Nah, you're not eccentric, just perfectly normal - it's THEM that have a problem, LOL! I know my neighbors think I'm weird spending an inordinate amount of time in the yard, sometimes at very strange hours peering down at my roses and flowerbeds, just thinking, thinking...and mumbling.

Nope, we're just fine.

I'm often considered eccentric by others due to my complete obsession with roses. I really don't care so am not concerned about it. My son-in-law is totally absorbed with sports but is not considered eccentric by anyone except me. Double standard?

Anyone totally absorbed with sports needs to get a life. Anyone totally obsessed with roses has a life. Karl, please do not let your son-in-law see this post.

I talk to my roses all the time, especially to tell them how beautiful, cute, adorable and lovely they are. How could you not? They try so hard to please.

Ingrid

I'm obsessed with sports and roses, so I'm covered.

Yeah, when I make the rounds of my roses once, then again, then again to water, then again to see how they've changed. We have chain link fences that border on 5 other yards. Sometimes I feel very conspicuous; but usually I could care less. It's wonderful to have a passion!!
Carol

I'm definitely nuts and am totally addicted.

I have proof: I just couldn't help myself and bought lots more roses than I have room for. I guess I'll put the surplus in containers. I go out to the back yard all the time to map out the garden (4 roses will be delivered next week.) I check all the time to see how they're handling the rain, the sun, the morning, the noon, the evening.

I figure that I survived the horrible northeast winter and deserve this joy.

Ha! So nice to read that there is a group of us out there who have similar traits. I spend an inordinant amount of time analyzing the linguistic structure of documents to the -nth degree. I come home, walk out into my peaceful garden where I don't have to think about dangling participles or semantic interpretation. During the rosing season, I am greeted by such beauty and fragrance. And the only thing that I contemplate is where I can possibly put more roses in my yard. Roses are necessary to my sanity.

Be careful you guys. You could get like me and keep adding roses whether you have the room, time or money to deal with them. (I think HMF counts my roses at well over 1700 now) I have 1/3 acre and 2/3 of it is covered in rose beds, with each one crammed heavier than the previously planted one. I have potted ones all over the place waiting to see where they can be planted, and like an idiot, I keep adding more. The only reason the other 1/3 of the yard isn't planted with roses, is because it's just too shady, and besides, the dog has to have some area to run in.

I used to be out in the yard all the time that I could spare. But now that I work 2 jobs and only have one day a week off, it's hard to get out and spend the time out there. And I'm so tired I just don't feel like it some times. But this winter/spring has been a major inhibitor on my outdoor activities. The rain barely goes away long enough to get out and look at the yard, let alone enjoy it! But once it does warm up and dry up, I'll be like all you out there looking, checking, gawking, re-checking, taking pictures, doing the weird rose gardener stuff we ALL do! It's just the nature of we who have a passion for the most beautiful flower on the planet! And if that's eccentric, that's ok!

Yep, you have a lot of company here. I've been known to count petals, aargh, and keep a "very" detailed garden journal, while my children keep asking for a personal journal they can read after I'm gone. I guess the garden journal is just as good, because that's the "real me."

LOL -- All I can say is that it's probably a good thing we don't all live in the same small town that has only one nursery !

my adage in life is if you are going to do something, do it right; if not, don`t do it at all- black and white.
i think it is sad as i look at the yards around my neighbourhoods, the beautiful potential in their $700,000 properties and they have lackluster gardens, but not lackluster cars, boats etc.
i have a modest townhome and a very compact, but densely planted garden that absolutely pops.
i wonder why people don`t invest a little time in their gardens- perhaps they don`t realize the joy a thriving colorful slice of eden can bring them -i dunno.
i know that i get what i put in; just like anything else in life. my neighbours may think i spend too much time out there, but there are much worse things i could be doing with my life

There is a junk sofa in my front yard STILL to be hauled away. But, by golly, I planted a rose today.

I LOVE this thread!! You guys are the greatest.

Do my roses bring out the eccentric in me...not any more than my other plants!

I talk to them all, especially when I move them, which even my mom (major gardener) thinks is funny. Okay, I do tell them why they're being moved, how nice their new location will be and how much they're going to love their new home.

My mom loves to move her plants around, but she did ask me to come up and move her roses, since they seem to 'do better' for me...coincidence? I think not :)

My neighbors talk in hushed whispers about me....as I photograph my roses...from all angles...and then on macro.

Hey...I take pictures of my kids too!!! ;op

My toddler son dissolved into laughter when I went to check on my roses in early spring one day, saw one transplanted rose bursting into leafy growth for the first time and I yelled "You go, girl!" at it. He was amused that I considered this rose a girl and that I talk to it like I talk to him and now he wants to plant his own rose bush in the grass and he wants it to be a boy like him.

Lol, I do a lot of the things mentioned here too. And I'm certain my neighbors think I'm bonkers when I'm out there at all times of the day and night and in all kinds of weather working on or photographing the roses. Been known to climb ladders and/or crawl on my belly to get just the right shot! However, I can't tell you how many of them have stopped while passing by to tell my how lovely the garden is and that makes it all worth it!

A few months ago, channel surfing, a show caught my attention. This poor young lady looking as lost as a southern bound goose in winter ending up in Alaska. She was what they called a "huffer" - sniffing aerosol. Didn't give any thought to it until today. So, armed in my car for my Monday morning commute with bouquet of Blue Moon and Heirloom in toe (seeing signs everywhere saying Texting = Ticket, wondering if there is any law against driving with one hand, with the other on a bouquet), sniffing Blue Moon throughout the entire commute until she should have had all scent sniffed from her, but I think it was just as strong if not stronger from the warmth of my breath when I arrived at work. Then suddenly that picture of that girl came into my head. OMG - I'm going to have to find a Rose Huffers Anonymous group!