"A profusion of pink roses bending ragged in the rain speaks to me of all gentleness and its enduring." ~ William Carlos WilliamsI've had an inquiry about my roses, and I am sad to say that they are virtually lost. Some of it is due to yearly ravaging by Japanese Beetles which have left the plants weak and vulnerable to other tormentors like aphids and plant disease. Some of it has been dry summers for the past few years.
Most if it is because I'm not a gardener.
I started growing roses about seven years ago. One spring I just decided to have roses, so I purchased a half dozen rose bushes of various colors, planted them, and watched. Three of the original six did well and the other three died. I added three more the following year, and two of them lived, though they have not produced much. I have been unable to grow a single yellow rose, though I have tried and tried, and the exotic colors like lavender merely tease me, producing a single promising bud which never opens.
That rose you see here is one I managed to grow two summers ago. If memory serves, the name of this particular hybrid is "Luscious." That plant made about a dozen blooms, half of which were gorgeous like that one, and the others somewhat weaker. It is true the beetles and the dry, hot summers are part of the problem with my roses, but I'm sure it is mostly me. I'm just not garden savvy enough to figure out what continues to be the problem. It's not that caring for roses is hard; a healthy rose bush will produce and produce, and all you have to do is keep the spent blooms snipped off as they wither. That's it. It's the growing a healthy bush part that seems to be the trouble.
Oh well. I am nothing if not persistent. I shall try again next spring, with new bushes. I have a book on rose care and I'm not afraid to use it. I'll let you know how it goes.
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