Its been quite a while... (sniff)

11 years ago

Wow, has it really been since 2009-2010 that I was last here?? So much has changed, I almost don't know where to begin. Maybe the best way is to give an update, and then fast forward to mid 2012-early 2013.

(deep breath...) Sept 30, 2010, due to sad and heartbreaking circumstances beyond my controI, the keys to my sweet little house with its 100 antique and modern roses were handed over to new owners. My two teenage children and I moved into a rental townhouse with no garden and my very soon to be ex moved to WA state into a small apartment, our two WP Corgis went with him.

Need I say that my heart broke leaving all the wonderful and gorgeous roses behind and the metal structures that had been purchased for the climbing roses to grow on. I would often drive by the house to see how the roses were holding up (yes, I was in mourning).

Within a very short time all of the upper rose bed (43 roses, to make way for a lawn that promptly died), was ripped out by the new owners along with many of the front yard climbers.

Okay, enough spilt milk.

The good news, as of May 2012, is that my children and I started a new life in a new town in a new (to us, built in 1942) home with my sweetheart, a hard core gardening bf- with his front and back gardens to discover. A new page in our lives!! A new place to play in the dirt and grow lovely things. In the Fall of 2011, he asked me to suggest some roses, and he placed his first order with Antique Rose Emporium.

The few months he has been working to start the transformation of the front garden area, with my help and advice. He took out a many years old bouganvillea, that was trailing up on a front post of a front porch area and along a roof line - hallelujah! He wants roses there, and I get to choose and order them up. He has been clearing out a very large, many years old juniper hedge that ran the front of the house length. Finished today! Much of this will be my new garden area, with many roses!!

Can't tell you how good it feels to be able to look forward to beginning again with roses, and to be here. It will take me some time to catch up here! I am glad to be back!

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Comments (15)

jaco42
11 years ago
welcome back, here's to many years of rose blossoms in your future.
thonotorose
11 years ago
Delightful! Thanks for sharing your joy with us. I feel it too....
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jeannie2009
11 years ago
Welcome back. Cant wait to hear which lovely roses you choose.
Jeannie
PS I live in WA. If I see a dude with 2 Corgi's, I'll give him raspberries....only kidding. But it would be a hoot
User
11 years ago
Oh, hurray for you! Glad the sun has turned its face towards you all again. Much joy, now and in the future......and a partner to share it all with - extra special.
harmonyp
11 years ago
Great to meet you, and look forward to hearing lots about your wonderful new beginning in life and in the garden. Here's to making sweet sweet lemonade out of lemons!
jacqueline9CA
11 years ago
Welcome back! You should definitely drag your new gardening partner to the Sacramento Historic Rose Garden open house in April - that way he an see so many lovely roses all in one place, most of which will probably do well in your garden.

Jackie
rosefolly
11 years ago
Good to see you on this forum again. So glad your sad story turned out to be a happy one after all.

Rosefolly
NewGirlinNorCal
11 years ago
Oh I'm so glad things are looking up for you! And I'm extra glad you got rid of the juniper hedge- those things get on my last nerve!
roseblush1
11 years ago
NewGirlinNorCal.......

I love my junipers planted on the slope in back of my house. The previous owner planted four different kinds of shrubs that go all the way across the property and cover the whole slope. I am so grateful for those plants.

That slope is pure rock. She must have needed a jackhammer to dig the holes for the plants. They also hold the slope in place. Of course they have been there since the mid-60s, so they are mature and, to my eye, healthy plants. I wouldn't even think of trying to plant a rose up there.

There's a place for junipers, but I agree to use them for just a hedge where the space could be used for roses ... be gone with them !

careytearose.........

You go, girl ! Please share photos as you create your new version of paradise.

Smiles,
Lyn
annabeth
11 years ago
It is nice that you have a new garden to look forward to and enjoy working in. It will bring joy to you.

I agree with Jackie, you should come to the Sac City Cemetery's Open Garden with the BF. You'll get a big immersion in established roses that will thrill and inspire you both.

God Bless you and yours,

Annabeth
melissa_thefarm
11 years ago
You've gotten through a period of bad times and are back in a good phase: congratulations! I hope you, your children, and your garden all thrive!
rosefolly
11 years ago
Wandering away from the topic, which is welcoming back a member who has been away, I feel compelled to say that there are actually some good junipers. Please don't let juniper abuse and its trite over-use turn you away from what can sometimes be a very fine plant.

I myself feel similarly about Colorado blue spruce, a much over-planted tree where I grew up. However I do know I am wrong.

(But I'm right about marigolds, truly an abomination, especially when planted in rows lining a sidewalk.)

Rosefolly
jerijen
11 years ago
I also hope you will come to the Sacramento City Cemetery Open Garden. We missed it last spring, because of travel East, but we're looking forward to being back, this year.

And I do not recall seeing a single Marigold in the Cemetery -- tho there are a great many other wonderful "companion" plants.

Jeri
NewGirlinNorCal
11 years ago
I actually love the way juniper smells and how useful it is at filling out flower arrangements. Evergreens, expecially non-tree evergreens are really really helpful and pretty in a yard, but I was envisioning a hedge like the one in my neighbor's front yard- it's a 10 ft by 10 ft solid square of juniper. It is better than lawn though.

I should have said "yay for taking out the things you want taken out!"
ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
11 years ago
Welcome back, careytearose. It was thrilling to see the end of your story after the sad beginning and I wish you all the best. Having the chance to begin a new garden is such an exciting experience, especially when you already have so much rose knowledge under your belt. I hope you'll allow us to share your garden adventures as you go along.

Ingrid

Its been quite a while... (sniff)

Comments (15)

jaco42

thonotorose

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