I agree Brandon, so many missing and yes, each one is missed

I agree, too, but I was pleasantly surprised to see a post from Flowersaremusic yesterday, the first in nearly two years, I think. She has had some serious health problems. But I hope to see her post again. Her garden is outstanding. I need to check on Titian, who posts from Australia. We've been emailing each other for years and have gotten lazy the last month or two. She has had a lot of problems with Houzz denying her access. Really dumb stuff. Diane

Diane, I always liked Titan's posts! I love seeing what she is growing in Australia. I can relate because I grow alot of the same stuff even though I have to protect some things more than she does because I am in the N Central part of the FL Panhandle about 30 mi. N of The Emerald Coast (as the crow flies).

I have noticed Titan hasn't been posting and wondered...

I hope Paul decides to post again. I hope he does it for the people here who respect and value his opinions and ignores the ones who don't! We do need true experts here! :)

Once upon a time there was Red.Gardens.Roses. In real life I've met several folks who I first knew there. "HI, I was Charlie on RGR" and take a deep breath to remember who he was/is.

Then Gardenweb and lots of 'names' and lots of fusses about advertising in a signature line; About that time there was also an AOL rose forum. Daves Garden. Someone had an invitation on ly site, and then closed it down and kept all the content.

Sadly, a lot of good folks have died. If you remember the old American Rose Society magazine, there used to be at least two pages of up coming shows and three pages of advertisers. That was when the ARS magazine was monthly. Now it's ? bimonthly and costs additional if you want a peper copy. The advertisers were less than one page and happenings less than a page as well.

I discovered this forum in 1998, and was a regular member and poster for ~10 years. This was before it got bought by iVillage in the early 2000s, when we had to create an account... before that, we all just used our emails! I still have some print-outs of old threads from back then. Then in 2006, it got sold to NBC Universal, then in 2015, it got sold to Houzz. Anyway, I was a regular member until ~2008, when I mostly switched my forum reading to a Chemistry forum related to my work due to time constraints. When I retired in 2020, I came back, and pretty much everyone I knew from back then had died or moved on, and of course, no one remembered me. But from 1998 to at least the mid 2000s, several of us here knew each other and got together at various rose events. Cyndi in TX, Rosebud in GA, Eel River Susan, Kang Mei in the Bay Area (who took us to lunch at a dim sum restaurant and then took us on a tour of his house to see his amazing art collection and roses). So many others. There are a few people still here from way back then. Ann, I was also a regular at Rec.Gardens.Roses. That's how I met Bob Martin, and he invited me to visit his garden in Pasadena. Sorry so long!

I love reading 10 or 15 year old threads on this forum , they pop up when I search up something . There were master rosarians at that time with lots of knowledge .

I know I've been around since the late 1990's. I've seen a LOT of folks that were regular contributors vanish for one reason or another. I don't post or comment as much as I use to but it is a very rare occasion when I don't read post daily. A lot of the newer folks are probably still trying to figure out "who is this dude." I like it that way.

I got off a long email to the missing Trish, aka Titian (not Titan) last night. And I'm hoping for a response soon. We got lazy, or I did, the last couple of months in our emails. Next is a really long email to Flowersaremusic. Diane

I've been a lurker and sporadic poster for years -- I'm not on the forum much at all anymore for various reasons but I still check back periodically. I suspect that lots of folks do the same. I do wish there were a better option, but I find the community here preferable to other rose forums or social media groups that I've been a part of so far. I like being able to do a deep dive into a particular rose, for example, so I keep coming back.

I go back a ways. Joined when Spider (Spyder?), was the forum's monitor/owner? A lot of people have become conspicuous by their absence... such is life. By now I thought I would be a well of knowledge, but let me tell you, I am enriched far more by you all than I reciprocate. Thank you!

Let me share this with you...

When the Austin, English style quartered blooms came about I was and still am both thrilled with them, and at the same time think that they are the most sorry excuse for a bloom. That's especially true of when for example, a ruffled petaled bloom like Dee-Lish sports is categorized as a hybrid tea. So many others of its kin are thus classified. SACRILEGE! ABOMINATION! IT'S THE END OF THE ROSE WORLD AS I KNOW/KNEW IT! A rose flower that looks like a head of Boston bib lettuce IS NOT a hybrid tea!

Well, now I am resigned to growing both classic, high centered, spiriling petaled hybrid teas along side the flat, sometimes cupped, quartered blooms parading as hybrid teas. At least Austin classifies his roses primarily as shrubs...as they should be.

Talk about not being able to teach an old dog new tricks, that's me! 😁

Moses

Spike was his name

Spike with his infamous trips to Disneyland lol.

Spike Hernandez wasn't his real name. If you can search the New York Times, they did a write up about his selling gardenweb, how much he got for the sale and IIRC they even gave his real name.

He wasn't a plant person, but he created this format.

I have this written down from quite awhile ago, but his name was Robert Stewart, and he supposedly ran the whole operation out of his apartment in New Jersey! Spike Hernandez was his alias.

Fun fact: Rosarians Corner is still viewable on the WaybackMachine, but only surface stuff. RC was my fave place. I hate these corporate sites. Soulless technotrash. If it weren't for the REAL people, they'd have no value.

Jadae, wasn't Rosarian's Corner the one that was started by Veldfire? It's been awhile, so it's hard to remember, but I recall liking RC a lot.

Spider, NOT; Spike Hernandez; finally Robert Stewart from New Jersey. Hmm? I wonder if he was related to Martha Stewart? Well, the infancy of our beloved Roses Forum had a colorful beginning. Let's hope it continues on an upward trajectory. So many things to discuss: a cure for Rose Rosette Virus, more effective and safer insecticides and fungicides, and hopefully in my remaining years, the introduction of a truly blue, fully satured rose bloom. That would be a breakthrough.

Moses

And the eradication Of rosemedge! Rose Mitchell rose! Rose Midge! And maybe who is gonna get his act together sometimes

Vapor, this year I will continue to spray for midge, but also will soon apply a grub killer, granular type for turf, on top of the mini pine bark mulch just as soon as I get finished mulching. I've sprayed twice so far this spring. The roses look really good, lots of flower buds. That's unlike the disaster of last year, and actually the previous two years also, three years of so little nice blooming during this period I thought, "When will this all stop?"

We share the same frustration, and can it get you down. I got the Scotts battery powered sprayer to make my spraying less distasteful. It's heavy, cumbersome, gives a weak spray, but all these faults I can work around...still a good choice.

Hope you get relief, and have a bit of victory in your midge battle.

Moses

Susan, something like that. I miss Michelle. I have tried numerous times over a decade to leave her a message on HMF. Her husband was very nice too. I also remember someone in charge with a king name, and he eventually went on to breed show bettas.

For me, RC was optimal. Yeah, there was cliques, and YES theyre annoying. No one likes to deal with in-group/out-group BS. However, it was a contained system, everyone knew each other, and you could easily find a category to post into and play around into. I hate the modern style of infinitely-scrolling pages. Yes, you can search them, but its not the same. Or as the zoomers call it -- Doomscrolling.

Hi, Brandon! I tend to pop up in late spring with my Gallica blooms. I spend a lot of the year parenting and tutoring my daughter. Are you still visiting cemetery roses? Carol

@portlandmysteryrose hi. good seeing you pop in. unfortunately here in st louis the cemeteries that i have been to either dont have roses, or they are knockout or dr huey. there is one cemetery thst has russelliana in it along with the knockout and dr hueys

What happened to some folks I knew from my part of the world:

Carla lost her house and gardens to economics

Jodijodi died suddenly of a heart attack

Denae moved to Nashville, still has roses but has found orchids fit her available time better.

Amazin Dirt moved to Lebanon TN and has a full time job.

MichaelG was still gardening two years ago and showed up here briefly

Too often physical moves make establishing a second or third or fourth garden just a hole lot harder.

I miss Karl Bapst (rosenut)... We would talk to each other on the phone and discuss roses...I told him one time I got upset when I see damaged rose leaves from insects.. Karl told me, then close your eyes when you get close...lol...Never forget that...lol

Full time job should not be an excuse for not to grow roses and come here!:)

I miss Ingrid too, and Lisa and Cori Ann who was a total kick too. I know climate change and health challenges took their toll.

As a long time lurker from a few years before Gardenweb was acquired and who has learned so much from folks on this forum, some who are still here and some who are now gone I just want to say thank you. For those of you who that are still around you are reaching more folks than you can know.

I am sorry to hear about the loss of kindred spirits and old friends; it is so sad, and I pray there is consolation in warm memories of times shared. I’ve also lurked more so than posted, but I genuinely don't know what I would have done without this community in navigating rose care. Having moved to the US from another country where spraying, daily garden checks, disease, and pests were—and kind of still are—just unheard of for home gardeners (I had quite literally never seen an aphid IN MY LIFE before moving to the Midwest, let alone blackspot or RRD), I can attest that I was losing my mind before I found this forum. I cannot thank you all enough for being so generous with your time, expertise, and for just being a grounding presence. I promise we relative newbies are paying it forward however we can (e.g., EMG training, yapping on about signs of RRD to whoever will listen, etc.); just please don’t go anywhere 😔

Thank you for this post! I have been here for the last 4 or 5 years, mostly as a reader but with occasional posts. I am grateful for this forum, as it is one of my only links to a community of people who know, grow, and appreciate old roses. When I went back to work full-time a couple of years ago (work that includes a fair amount of travel), I began checking the forum less frequently. Part of me is a bit shy about posting because I don't have the level of wide experiencer or expertise that many on here do, however, I know that it takes all of us to make the forum. I do have an upcoming post n the wings, and some ideas for others...Thanks again, Brandon!

I do remember you Susan, along with your battle with oak root fungus.

Old friends:

Luanne (LA) died a couple of years ago. She battled Parkinson's for years.

Her good friend and mine, Carol Markell, known as Bluesibe, died suddenly a couple of years before that.

We also lost Carol Meyer from South Carolina, known here as Carolina, also a good friend.

Cindi from Texas, she of the wonderful rambling stories that charmed us all, is still living as far as I know, but her interest shifted away from roses after a series of misfortunes wiped out her garden.

Jon of Wessex, a formerly gardener at Mottisfont Abbey, has pretty much pulled back from social media, but is living quietly on the grounds of a lovely semi-public rose garden.

Pamela from Mendocino still has her enchanted hillside garden, and if anything grows even more roses, but like some others, has retreated a bit from social media.

Once upon a time these and other Gardenweb friends used to gather in person. I have met them all, and others still active here, at various rose events. (You know who you are!)

Hi all, Like a couple other posters here, I have been lurking/occasionally posting on this board for four years when I started my first garden in Brooklyn at age 33. In that time, I have not only learned how to grow roses (starting having no experience), I now can say that I am the proud mother to 62 different varieties (76 bushes!), including many antique varieties, in my Brooklyn-English Cottage garden. It brings so much joy to the neighborhood . I LOVE learning about the old varieties and their uniqueness. Finding this forum inspired me to go to England on my own in 2022, visiting remarkable gardens, including D. Austins private collection of species roses! It is now my life-long passion and am so grateful to everyone over the years for posting all their knowledge and beyond and looking forward to contributing more! -Sally

Sheila,

Who can forget Lisa, and also Cori Ann. We watched her transform her property into quite a garden. It looked to me like she grew magnificent roses emerging from little more than tiny borders of walkways. Her soil must have been super good and deep. It seems Cori Ann fell off of the edge of the earth. I know she had job responsibilities that seemed to arise quickly, but for how often she posted and provided a multitude of photos of her garden in progress for us to enjoy...then disappear. Ah, change is the most reliable constant.

Mister Moses.

This thread warmed my heart. It’s so nice to read of the connections that form through our shared interest in roses! I do think it gets difficult in many ways to sustain relationships of all kinds over time. Hope to experience some happy discussions here as the years go by!