I've gotten some truly tinytiny, hardly rooted roses before, as I purchase almost all my roses as bands. But sometimes it's the only way to get that particular rose. And of course they grow before you know it and it's worth the wait :)

What do you mean to grow roses again? You have a beautiful rose garden. I loved your garden photos. Something happened to your rose garden?

Fingers crossed and thinking positive happy thoughts for your new garden. It sounds like you got some really wonderful, all be it small, roses.

I'm sure many of you are familiar with the overriding craving for a certain rose, where nothing else will do, no matter if others are more beautiful or desirable in every way.

What? I have no idea what you're talking about....lol.

Congrats and happy growing. Hope all goes well.

so excited for you, Ingrid!

Ingrid, it's going to be great!

Ingrid, we are all so excited for you! I think your photo is marvelous too. That Westside is probably Jesse Hildreth, which I love, and Rosette Delizy is so wonderful too.

Thank you, my dear friends; your kind support means everything to me. I don't see how I can possibly fail with you all as my cheering section. Yes, Sheila, that is, or was, Jesse Hildreth, and I hope you have him in your garden, although my memory fails me. I can't tell you how happy it makes me that you have all those wonderful tea roses in your garden that I can still vicariously enjoy. Actually, I do have four teas coming next spring, although I don't have the room to allow them to be as big and lusty as yours. It doesn't matter though, every single bloom will seem like a miracle. It all looks so barren now that even just watching the roses grown and leaf out will be a complete joy.

Duchesse de Brabant is already in my garden plot again, and she's the only rose here that actually has darling little leaves. It's the only rose I ordered from Chamblees and perhaps I should have ordered more from them, although they don't seem to have a huge assortment of old roses any more.

Ingrid, I am so happy you will and do have Teas. I do have Jesse doing very well here.

Sheila, I'm so silly, I got teary-eyed just now seeing your magnificent bush of Jesse. Thank you for that pleasure.

I don't know if anyone remembers my kitty, Jason. He is still with us, sharing out lives and giving us much happiness. He's also older now and slowing down, although he still does zoomies sometimes.

I remember! What a sweety!

I'm so glad Jason is still here too, Ingrid.

Ingrid, it is just lovely to have you posting again. You can never bore me. I hope you can hear my cheers from here. They're long and loud!

My goodness! Hope you have a beautiful garden again very soon! I’d better to put animal repellent in the gardens for the winter. I totally forgot about it. I have field mice, deer problem in all 3 gardens. I use solar animal repellents for most of the year, but now we have 1’ of snow, they won’t work now..

Welcome back, Ingrid! When I saw your pictures of all of your lovely empty, but groomed flower beds, my nerve ends got twitchy, and my mind started thinking of all of the roses I would plant there - just so much lovely empty space!

I am so glad the coyotes helped you out with the critter problem - they have recently shown up in our neighborhood, and the neighbors are hysterical. That's because I live in a town of 60,000 people, and only 5 blocks from downtown. Townies are NOT used to coyotes. A few groups have moved in, and many "outdoor" pet cats have disappeared. Loud demands that the Govt. DO SOMETHING, but the coyotes are protected, and so we got an ex Park Ranger who knew all about coyotes to give a talk to our neighborhood association. He basically said that the coyote population in our area had gone from 0 to many families in a very short time, and that each family usually has a territory much bigger than our area, so he thought that they would sort it out, and the coyote population would drop as some of them chased the others away, and they all spread out. Neighbors still not happy, of course.

Lamarque. Here (or in the next Comment if they won't post here) are a couple of pics of Lamarque. The large bush looming over the top of a fence is in our neighbor's yard, and is at least 50+ years old, with no care. IMO it should be relatively easy to keep Lamarque as a large bush.

Jackie

Here are the pics - L has the most elegant blooms!

Jackie

Ingrid, I'm much newer than you to roses and only joined this forum in 2020. I just wanted to pop in to say that your posts restartrestarting your garden bring me so much joy. I wish you a fast wait and that the months fly by for you until your first blooms. I also started with lots of band sized roses and they certainly establish themselves nicely within a year. I'm so happy you already have Duchesses de Brabant. She was one of my fastest to establish and is so absolutely lovely and fragrant!

I even remember our visit to Robert NR in Palm Desert and how much of an eye opener it was for DH and me to see HEAT growing roses.

I think you will love International Herald Tribune. DH and I had visited the folks who hybridized the famous mini Fairhope back when it was winning so many prizes. They lived very close to Fairhope Alabama and were mostly selling minis. I walked past, turned around and walked back to this little plant with the beautiful dark purple picotee edge on a white bloom and said "I have to have this". The owners said, "But it's not a mini". I said "I don't care, I think that bloom is exquisite." And I kept it going for about eight years. I lost it when I didn't notice that an ants' nest had moved into that end of a rose bed and the soil drained too fast and it dried out when I overlooked the problem.

It's so good to read your posting again.

Ann

I can't adequately express what it feels like to be back with you all. I had to close off a part of my heart when I lost my garden just so that it wouldn't matter so much, and now I feel I can allow myself to hope again. I'm still afraid that the ground squirrels will kill this whole endeavor and I'll feel like an idiot for even attempting this, but I had to at least try.

Jackie, thank you for showing me how beautiful Lamarque is. For me it has the most beautifully formed flowers of the large white climbers, and I just have to hope I can keep this rose within reasonable bounds. Ann, I share your feelings about IHT. There are quite a lot of lavender and purple roses available nowadays, but this one just has a special charm and I knew I had to have it again. You'd think I'd want to try a lot of new roses as I'm starting a new garden, but when I look at my list I'm finding that only five are new to me. Jackie, it's difficult to believe that people don't like coyotes or don't want them around, but I suppose it shows how many of us who are town dwellers feel somewhat removed from nature. I often see them here, and one day five or six of them were gamboling up and down the hillside just outside our yard, in a sort of doggie ballet that was beautiful. They cover even difficult and steep ground so easily and gracefully.

I'm so looking forward to spring when I hope to see all your gardens in bloom. I catch glimpses on the seasonal thread in Roses but I'm thinking there should be a post now where you can show garden pics of the past spring and summer to tide us all over until then. Hmm......

Do you have a friend who has land and cats? Here in east Tennessee, I have no ground squirrels because they are feline gourmet delicacies.

We discovered early on when some sister cats were dumped on us. two were mothercats with kittens, the third was not a mother, but was a hunter. She caught and brought live ground squirrels for her nursing sisters to eat.

About a mile away, another neighbor complained of mice and chipmunks. He said he hates cats and won't have them on his property. Eventually he got a barn cat or two.

Wishing you all the future success in your new garden efforts, and that wildlife and climate change are kind to you, Ingrid. I find it hard to believe that the beautiful roses in your pic are no longer around. That said, there is much excitement in starting all over. I moved from Dallas to Sacramento this spring, so I’ve been starting over too, and while I left behind a much cherished mature garden, choosing new varieites, inviting back old friends, seeing new plants making progress are all very rewarding, too. (and keep you extremely busy!)

Ben, do you find yourself fretting over whether your old garden is being cared for and appreciated?

stillann, we used to see a few cats around that seemed to be feral but I'm afraid the coyotes have probably taken them all. It's been some years since we've seen any. I think we need more hawks and falcons!

Ben, I had no idea you had moved and still fondly remember your gorgeous garden in Texas. I'm quite sure that your new one in Sacramento, a city I lived in quite some time ago, will be just as beautiful. I hope you'll keep us updated on your progress with the new garden. I'd love to know what roses you've planted and how they're coming along. You might have posted about this; I'll have a look.

Ingrid

I agree balance in nature is so important, we really rely on those predators to keep everything in check.

Yes it was a big move for me, the California agricultural folks told me I could take the roses if they didn’t have soil, so dug out and ’bare rooted’ about 80 roses (mostly morderns) and planted them at the new house. Since then I’ve added about 40 more roses , plus bouganvilla, fruit trees , sages, there’s so much that grows well here, and I seem to want to grow it all! So it’s been a really busy eight months preparing new beds , digging out overgrown shrubbery , amending, tilling and planting . With this initial effort over, rose care in Sacramento is infinitely easier than it was in Dallas, so I’m very much looking forward to the future.

This is my new California garden in late spring, a few months after planting:

Magpie,

I had a hard time leaving the mature Texas garden, but once I left I don’t really worry about it. There’s not much in life that is permanently ours, so I just try to do my best when something is my care, and now it belongs to someone else to do as they wish. I’m still in frequent contact with several of my neighbors, they tell me I have to come back to revive my old garden, so I guess it’s not looking so great. Rose gardening in Texas is high maintenance, so I’m not surprised the remaining roses are withering. I did leave a bunch of iris, daylilies, azaleas ,other flowering trees and shrubs, so hopefully those still beautify the yard.

Ben, my heart jumped for joy when I magnified the photo of your magnificent front garden. You've accomplished so much in a short period of time and it must brighten up your whole neighborhood immensely. I'm glad to hear that gardening is easier in your new home, and I'm imagining how wonderful it will look by next spring.

Ingrid, Houzz is so crazy you are back to a number. We all are putting up with houzz for a chance to be together with our rose people.

Sheila - what a fabulous rose bush!! SWOON! <3 <3

Ingrid - what a beautiful cat...the limpid green color goes with the orange fur so well! I'm really, really glad that you have hope in your heart for roses again and I really, really want them to work out well for you. I've thought about you and your garden and so wished you would come back and be able to garden again. I'm beyond happy for you! :)

Jackie - WOWZA! Lamarque is insanely beautiful!! And you get to enjoy it over the fence. :)

Ben - such a beautiful yard....and man, they are going to GROW and bloom bountifully for you. :)