Not on purpose, at least in the beginning. My DH and I inherited a garden full of old roses 24 years ago when we moved into the family house his great grandfather had purchased new in 1905. Three generations of gardeners, then 25 years of being a rental and getting only minimal care, had left the garden with many surviving roses which luckily LOVE our climate, and most of them were OGRs. I grew up in a Victorian house in a nearby town, and always loved & collected antiques, so I was thrilled to move into this one (which we purchased from family members quite promptly). My antiques fit right in. Then I slowly noticed the roses, roses, everywhere. I have been hooked ever since - adding new old ones. The only modern ones we have are some HTs from the 1940s thru the 1960s which were here, and which I regard as "family heirlooms". They live in large pots next to the patio where I can keep an eye on them, and discourage some of their bad habits. Oh, we did also put in some modern ground cover roses way out by the street 20 years ago - they are still going strong too. We are blessed, of course, with a climate roses love, and that makes everything much easier. Here are some oldies we inherited: Le Vesuve, Duchesse de Brabant, and Cecile Brunner (don't ask me which kind). Jackie

Redsox, we grow horses here in Ocala about as good as Kentucky, apparently due to the limestone under the soil. I didn't know that related to gardening until I tried to grow azaleas and other acid-lovers in the native ground around my new house. I was always digging up white rocks. Never saw a rock before in Florida. The first season my azaleas were ugly and all the plants were at a standstill, not dying but not living much either. Then it dawned on me that those white rocks must be the limestone that the horses like and also alkaline. Since then (a year) I've been using cottonseed meal which acidifies the soil and pine straw and ground pine bark. My PH was at 7.0 pretty much everywhere I stuck in the meter. I haven't tested lately, but the azaleas are green and fat. I have mostly Chinas in the ground now and teas. They seem to be OK. BTW, Louis Philippe, Spice, Natchitoches Noisette, Belinda's Dream all could not care less about BS. Not a problem. If your soil really is 7.7, would raised beds be an option. I couldn't find much that liked a PH that high. I was VERY discouraged when I found out about the limestone & high PH. If you're using organic methods, do some checking about which amendments to use. There are mineral sources that do the same thing but one will raise the PH and another won't. I can't remember what they were, not being a soil major. Reading all that stuff last January was a major brain stretch. Soft rock phosphate is better than hard rock phosphate, I think. My memory's not what it used to be so I better end this before I really say something dumb. Look it up. Hope it turns out good for you. Sherry

Gorgeous photos, Chaz! I can't choose a favorite! I am leaning toward the night bloomer, though! Or maybe the red Hibiscus... The form of your night bloomer is unreal! I did not expect it to look quite like that! I had imagined a more cacti-looking form, closely hugging the pot... if you know what I mean! Wow! That's amazing! It's the one plant I really haven't taken the time to closely research... I can see I need to get on that, and learn more! The red Hibiscus is really beautiful! Our local Lowe's has some red flowered ones in large pots, but they're too high priced right now... I thought I'd try to grab one when the price went down a bit... call me cheap! In my gardens, Hibiscus are more the focal plant type, and I really don't have room for another... but I'd make an exception for the red! Your gardens look terrific, Chaz! I'm happy it all worked out good in the end! You guys have done a fabulous job on your yard! I can see all the hard work that went into it, all the stone work, all the pathways, all the planting and choosing of plants... it's a beautiful scene! Plants continue to surprise me with their ability to adapt and survive adverse conditions... most cope pretty well, I find. Notice how the weeds cope even better? LOL! Anyway... I'm happy that you're happy with the end results, and I'm glad I could be a small part of it... don't hesitate to ask for anything else you'd like that I might have... I'm glad to share! Nice job, Chaz! Great photos!

George, Jerreth certainly is having a challenging week. It sounds like the power might make it back on before you get home. What wonderful friends y'all have.....loaning Jerreth the RV with its' generator. I'm glad Jerreth is going to be able to save the frozen food. And, putting the refrigerated food in the 5-gallon buckets was a brilliant idea. That's a long way to haul water. So, I guess the two of them are building some serious muscle tissue.....and they don't even have to drive to "the gym" to do it. I know that you are doing terrific work at the Bible Institute and you are fortunate to have a spouse who shares your faith and supports your efforts. It can't be fun to be the one who is "home alone" at this time of year with the risk of ice storms, and I admire her so much for being willing to do it. You said that this is one of the "prices" which you wish y'all didn't have to pay, and I understand that, but we don't really get to choose the price we pay or the challenges we face. I know that Jerreth will come through this challenging period just fine and I suspect she won't even "rub it in" too much that you were off in sunny Mexico doing the work of the Lord while she was here dealing with the mixed blessing of having frozen moisture fall. Look at it this way: The good news, George, is that while you are away in Mexico, all your trees got watered. The bad news is that they got iced too. I hope the rest of your trip is successful and productive and the conditions at "the home place" improve soon. Dawn