one and only rose bush! I have no idea what kind of rose it was(a lovely crimson pink), but I propagated her and gave her babies as gifts to my friends for their birthdays. After my family moved again (we moved often), I gave up on gardening until shortly after I got married. In the busy years of raising our family in California(we had 9 children), I discovered again the therapeutic benefit of gardening. For years, most of my gardening focused on raising fresh vegetables for my family, but I always had a rose or two or ten. Most of them were hybrid teas, but I always felt a little miffed when I saw how stiff and rigid they looked compared to old roses or Austin roses. (I did love my Angel Face rose though!)Three years ago, we moved our family to Southern Arizona and bought a place that had no landscaping whatsoever, a blank state pretty much. I am reviving my interest in the old garden roses and slowly building onto my garden. I still do a lot of "practical" gardening, but I find so much joy in growing beautiful things, especially roses. I am learning so much from this forum and love all the rose photography and stories!

Wonderful to read everyone's stories! Thanks for starting this thread @Alana8aSC

I always loved roses, but I thought growing them was a highly complex matter best left to professional gardeners. Only this spring, with the chance purchase of a mini Victory rose, did I start to realize I was wrong, and begin my rose-growing journey. I've seen some videos where Paul Zimmerman and Jason from Fraser Valley rose farm say this is a common misconception.

But the Victory rose has no fragrance, and to me, a rose without fragrance is somewhat incomplete.

My idea of roses was formed through scent. When I was little, my dad went on a work trip to Bulgaria. He brought me back a tiny little wooden vial that contained pure rose oil.

It looked like this:

(Uggghhh nevermind, Houzzz won't let me upload the picture for some reason)

It was the most intoxicating, dreamy scent I had ever smelled and I never wanted to run out of it. I kept it by my bedside and would take a little whiff at night before going to bed, dreaming of faraway fields of pink.

My windy rooftop garden conditions in zone 11 are not optimal, but I have ordered Autumn Damask which should arrive this winter bare root, and I am hoping to find that magical scent again. If that one survives here, I will add more Damascenas.

I believe my Grandma Phyllis having lovely roses that were sweetly fragrant when I was a little kid did it for me. Back then though, pansies were my favourite flower! 
Both Grandma Phyllis and Grandma Joyce had nice flower gardens and I enjoyed helping them weed. The gardening bug had bitten!

Steven

I honestly don't know how it started for me! It was just a disease I was born with I guess. I've always been the one in the family known for my gardening passion. It wasn't until I stumbled on this forum that I started seriously planting and growing roses. In other words that means all of you are to blame.

Come to thank of it Ashley, I didn't get quite so bad...until I joined the forum either! Lol It is to blame! Both the forum and the lovely people in it, enticing us with their spell of beautiful roses. Lol

Thank you everyone who has commented! I have throughly enjoyed reading all your stories ❤

Edited to add, so sorry not to reply to everyone individually, I have been feeling bad of late. Looking forward to my infusion Monday, for sure!

Feel better soon, Alana!

In the 1990's I rented a Victorian house with freinds, near San Francisco, Ca. It had a large rose garden, planted with more than 100 different modern roses. I complained to my neighbor; Luanne Wilson , that none of the roses had much scent and she said "You should try growing Old Garden Roses" and I was bit by the rose bug. I soon became a volunteer at Dirt Days at vintagegardens. Oh heavenly memories! I developed a passion for Tea roses, and kept notes on all the Tea rosebushes that I saw growing at vintagegardens home garden, a magical place, and my favorite rose garden on earth.

with love, Lux.

Way back in the early sixties (after serving in the Navy and going to college) I built an arbor across the backyard entrance of our new house. Planted two Blaze roses and then a bunch of wild flowers. Many years (30) later we moved. I missed the roses so I planted 60 to make up for it (Zeffies). Tons of wild flowers followed. The wife and I are now down sizing so only 10 roses remain.

Toolbelt, are the remaining ten all ZD?

5 ZDs, 4 Knock Out, and 1 Thomas Afleck. All of these were planted when I didn't know one rose from the other... lol They are 20 years old and are winding down. I've removed them because I can't keep up the lawn anymore. My robot lawn mower mows around them but removing them made it easier for my 'Angel' neighbor to trim the lawn. BTW, when I say Angel, I mean it. Pray that you get a neighbor like mine!!! He doesn't even charge me!! His kids help him so I pay them.

My mom grew roses when I was a child and in my preteens I was fascinated with the idea of growing a blue rose. She very kindly let me experiment with her Blue Moon and Moody Blues but alas, with no results in six months I got bored and moved on to other pursuits. Years later when I married, our house had a huge ancient Harison's Yellow which got me interested in growing repeat bloomers to fill in after HY finished blooming, and it has snowballed from there. Maybe one day I'll chase that blue dream again but for now I'm happy proving people wrong who tell me "no roses don't grow in Wyoming."

Joey, every now and then I post these photos. Those of you who have been on the forum for a while probably groan when they pop up. Nevertheless, I persist. Blue Bayou is the bluest rose I have ever seen or grown. It's a lousy rose and I no longer grow it, and it hasn't been sold in the US for ages. But I think it might be for sale in Europe to this day. I must check on that. But if you're traveling to Europe, especially Germany, see if Blue Bayou is still around. It's a Kordes rose. Diane

Well after all these years, I checked HMF and found that this rose is being grown everywhere but the US, and it got good reviews. Some of the photos were very good and others meh. I noticed a Japanese nursery had it for sale, and rose growers in that country are in love with the idea of a blue rose. Now on to google. Diane

Diane it's so beautiful! I don't get tired of seeing the same pictures at all. I wonder if it is available from a Canadian grower?

Thanks, Joey. On HMF it looks like everyone who is growing it is from Europe, Asia, or Australia. I didn't see any Canadian growers. A lot of the photos were posted quite a while back. A while ago I googled Blue Bayou and came up with an old Roses Forum thread (I was Nanadoll then) on Blue Bayou. I posted on that and it's listed near the top of all the threads on the forum now. Do you grow Love Song? I love that one, but I don't know about hardiness (or the hardiness of Blue Bayou for that matter). Diane

I don't have Love Song (I wanted it last year but all the specimens I saw were pretty ratty looking) but it's on my list for this year.

Love Song is almost as blue as Blue Bayou, and prettier, I think. I've grown two LS for years and they have been great for me. Did you move recently? What is your zone now? Here's Love Song. Diane

GOOOOrgeous!! Yes we moved a few weeks ago, just off the mountain and down into the valley. Technically I think we gained half a zone to a 5a but because the snow cover is so much thinner down here I'm not as optimistic about some of my roses' survival. I'm going to be doing a lot more winter protection for sure to keep the canes from drying out as the wind blows through the valley.

I agree with Diane about Blue Bayou... loved the blooms, hated the plant. Didn't grow well and was stingy. I got an own root from Vintage in ~2001, then got one grafted from Regan (so probably via Hortico) in 2003, hoping it would do better grafted. Nope. I gave one away in 2008 and the other in 2010.

Susan, I got a grafted Blue Bayou from Hortico in 2007, and I agree with you about the plant. Yet, BB has all kinds of favorite votes on HMF from European, Australian, and Asian rose growers. What happened in the US? Oh, well, I've got Love Song and I'm happy. Diane

PS, thanks Joey. I hope you can overcome your new winter limitations. I agree about more winter protection. How is Nefertiti? I hope she's well. Diane

I'm not sure if she's going to survive the move to be honest, a few roses seemed like they took it hard. But I did root a cutting for my mother in law so I can get another one back from her if I need to.

That's too bad, but good if you can get a cutting from MIL. Does anyone sell Nefertiti, I wonder? So many excellent Austins are fading away. Diane

Mine is from High Country Roses years ago but they don't have it in stock very often. I have a few of the older Austins now, they are some of my favorites, and some are on order for spring as custom propagations. The Austins seem to like my colder climate.

You're right. I think Austins are very cold hardy, and they like my climate, too. Diane

Hi Joey, I'm in 5aWI. Which of the older Austins are doing well for you if I may ask? I’m always curious about what might work in my garden. My raised beds are getting full and i was hoping not to plant outside of them, but if my grandbaby (3.5 yrs old) takes an interest in gardening Poppy will be building her a little raised bed of her own to tend while shes here! :)

Nola that sounds like a wonderful idea for a grandchild! My grandma is a master gardener and some of my earliest memories of her are of running around her paths through the flowers and getting my own little spot to dig and plant.

My favorite rose of all is Queen Nefertiti, but I also have Wollerton Old Hall, Abraham Darby, the original William Shakespeare, and Gertrude Jekyll.

Queen Nefertiti in her many moods

Wow what a difference! It doesn't even look like the same rose, but both are beautiful! That is a wonderful memory you have of your Grandma's, I bet she appreciates it too! Isn't it funny how "big" everything looks when your little and such an adventure!

Are you growing any of the OGR's? I'm not sure what year is the cut off to be an OGR. I have Penelope, La Reine, Reine des Violettes, Zephrine Drouhin and Mme. Isaac Pereire, but I'm always looking for more suggestions to try. :)

Most of those are on my list to try! A neighbor grew Reine des Violettes but said it wasn't vigorous for her. I have Harison's Yellow and Rose de Rescht and I love them both, they are in my category of roses to grow in every garden I have.

Does Madame Hardy handle cold zones? I know HCR sells her. She's a favorite of mine.

Doesn't repeat but puts on an impressive flush for 4-6weeks.

I was gifted a band of MH and by her 3rd year in my garden, I had a full blown rose obsession.

Now that I'm home I have access to all my photos....I think this photo expresses all that started my obsession. <3

Yes she does handle cold. Yours is beautiful, Librarian.

Joey, do you have photos of your Rose de Rescht? I'jm very interested in that one. Tell us about yours, please. Sheila grows the most wonderful RdR and Bubble Bath together in such an appealing photo.

Librarian, who needs repeat blooming when you have such a gorgeous, floriferous bloom machine as Madame Hardy? Just stunning. Diane

Here's the only picture I took of Rose de Rescht, it was the first bloom to open last spring. It went on to have a stunning first flush in spring, the odd bloom in summer and then another nice flush in fall. The bush is perfectly shaped, as round as it is tall, with no odd canes sticking out. The fragrance is strong and makes me think "this is what a classic rose scent is meant to be" every time I walk past. The blooms aren't large, less than three inches across, but make up for any lack of size by their number. I've heard that the leaves can get a bit funky looking after blooming but mine never did, and it also never caught powdery mildew from Double Delight.

I actually wanted to start using organic rose petals for recipes--making my own rose-water and the like, using rose petals in baked goods, having edible flower salads, you name it. I read that own root DA roses were the best for that, bought three, and lost my effing mind when I saw the blooms--Gentle Hermione in particular. I've since given her, Eglantyne, and QoS to my mom, but it's not like I don't love them. I just needed smaller roses that don't form a massive shrub.

So Aaron, what did you get for rose water that stays small?

I didn't think much or roses or even other flowers as I was growing up and pick arrangements in our Willamette Valley soil...they smelled great, looked good and very little care. I thought I would just do the same thing here, the climate is similar. Was I ever wrong about easy growing! We have rocky, silty, sandy loam and I am still babying Judy Garland after 4 years! To be fair, 3 Kordes are super easy, especially if the deer do the pruning! It is the trying to figure out how to grow and which ones I like, that are my obession.

@ann beck 8a ruralish WA I abandoned that idea and just decided to grow roses for their beauty and fragrance--less work and less fear of poisoning myself. I always leave my roses on the bush because I feel so sad looking at the plant bereft of blooms.