That fancy new camera sure takes purty pictures, George. Ann, you would have loved it. Seriously. You were missed. We spoke of you several times and wished you were there. The roses were amazing and the staff of gardeners rode the bus up with us and accompanied us on our tour, answering all of our questions about the roses, landscape, and any other questions we had. They really do an amazing job with such a small staff. Christine attended our conference along with the rest of the staff. You would have loved hearing the speakers as well. The program was interesting and informative. Oh, and I got a new rose book! Beauties of the Rose by Henry Curtis. Carolina

I agree that this is a wonderful place. Everyone is generous and helpful and I've learned tons of amazing things here too. But I'd like to ask you not to give up on your local society either. They need you! Yes, a lot of them are geared toward the exhibition of roses but I don't know of any shows that don't have classes for shrub and antique roses. That's where you could shine and impart your love for them. And the society as well as the public need to see those roses in order to learn to love them. I never grew an OGR until I saw how beautiful they were at a local show. Then I had to have some! Since then I've learned a great deal about them and now people come to me to ask what ones they should try. So keep going and do show your OGRs because they are beautiful! People just need to be exposed to them to see that!

Hearst only liked fragrant HTs and he wanted them all grown as standards so he could smell them without leaning over. Hearst died in 1951, so all roses had to be of that vintage or older. When she got the contract, she contacted me for suggestions as I'd grown many of the appropriate roses and passed them all on to Sequoia. Jimofshermanoaks and I visited and went through the nursery to point out what she should consider. She also obtained more of the appropriate varieties to fill in around what she already had from Vintage. She considered growing whips of Pink Clouds for them as that is what she traditionally used for standards at the nursery. I suggested if she wanted to grow the whips, Cardinal Hume would be more suitable. I then had the idea for her to call Tom Carruth at Week's to investigate purchasing Dr. Huey whips from them. Being the gentleman and good friend of Sequoia he is, he gave her the unrooted whips and offered to replace any which didn't root with rooted ones in spring. She picked them up, potted them in two or three gallon cans and budded them in the greenhouse where she did her propagation. She had some 150 budded 1951 and earlier, fragrant HT standards in that greenhouse Jim and I visited several times prior to their installation. Tom's generosity enabled her to fill the contract and supply them a full year earlier than would have otherwise been possible. From what I understand, she has also propagated other appropriate roses for areas of the gardens than the rose garden. By now, they should be outstanding! Kim

I "liked" ZachS's comment "having a vast plain of rock is not a viable solution any more than is Kentucky Blue" so much and if there were a double-like button, I'd click that too. His points about zeroscaping are more eloquent and scientific than mine. And SO true. Rock has consequences. It's hot and takes a lot of maintenance. That maintenance often includes harmful chemicals to keep those weeds at bay. I read a recent article about the problems they are having with some of the water-wise gardening in California. Because there is so much rock, there is no water for the trees. Homeowners are not watering lawn anymore which is where the trees were getting their water and they neglected to plan for that. So they are losing big shade trees everywhere. Everything has an impact on something else. I know that water is expensive and I'm definitely not advocating that anyone install a home golf course or baseball field, but there are so many other solutions. Like Skybird said, Amester has a beautiful grass-free front yard that probably uses a fifth of the water that lawn would and likely has few weeds and no chemicals. I'd love to see more of that! Welcome Marshaa to the friendly and passionate world of Rocky Mountain gardening!