I hang out here and on the antique roses forum every single day and have been a member here for several years. I consider you all my friends! My passion for roses is only surpassed by my love for my family, which includes my husband Jim, 3 children, 4 stepchildren and 3 cats. I am 49 years old but don't feel it! My world is my family, my many gardens, taking a 7-mile walk every day, taking care of my elderly mom who has Alzheimer's, and living the simple life. DH and I take day trips on our motorcycle all over our state and beyond to search for old roses in old cemeteries to take cuttings to save them from being lost. I have numerous rose gardens, 2 water gardens, 2 lily beds with hundreds of lilies, numerous perennials, strawberries, blueberries, grapes, etc. We spend many hours working in our yard....but ROSES are the queen of
our hearts! I am lucky in that my DH not only 'puts up' with my rose obsession, but has become my partner in it.
I have made so many wonderful friends here and I am grateful to be able to 'talk' roses to my hearts content!

Celeste

ME AND MY HUSBAND, JIM AT A WEDDING THIS MONTH.....

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MY MOM AND DAD.....86 Years young

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MY DAUGHTER, TIFFANY....LAST BIRD TO LEAVE THE NEST
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MY OLDEST....SON TIM AND HIS LOVELY WIFE JENNI

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DAUGHTER GRACE AND MY 'GRANDKITTEN'... (AND LOVE OF MY LIFE)...ZEUS

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I am reintroducing myself here. I originally introduced myself on the Gallery of The Antique Roses forum.

My name is Juliet and I am 27 years old. I live in So.CA and have lived here all my life. I am single and not dating anyone special at the moment. I like spending time with friends, many of whom don't understand my passion for roses, but I am making them aware of the joys of the garden. I hope to meet a guy someday that will grow roses with me, maybe someone Italian. :)

I like roses with historical significance and old-garden roses best. I also have a weakness for those darn David Austin roses. I love soft colors, as well violet and purple flowers and am especially attracted to roses that have light pink and white in their blooms. My favorite color is yellow, so good yellow rose shrubs are also of interest. I like gardens with mystery and romance.

I have been enjoying Gardenweb, both the learning and contributing.

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I'm Karl, aka Rosenut. I'm 71 years young and grow 400 roses, mostly hardy shrub varieties although I do have a number of hybrid teas and floribundas. Seven years ago I had a severe hemorrhagic stroke that resulted in my left side being paralyzed. The year prior we had moved to a home on a larger lot and I'd brought my 550 roses with me.
After the stroke I decided to cut way back on my roses but my obsession with them forced me to adapt and learn new ways to work with them. Although handicapped, I garden from the seat of my Rascal scooter and do all the gardening myself.
I'm retired from Ford Motor Co. where I was a supervisor for 30 years. My wife Nancy and I have been married 38 years and have 6 children, my three, her two, and our one. We have 21 grandchildren and 7 great ones, two dogs, and a cat.
I'm an Advanced Master Gardener, Master Composter, Life member of the American Rose Society, an ARS Master Rosarian, and have been a Rose Forum member for at least 11 years although there were a few years of inactivity right after the stroke. I'm an ARS Cyber Rosarian and reply to rose culture inquiries sent to the ARS website.
My website, www.rosenut.com, has information on rose growing in zone 5a.

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Rosenut pruning from scooter

Double Delight, my favorite rose.
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Rosenut and Chuck (Chuck & Billie) in Seattle's Woodland Park Rose Garden.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rosenut's webpage

Hi

My name is Carol. I'm 46 years old and live in Calgary, Alberta. This is my first year in Calgary, and I had to leave my lovely garden behind. :(

I pot all my roses because of the rocks and tree roots which are everywhere. I'm actually quite happy with my roses in pots, because they are bushier, flashier and healthier than those I had in the ground.

I've been married to my WONDERFUL husband, Don, for 19 years. He has married into my passions - dogs, roses, chameleons, leopard geckos and birds. Poor man. He supports me in everything.

I have two girls, Holly (15) and Kedra (13). They both win every academic award you can think of (quite unlike me). My older daughter has a form of autism called Aspergers. It is a social disability with depression, etc. She's both wonderful and a struggle. :)

I have osteoporosis with which I've been diagnosed since I was 32. Intravenous therapy helps, I'm due for another bout with that. I walk alot with my dogs to help my bones. I resent that in the summer, because it makes me too tired to rose as much as I want to. I have a degenerative disease which is killing the brain cells in my cerebellum. I get tired very easily, and then have trouble breathing. Eventually I won't be able to breathe, walk, talk, swallow, eat, etc. Sounds like fun!! So that's why I'm so anxious to get this yard into shape, because I don't know how long I'll be able to rose. Although, like Rosenut, I'll be inventive and continue for as long as I can. We seem to move about every 4 years (husband's job) which makes it tough to have a nice rose garden as just as they seem to hit their stride, we move!! Right now, my husband's company is merging, and we're not sure if he'll have a job. We might have to move again. Sigh. Although we'll try our best not to move.

I adore roses!!! The delight they give me is incredible, and I resent things like dishes, making meals, etc. I don't work (thanks hubby) so I get extra time to do what I want!! :)

I have 2 Standard Poodles - one is 8 months old and a lovely chocolate brown. He's 70 lbs already. My black one is 5 years old. I've trained them to get garden tools for me, to help me with my balance, to steady me as I get up or down, to balance me as I go up and down stairs, hills, etc. They'll get anything I want - phone, remote, books, pencils, etc. They help me alot.

I love life and enjoy myself immensely doing what I can. Life is good. Rose are fantastic!!!

Carol

Ken Wilkinson here. 62 yrs young. My wife, Debbie and I have been married 25 yrs. Four grown children, nine grandkids, five cats, eight love birds that think they are humans(4 pairs that give us 1 or 2 clutchs every year) and one green cheek yellow sided Conure who helps keep everybody in line. Joined the garden web rose form many years ago when I lived in Winter Haven, FL. Spent 10 yrs in Port St Lucie, FL and last Sept., moved to the Cornelia, Mt. Airy area of NE GA. to retire. I LOVE it up here. Worked as a drywall finnisher and custom texture for 99% of my adult life. Spent my last working year as an armed guard at the power plant. I thought I was back in the army. Have been growing roses (a good mixture of everything) since back in the mid 1970's. My average garden runs about 100 bushes. Some years it was a little bigger and for a few years it was down to about 70 or so. Up here in GA it will probably run about 100 or so bushes. I brought 23 mostly baby roses with me when we made this last move. This past winter is the first time I had to over winter any roses. I learned a lot about roses and cold weather. Been a member of the ARS since back in the late 1980's. Do all the good stuff with them. Hort. and Arrangement judge and all that good stuff that goes along with it. Stay away from the politic end of everything. Was one of the original one's that contibuted to the "Garden Web Best of Show" award. If you don't know what that is, ask Karl (rosenut). He can tell you all about it. He was the "daddy" of this award. Everybody, never forget this. "Roses are my hobby. Not a life and death situation". I enjoy my hobby. Keeps me fairly busy and I haven't turned into a couch potato.

I'm Chuck Glass.
I'm 58 and holding.
I live in the NW corner of Washington (the State) in a little burg known as Sedro Woolley.
My wife Billie and I have been married 34 years now and we moved here in 2007 for a lifestyle change.
I was growing over 300 Roses on my 1/2 acre suburban lot but I'm currently around 80.
I joined this forum in 1998 when I bought my first computer and have posted off and on since.
Karl posted a picture of us taken in 2007 when he and his wife came back from an Alaskan Cruise adventure.

I am Shannon, from a tiny farming community in Northern Illinois, although we live in town on a quarter acre lot. Last year was the year I got bitten by the rose bug, BAD! So, all but one of my roses are new plantings, bought and planted last year and this year. I have 36, if I have counted right. I slowed down this year because I was overwhelmed and killing plants!

I am 37, married mother of two teens, one of which is headed to University this Fall. Boy2 is 16. I have been a homemaker for virtually all my married life, until very recently. A stint through the Master Gardener program lit my fire, and now I am in a two-year degree program for Landscape Design. This summer I am working an internship at a local golf course, maintaining the landscaping.I love this place, and learned nearly everything I know about roses (which is, admittedly, not much) right here at GW.

I don't think I have a favorite rose of mine, I love nearly every one! Although, PJP II ranks right up there. I am now creeping into the realm of OGR's, and look forward to many more years of consuming obsession.

Aloha:

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Jeri Jennings:

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Cream Abundance and Ebb Tide:

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Garden Party and friends:

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Hi! I post here occassionally, though mostly I just read and learn. I live in Tyler, Texas (home of the rose festival) and got into roses just because they actually grew out here in the heat and clay. We live in the country and I have about 90 roses (I had to go count them because I wasn't sure). That doesn't include the ones I've killed this year! lol
Mom of three, grandmom of 3. Probably won't give too much more info because I've been a victim of identity theft and it really makes you worry about all the info that's out there on the internet. Everyone here, though, is fabulous and I can't imagine being able to grow roses at all without this wonderful resource.

I introduced myself but just this afternoon taught myself to post pictures in a post. Don't want to a non-participant here. Old farmers/every job on a factory floor persons take a while to figure stuff out. But you can.
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My mother, me and my two girls.
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My three children and two in-laws on the right
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Five generations in my family, my Mom, my Grandmother of 99 years of age. My brother, his daughter and his granddaughter.
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My two Australian Shepherds Dare [on the right] and Roxie
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My favorite when he is blooming, Alchymst.
Thank you for this thread. I learned a new skill today!

Hello everyone. My name is Michelle, but my nearest and dearest call me Shelly. I am 39 years old until September. I am married to a wonderful man (who still doesnt understand my rose obsession but tries), have three children: 22, son (going to law school); 18, son (just graduated high school, going to EMT school); 16, daughter(starting her junior year of high school this fall), a pekingese, a shitzhu (my baby), two cats indoors and several outdoors. We live in Kentucky out in the country next door to my mother and grandmother (and I wouldn't want it any other way). I work part-time as a phlebotomist for a cardiologist.
I finally met my goal of 100 roses this year (actual number is 103)! I have been rose gardening for 6 years now. My favorite place in the world to be is in my rose gardens.

Me and my DH

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My children

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My Pickles and Boo

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And a few of my roses

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Where my new Zeffy's are planted

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and a few of my faves

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Glad to meet you all and welcome to all our newest members!

Shelly

Hi Karl. I've been participating in this forum off and on for about 10 years, mostly off, and remember when you had that stroke. I thought you were slightly psycho for going ahead with all those roses but God bless you for forging ahead. Here's hoping you have many more years of roses ahead, and thanks for all of your insights over the years.

I'm Nick. I'm a bit of an oddball compared to others my age. I'm 22 and still have one more year of undergraduate study in Exercise Physiology at The Ohio State University before pursuing either graduate school or entering the job market. I was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes when I was 6. I grew up with a family that owned a floral shop and eventually worked in landscaping and sales during my high school years. I'm a bit fan of nature, so the plants essentially grew on me. My property manager was interested in having us landscape for the property...luckily for me I visited the Columbus Park of Roses which has 13 acres of gorgeous roses and it drove me into the position of getting roses as I had always wanted to grow them anyways. I went from 0 roses to 12 this year. I like all roses, although I have a preference for Austins and Romanticas......I also like Old Garden Roses and will probably eventually feel compelled to get the rare varieties that are becoming extinct once I settle in.

I'm more of homebody and keep to myself, although still a thrillseeker. I like nice and fast authentic cars and watching Formula 1, Le Mans, and other lesser known forms of auto racing. I also enjoy traveling places when I can afford it...although I like roaming more than being a tourist. Being from Ohio, I enjoy all things college football at The Ohio State University.......live and die by it...it's a way of life. The rest of my time is occupied by staying busy with class, work, exercising, and the eventual task of hopefully moving somewhere in Europe...preferably Italy along the countryside and near the Meditteranean. Hopefully a decent little casa that I can fix up around vineyards with my own variety of at least 400 roses to grow with some golden retrievers with me. I appreciate nice places of scenic value, nice people, and an authentic, natural feeling. I have only been on here in the past 2 months, but it's been interesting to hear of all the techniques, devotion, and the ranges of experience throughout the board from everybody on here.

Hello all, my name is John Moody and live in the midwest in St. Joseph, MO. I am soon going to turn 47 in August.
I have a wonderful wife, Joyce, and a stepdaughter Nicole who has two wonderful children. I have two sons from a previous marriage aged 28 and 23 years, Jarrod and Ryan are their names.
Professionally I was a shipping/warehouse/production supervisor or manager for a few very large manufacturing companies. I loved my career but it was unfortunately cut short in 2004 when some chronic illnesses struck in 1996 and only worsened and multiplied as I continued to try working.
I was also a successful professional dog handler showing many different breeds for people all over the country. I also bred and showed my own line of Cocker Spaniels with which I had wonderful success with and enjoyed immenseley until becoming ill. That too had to go by the wayside.
For the rose story of my life it has to start with my dear mother--80 years old this week--introducing me to roses with a beautiful Peace rose along with some various others as a youngster. I especially remember her beautiful Peace roses.
So it was natural for me to start growing them fairly soon after having to quit working. My strapping sons do/did most of the hard work like digging, prepping bushes to plant, etc..I took up growing roses as a sort of therapy for my physical well-being and to soothe my mental side of being chronically ill with no cure in sight. I can work in my roses whenever and however I need to depending on how my health is at the time. If I am too ill to work in the roses I just stay inside and suffer in silence.
I have approximately 250+ roses which is a rough guess as I never want to get an actual count.
I like the rose game because I can play when I want, the rewards are high for me personally and physically. And I like meeting new people and talk Roses for hours on end.
Drop me a line every so often as I love to talk about my roses in general.
Best wishes to you and yours,
John
Jojomood@sbcglobal.net

I go by autumnshowers on GW, because it is mostly dry where I am from. For over ten years I have been growing all classes roses from Earthkind to old garden roses and finally a select of hybrid teas and mostly old European roses.

At the height of my collection I had 300 roses. Then I moved from my parents 5 acres to a 1/4 acre lot in the city. I still have 150 roses of mostly Gallicas, damasks, moss, and a few miscellaneous hybrid teas and climbers.

I view roses as my living art collection. Only the most rare and beautiful have a place in my garden.

Knockout is absolutely abhorred and abolished from my garden.

Last count I think I had around 60 roses. I live near the ocean in southern Maine, which is a most wonderful place to live in the summer, but our winters can be tough. I fell in love with David Austins about 8 years ago, found this forum to learn about roses, and took off from there. From the DAs I also began dabbling in OGRs but love the repeat of the DAs. Fragrance is a must for me.

My husband helps a little with the big jobs but isn't nearly as interested in the garden as I am. I also have a gardening "client" who pays me to manage her perennial gardens, she likes hybrid teas and I am doing an experimental bed for her over there. I also volunteer my time maintaining the little rose garden that I created in front of our local museum. I am the one who is always trying to encourage people in our garden club to grow roses, I wish more people would take me up on it.

My name is Joan, I'm 52 and have been married for 27 years. We have 2 sons, ages 25 (out of college and on his own, but single) and 17 (about to be a senior in high school). DH doesn't fully share my love of roses, but he is more than willing to help out wherever he can. We operate on the "point-and-dig" system - I point, he digs.

We bought our house in 1984 and inherited a Paul's Scarlet. I bought my first rose, Love, in 1986 (it was a mislabeled body bag rose from K-mart or someplace). My mom, who is 78, is a Master Flower Show Judge and has held state offices in Federated Garden Clubs. She is my inspiration. When she owned her own home, she had about 75 roses and lots of perennials, and most of my gardening advice has come from her.

At one time I had nearly 100 roses, including several Simplicitys. About 4 years ago, ill health and other factors made me give upon my gardening altogether, and my yard has been a "desperate landscape" all that time. The beds were overgrown with huge weeds like 5-foot pokeweed and so much bindweed you couldn't see that there were rose plants under them. Most of the markers had disappeared or the lettering had worn off, and I didn't even know who I had. This year I decided it was time to do something about it.

Many of my roses had died from the neglect and my own stupidity. (There are a lot of things Mom neglected to tell me!) I got some new ones this year. Right now I have 47 roses, but I have room for about 80 even without making any new beds. 4 of them are Dr. Hueys, and 9 are minis. I like HTs, grandifloras, and David Austin. I love lavender roses and any unusual colors, though I don't have many right now.

My roses are doing well with the TLC I am giving them this year, and I hope I will be able to continue to care for them properly so it never gets that bad again.

I joined GardenWeb just a couple of months ago, and the help I have received here has been wonderful! I am learning so much from this forum. I also posted a couple of things in the Name That Rose forum and have been able to get a positive ID on one of the prettiest rose in my garden, Sundance.

You all have convinced me not to use insecticide (I used to swear by Orthinex back when I was gardening before) but I am faithfully alternating different fungicides for BS weekly, and the results are amazing!

Anyway, here are a few pics. No pictures of whole plants, because most of them are still pretty spindly-looking, but they are growing and blooming, and many are even putting out new basal canes, so it is very rewarding for me. I don't know why I couldn't have kept gardening for the past few years. If people like rosenut and canadian rose can do it, I should have been able to do it, too.

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Guinevere
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Touch of Class
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Sweetness
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Butterscotch (very small phone picture)
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Hi everyone! My name is Phyl(lis). I'm 51 & also have a twin brother & 2 other siblings. Been married 28 years in August to Gary (he's the fungicide sprayer!). We have 3 kids-Elissa (20) lives @ home, works for Harley D & goes to college locally for photography. Austin is 22 & has been in Guam (Navy) for 3 years, Chelsea (25) lives in Phoenix, AZ-newly divorced but working hard with a small airline. Gary and I ride our motorcycle as much as possible when the weather is decent. We are also active in our church (Word of Life AOG). We planted a rose garden there about 6 years ago w/many Explorers & Bucks.

We still have 2 kitties-but my "baby" Abbi just died last weekend. I was so sad. >^..^I am a Teaching Assistant for children with special needs (autism and learning differences) in the regular classroom, as well as in a special summer school program.
Gary and I grow about 70-80 roses as well as many different lilies, siberian and spuria iris, and perennials/annuals I start from seed. I sell bouquets locally and call my business JoyGiver Bouquets. It is a source of great joy for me and also for others who love the look/scent of roses & lilies they've never seen before (ie, Romanticas, Austins & other shrub roses, as well as oriental and orienpet lilies other than Stargazer).
Elissa is the photo expert (didn't get it from me obviously, because I don't know how to post photos yet!)
:0) Phyl

Hello folks,

I'm Reem. I'm married and have two kids (11yrs and 6yrs). My husband is a US Army veteran. We are very proud of him!

I am new to rose gardening and do not have a green thumb. However, thanks to the wealth of information and willingness of experts on this forum to share their knowledge, my roses are surviving (but prefer to use the word "thriving"). I bought several roses last year, from Ashdown Roses and Molback's (a local nursery), with the intention to plant them during our landscaping project. Unfortunately, the landscaping plan did not materialize. Hence, many of my roses are still in their containers. But they are weathering the situation like tough soldiers!

Thank you all for taking the time from your busy schedules to educate and help newbies on this forum. I also want to thank the newbies for asking questions which facilitates communication with experts for resolutions. You are all awesome!

Best regards,
- Reem

I'm a landscaper, 60, letting the recession ease me into retirement. I try to turn my clients onto the wide world of roses. I moved to VA from Santa Fe and was raised in CA and Europe. I'm single, with 14 cats and am up to 350 roses, mostly OGR, and am aiming for 1000.

Great idea, Tammy! Someday I'm going to learn how to actually post pictures (of course first I need to know how to upload them from my digital camera--I'm hopeless!)

I'm Mike, one of several Mikes here. guess I've been on this forum around 8 or 9 years. I go in cycles of more or less frequent depending on other "busy-ness" in my life. I'm about to turn 42 (in 2 months). Married the past 18 years to wife Nicole. We have a 6 year old, Kevin, who's a trip and a half! 2 kitties who don't like each other, lol. I've been a social worker the past 15 years. I work as a psychotherapist for emotional issues in a hospital-based clinic, as well as an addiction counselor--NOT from personal experience. : ) My wife is a "professional" college student--2 graduate degrees plus 10 years in her current PhD program. Come on, FINISH, FINISH, Ra ra ra!!
I grew up in Olympia, Washington and started growing roses in 5th grade. No one else in my family did, though Grandma grew wonderful fuschias and peonies, and Mom and Dad grew vegetables. When I moved to the Gulf Coast, I had to completely relearn how to grow roses. That's when I joined my first community rose society. Later stumbled upon the Rose forum accidentally and have been happily popping in and out since. It's a great way to kill time while learning how NOT to kill our roses. Yea!
My other interests, figure skating, which I took up at age 28 and am rather good, if I do say so myself. Playing piano, which I started at 18. Im soooo manly!!
My guilty pleasure is following politics--dirty, I know.

Hi, my name is Bet (short for Elizabeth) and I live in Buford Georgia, Buford is my gardenweb name. I lived my entire life in New York until we moved here in 2000. I have been married to my wonderful husband George for 16 years. I'm 51. We have no human children, but are currently ruled by three furry feline ones.

I started gardening when I moved here, previously I lived in apartments and never gardened. Because of Gardenweb, I've been able to have a lot of success in rose gardening. Of course you all have also enabled me into having 90+ roses! But I love them. I started out with HTs from Jackson & Perkins and now I'm very into Austins, Teas and OGRs. I just did a trip to Roses Unlimited and Ashdown to get more roses.

I've gone on a couple of trips to meet GW people and they are all great. And Celeste, damn girl! You don't look a day over 30. What is your secret!

I'm on Facebook if anyone wants to friend me!

Here is a link that might be useful: Facebook

Bet (buford)....THANKS for the compliment, and its good to know a little more about you. I see you have 3 feline children also! As I near 50, I do get asked what I do to stay youthful and its really simple....I have always lived a healthy lifestyle. When I was growing up my parents moved us up here to the woods of New Hampshire from Georgia to 'homestead'. We had to grow our own vegetables, dig our own well, raise livestock, etc. and had no indoor plumbing or modern conveniences. I was made fun of all through my school years because of my 'weird' lunches and my goody-two-shoes upbringing. No drugs, no smoking, no partying. I have always stayed clear of those things, gardened, exercised, moisturized, and most important of all....I have been passionate about life. I think the secret to staying young is to enjoy every minute we have here on this earth. My kids always kept me happy, my gardens, my cats, hiking up mountains, walking everyday (even all through my brutal winters), and being grateful for the simple things. Having a passion, which for me is growing ROSES, keeps me happy...and all the hard physical work involved, keeps me strong and in shape. Roses are my botox. LOL

Celeste

My name is Jeannie. I'm 46. I've been into roses for about 10 years... I used to have about 250 roses but I have pared it down to about 100. My pot ghetto is finally gone!

My main thing is color. I want roses of every imaginable color. I love mixing colors and I consider my garden a painting that I work on every day...

I'm a property manager, married for 20 years, 3 boys, and 3 cats. I work at home and try to spend an hour a day in the garden. Hubby helps me with the planting and unplanting. He's my hero.

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My name is Russell Muegge; I live in westcentral Illinois. I am 61 retired and married for 39 years. We have two children: Tausha 38 a RN and Ryan 27 English teacher. The last one will be leaving the nest next month...sort of looking forward to it and dreading it too since he will be moving to another city. I managed a auto parts business for 28 years. My last two jobs were at a blue cheese company which I loved and manufacturer of fire places. I have a 6 year old Shih Tzu named Buddy who I love and 19 pound cat named Wendule who I will inherit from my son when he moves....I swore that cat would go with him when he left the house....well, his landlord doesn't allow pets. I about 60 roses consisting of some English (my wife's favorite), HT's and Floribunda. I hav a large collections of daylilies, oriental lilies and various other type of plants. I have been a member of the rose forum for many years and enjoy it very much. I find the members to be very nice, helpful, and source of knowledge concerning roses.

I have loved learning about all of you! Some of us sound so much alike in so many ways!! I would LOVE to invite friends to Facebook as well...Bet, you have a friend request awaiting there!

I don't know how to post that Facebook link, so I hope those on FB will request me anyway! If you type in Phyl or Phyllis Leathers I'm sure you'll find me (I have shoulder length silver hair in my picture).

:0) Phyl

Nice thread! I've enjoyed reading every post and looking at all the lovely pictures. It's great to have faces (and beautiful ones at that) to go with the names.

I'm Susan. I'm a widow, age 66, with three children, two of them living. I'm a freelance writer and photographer. I grew up in NYC, the daughter of an artist (mother) and a photographer. My mom was raised in the country, and longed to have a garden. She died when I was nine, but her dream of living in the country stayed with me. For the past 34 years I've been living that dream here on an old 31-acre farm in Pennsylvania.

This forum has not only provided me with tons of essential information, but it has done its best to keep me rose-obsessed. When I occasionally waver after deciding that I simply am not good enough at this business of growing roses, one trip to the Rose Forum is all I need to inspire me to buy three more. Or five.

Here I am a couple of months ago:
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My son Joe, a ham radio operator, doing a Field Day demonstration:
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My daughter Suzanne. She lives on a lake, and she and her family are avid skiers, water skiers, and bicyclists. (There are some motorcycles involved, too, but I prefer not to think about those.)
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My wonderful granddaughter, Elizabeth (Suzanne's daughter), on prom night. The prom theme was "Hollywood Glamour."
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My daughter Gillian, who passed away in 2001:
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A more typical pose for Gillian:
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My grandfather Harry, an opera singer (obviously) :-)
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His wife, my grandmother Alice, also an opera singer. She ran away from home at 16 to go on the stage, and fell in love with the handsome baritone. I am very much like her (except for the desire to run away from home . . . and the tiny waist):
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Oh, yeah--the roses!

Abbaye de Cluny, my only hybrid tea these days:
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Strike it Rich (bud) - I'm delighted with this rose:
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Quietness - I've become quite a Buck fan:
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Dart's Dash - a rather odd name for a faithful rugosa:
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Another Buck, Prairie Sunrise - wonderfully fragrant:
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Crimson Sky - the work of art I view from my kitchen window:
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Thanks for the opportunity to share!

Hi all, I'm Mary, I live in Central Oh, am 54 yrs. young, married, with 3 children, all daughters. the oldest is 27, just got her Phd. in Microbiology, and will enter Med.School next month. The Middle daughter is 22 and just graduated from college and is to get married this Oct. The youngest is going to be sophmore in college majoring in English at 19.
I have been gardening for as long as I can remember, I love all flowers, and have a special place in my heart for roses. I just found the GardenWeb this past winter and love it, but I am not really computer savvy, and do not know how to post pictures yet. it took me three months to get my computer to let me be a member of GW! I have only 25 roses at present, and lots of other perennials. I love these forums, and have visited old roses, hydrangeas, clematis, and cottage gardens alot. Ihave been very happy to see that other people are as crazy about gardening as me. Ilove being able to get answers to questions, and share my experiences. My favorite roses are Eden, Heritage, Tuscan Superb, Madame Hardy, Colette, chapeau de napoleon, Alba semi plena, and Morden's Sunrise. Actually I love all of them when they are in bloom. I have slowly been building gardens around my house for 25 years, and my DH just built me a lovely new arbor and fenced garden for a new garden this year. I love it! maybe I'll be able to learn how to post a pic someday soon!I used to have a faithful sheltie who has passed away, named Darby, and all I have left now is My oldest daughters' cat "Athena", who comes and helps me in the garden.

Mary

Roseberri, and others if I can figure it out, you can too. The trick is to open an account with some photo sharing web site. Get a free one if you won't use it much. What tripped me up when transferring to GW page was you click on the message you are writing not the Link spaces below. If you ask someone here will help you, GW people are generous with their advice and encouragement.
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Just like that!

So many nice looking people with nice looking children and grand children.....and nice people also. I feel lucky to have all of you as friends. Even Windule is impressed

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Well what a bunch of lovely people. I'm suprised at how many folks I don't know. I do spend my time mostly on the Antique Roses forum. My name is Pamela Temple. The Mendocino Rose comes from Mendocino County, Ca. I live with my husband Michael, 3 dogs and 3 cats, out in the Wild Willits Hills. This is an isolated spot(38 acres) in the coastal mountains, near the town of Willits, which is 150 miles north of San Francisco and 20 miles inland from the coast and the village of Mendocino. We call our place Red Rose Ridge. I have 2 dear daughters, Rose and Holly who are now 27 and 24 years old. Here's me.
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My garden is my life and my life's work. I began to build it in 1995. It has grown to nearly three acres with over 1000 varieties of roses. It is on a steep hillside so I have terraced and made rock retaining walls up hill and down dale. Here's garden photo showing the beautiful hills beyond loking west.
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The garden is basically a full time job. It is a huge amount of work but it is what I want to do. One day a week I dedicate to my ceramic art. Here is a vase I made.
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The forum has been part of my life since 1999. I have met wonderful people here. Some of them have become "real" friends. I was thrilled to have many have come here to my garden. Thanks everyone for sharing yourselves.

Hi,I usually go by C.Q, I am 20. ^.^ It's a pleasure to meet everyone, I am a long time forum stalker but finally decided to join in! I'm new to roses but am quickly developing an addiction,I have one Mr. Lincoln, One Double Knockout, and i HAD a Crimson Glory before an unfortunate lawnmower incident >.

I've been a Forum member for close to 10yrs now. I live in Northern CA in the lower Sierras. I'm 52 (aack!!); married 29yrs; two boys, 21 and almost 25, both still living at home. We're simple people. My husband has some learning disabilities that were never addressed in the lower grades, but he got some help as an adult, altho he's pretty much un-educated. He works as a garbageman, and while it's not the best job, it pays well and we have health insurance and a dwindling 401K. I've worked at one of the largest Ace Hardware stores in Northern CA for nearly 20yrs. Not the best pay, but a good family-oriented environment that I'm really thankful for. The older son has two part-time jobs and is going back to school this fall. The younger one is sitting at home doing nothing. Unfortunately, he has OCD, and has a fear of going out into the world. We are working on getting him out tho. We have one dog, three cats and two male rats, which were originally feeders for my niece's snakes, but they wouldn't eat them.

My crazy niece (who's only 5yrs younger than me) and I opened up a craft and gift shop in September, after the owners at Ace decided to dump their rather extensive craft department (to expand the more-profitable plumbing dept), and people were complaining that they didn't want to drive down the hill to get their craft supplies. The shop is doing "ok" but it takes a few yrs to get going. My niece doesn't fully understand about how retail and opening your own business works. It's been a huge battle to keep it going. She's Bi-polar (refuses to take meds) and the roller coaster rides of mood swings have really taken a toll on me. I feel like I'm dealing with Dr Jekyll and Miss Hyde! I've almost quit the shop several times, and while things are "ok" now, it could change at any minute. I'm working 4 days at Ace and 2 full days at the shop, plus a few hours after work two other days. I only have Sundays off. It's very difficult to get anything done in the yard, and in the house.

My family doesn't help much with anything. The roses are MINE. They think I'm nuts. According to HMF, I have waaaay over 1600 roses. I'm getting old, tired and often ask myself what the heck I'm doing. I love the roses, but the deadheading, pruning and other maintenance are getting to be too much. If my family helped me, it might be worth it. I have come to the conclusion that I have to start re-evaluating what I have, and what I want to continue to work on. I'm overweight and don't feel well much of the time, so I end up coming home and not doing much of anything. But, when I go out and look at my roses, they make me happy. Many of you know my favorites are the "oddball" colored ones and the stripeys. But I love 'em all!

susz52, Thanks for the advice, I will not give up!
Mary

Wonderful thread, lovely to meet some of you for the first time and learn a bit more about old timers. I've been around the rose forum since '97 or '98, mostly lurking for a long time, posting lately. I'm a former software developer married to a software engineer. Two canine and seven Koi kids, about 300 roses. Lately I've been extremely distracted by the koi at the expense of the roses--koi keeping is far more complicated, expensive, and challenging than rose growing--I'm not sure I'm up to it.

Here's Hoover and Cuddles and the Koi-kids and a few roses.

The Princess Cuddles:
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And Hoover Boo (where hoovb comes from:)
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I always recommend 'Renae' as a climber, which surely must get tiresome, but my goodness, all this and exceptional disease resistance and fragrance, how can I not?
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And my favorite picture of 'Disneyland' with the blue pot:
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And Secret Garden Musk Climber with Crepuscule back behind it.
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And the koi girls and koi boys:
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Hey Hoov! We have Koi too. We only have three though and tons of goldfish. We love our Koi, especially Petunia. She is huge but not fancy. One Koi(Opal) lives in our big agricultural pond with catfish and millions of goldfish.

Hi everyone! My name is Donna and I,m fairly new to this site and rose gardening. I,m a 68 year old retired nurse and widow. I have four grown children, but lost my oldest son in 2006. I lost my dear husband in 1993. I had a huge rose garden when he was alive, then I sold our place and moved into an apartment. I live in a small, rural community in southern Illinois ( zone 5-6) with some ground close to my bldg, but not much, so I,ve only got about six bushes. Sure wish I had more room. I get lots of sun and humidity here, but for the past three years we have been fighting the Japanese Beetles and they are a booger to get rid of. I haven,t figured out how to post a pic either. Sure wish I did, as my roses are beautiful right now.

Wow! Karl you are amazing! You are an inspiration! My hubby Steve is handicapped too with COPD (severe) lung diease. He tries to veggie garden and does a great job although he is limited too. I told him about you gardening on your Rascal Scooter (he used to have one, now it is a motorized wheelchair), and I'm hoping he is just as inspired.
Well, my name is Cathy (how many of you thought I was a man? lol) I live in NE Ohio near Kent State University. I have 4 children of my own (youngest is 22) and he has 3 of his own (youngest is 14). I have 3 birds, one sun conure named Sunny, one cockatiel named Sam, and one parakeet named Thunder. I am pretty new at roses, but I am determined to learn and grow! I started out last year with planting 6 new bareroots. This year just 4 roses, but 2 didn't make it, so I have a lot to learn. I also do a lot of perennial gardening, which is what I started with in the first place. I started gardening about 5 years ago.
I work in a bakery here at Giant Eagle, and I love my job! It's not too hard to love working in a bakery!
As I said my hubby is 100% handicapped, but he used to be in the Air Force, where he got his handicap.
I also have one and a half grandchildren lol. One grandbaby was just born July 1st named Aiden Matthew, the other will be born sometime in late March/early April. Don't know what his/her name will be yet.
Between taking care of two teens at home, my hubby, work, and gardening I am pretty much busy all the time.
Welcome everyone! I love this forum. Most forums get posts once in a blue moon, but this was thrives! :)

Okay...about me. I am not an Iris. My name is Debbie and got the Zyperiris name about 11 years ago..I wanted to be clever and find a great sign on name at AOL. I tried all the cutesy sign on names..Tiger Lily...BAmbi...hahah. All were taken. My sister cannot spell well. She liked the game Myst at the time. She spelled CYBER, ZYPER. I added Iris to it. My daughter at the time told me that I DID NOT WANT THE WORD CYBER in my name. Ah hem.
I am gainfully employed and am 54. I have been married 9 years to my wonderful hubby Brian. We live in Gig Harbor Washington state. I am a native Californian and he is from here.I have a daughter who is 32 and is paramedic in Indiana. She has a baby boy..my Grandson who is 7 months. We also have a Goffin Cockatoo named Tony..and a Slaty head parakeet named Zig Bird. We have 2 ragdoll cats that are just a little over a year old.

I think gardening has helped me during times of emotional stress. It soothes my soul to work the soil. Presently I have about 20 roses and aspire to about 50 or so..as room allows. Nice to meet you all and my condolences to the ones in here who have lost loved ones.

Being a good judge of beauty, I've found there are some mighty nice looking rose growers out there (those of the female persuasion). Why don't some of you move to my area? Seems most of those here are almost as old as I am.

My name is Suzi,I'm retired, and my soon to be husband, Jim, has promised me a rose garden, and he has planted many varieties for me. We live in the hot desert of Southern California, so the weather has been tough on some, and not on others. Due to our heat, all our roses and other plants are on a timed drip system.

My first rose 40 years ago, was Brandy. It was my favorite then, and still is! A few others are creeping into my favorites, but Brandy still rules!

I have 3 children, and 4 grandchildren with no end in sight to those sweet things, and Jim has 2 children and one grandchild!

My passions are many! Jim and I are golfers, swimmers and poker players for sport and fun. Poor baby didn't know when he promised me a rose garden, a whole vineyard would come along with it! My other passion is gourmet cooking and making wine! I love my vines!! I also love to propagate anything and watch it grow. I like growing plants that give back: Lemons, Limes, Oranges, Grapefruit, Peppers, Garlic, Guava, Figs, grapes, Pomegranates, and Olives. Roses look beautiful accenting those plants!!

I recently took some suckers off olive trees during a round of golf, stuck them in rooting hormone, and 3 have leafed out and are growing nicely. They will be in containers! I have rooted grapevines from cuttings, and am looking forward to making some more Brandy roses from cuttings for my yard. Did I mention I love Brandy rose?

It has been fun reading all your posts! What a nice forum this is!

Happy Rose Growing!
Suzi

Wow - Hoovb, that picture of Disneyland with the blue vase really made my eyeballs boing out of my head! I think that is a good example of the newly fashionable phrase "eye popping color"! I have one Disneyland and liked it so much that I bought another!

Well, I'll introduce myself........my first name is officially Tanya but for posting purposes I always use my middle name, Lynn. I am 48 years old (when did that happen?) and I live in an unincorporated area far northwest of Houston on 5 acres with my husband of 26 years (married 26 years, his age is not 26!!!), 2 teenage daughters, 2 Jack Russell terrors - er, I mean TERRIORS, 5 cats, 4 rose-eating horses, and 3 fish (NOT koi!). I also have a varied assortment of aphids, thrips, june bugs and other rose eating beetles. There is also a goodly amount of BS loitering around my house...

My oldest daughter who just graduated high school is going off to Blinn College in College Station and then eventually to Texas A&M. My younger daughter is a sophomore in high school and plays volleyball so I spend a lot of time on the volleyball forums, where things aren't always as pleasant as the rose discussions!

Here is me, squinting like Mr. Magoo:
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I got my gardening bug from my dad, who always had a huge vegetable garden but, who later really got into growing antique roses. I have always enjoyed gardening, whether it was veggies or other plants and have always had some roses in my yard, but seriously got bitten by the rose bug (got those around here, too!) the last few years. I have all types of roses, old and new, because I like the variety. They all offer something, whether it is gorgeous individual blooms of subtle color or eye-popping, wonderful fragrance, mass of bloom, vitality, landscape value or whatever. One of my pet peeves is when Rose Snobbery creeps out!

It's been very nice "meeting" so many of the posters here!

Happy Gardening!

Lynn

Its so nice to see faces with the names, and even nicer to see roses with the faces.

Im Renee, 49, a history professor married to Mike, an archaeologist. We live in Simi Valley on a semi-rural half-acre lot in the house grandpa built (I use the term "built" loosely), which we have slowly rebuilt over the last ten years. No kids. We have a twenty-eight-toed orange cat, named Sam; a yellow lab named Sam; two Wyandotte chickens named Quasimodo and Blanche; and a pond full of goldfish of which only a few have been graced with identities. Mike also feeds an assortment of finches, scrub jays, and fence lizards, the last of which now run up to people with sandals on and bite the toes to make the toes cough up mealworms.

My mother gave me the gardening bug and shes still my main enabler. I spent my years in college planting seeds in dry, narrow, dark apartment "beds" or balcony pots, shuffling pitchers of water to them from the kitchen sink. Since then, I have remained an astonishingly ignorant and lazy gardener with no foresight or sense of planning. My garden has grown in an entirely haphazard fashion over the years and makes no sense in terms of high-water/low water needs, design principles, shade/sun needs, color combos, irrigation systems

I never cared for roses. The roses I knew as a kid were left to their own devices on the edges of unkempt Bermuda lawns, so that the grass would grow up through the rose and the lone juniper or zonal geranium next to it. Ick. Then I started looking at the photos in the Rose Gallery. Yeah. I dug a new bed and planted it with roses; Mike built new arbors for roses, I am talking my both neighbors into planting roses in the middle of a drought.

This forum has saved me from making several serious mistakes, and I thank all of you for your suggestions and wisdom. I am also heartened by your stories of how to cope with disability and continue to garden. Hooray for the Rose Forum!

Me and the Girls
(RIP, Audrey Hepburn)
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New Rose Bed with Julia Child and Marmalade Skies:

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Showbiz Bed:
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When my "Pinkie" climber gets a bit bigger, I'll post a photo of the arbor.

Hello all!

My name is Michelle, and I am getting ready to hit the big 4 0 next week (shhhh). I live in East Tennessee with my husband of nearly 22+ years (yeah we start young here) and two of my three sons (16, 19 and 22). My oldest son is currently serving in the Air Force, stationed in Alaska.

Along with my husband and two sons our home includes our yellow Lab Honey, two cats and a ball python (not my choice).

My addiction to roses started about 13 years ago when we bought our first home after my husband got out of the Air Force. I planted about 10 roses and then we moved to Alaska for the 2nd time in 2002 for a year long vacation. We returned to East Tennessee in August 2003 buying a new house. In the 6 years we have lived here I have acquired 120+ roses - all are in our front yard!! My roses are my therapy!!

I stumbled upon this form a couple months ago and have thoroughly loved all the pictures (will be adding my own soon)as well as all of the helpful information!!

Thank you to all who contribute here!!

I'm posting here mostly to say thank you to those who are long-time posters and still so willing to share knowledge, photos, and inspiration for experienced and newbie growers alike. I'm sure many like me don't post, but read often.

I'm a lurker here mostly, though I've asked a few mildly dumb questions. In my defense, I decided to create my very first garden only 2 years ago. Most of my plants are 1 year old or younger. I have always loved flowers, though. We grew annuals when I was a kid because they were cheap from seed. I exhibited flowers and flower arrangements in the county fair until I was in my early 20s and actually worked and volunteered at the floriculture exhibit building for several years in the summer.

I have all of 6 rose bushes, and I am hoping to buy at least 6 to plant next spring. I started with two hybrid teas (Blue Girl and Double Delight) that I'm amazed are growing, considering they were $3 bareroots from a horrible online nursery that I planted in a space that probably doesn't get enough sun and definately doesn't have very good soil. DD finally grew enough to get its first rose! The bud opened this week. I'm hooked.

I live in Colorado Springs with my spoiled DH, two spoiled dogs, and one spoiled cat. I turned 30 this summer. Eeek!

Thanks to everyone!
(BTW, Rosenut.com is my new favorite website.)

I'm Larry, another old fart. I had tried a few body bag roses that died over the years. About 4 years ago, after noticing that some people had really nice climbing roses that bloomed in spring and lived more than a year I did some investigating. There are more than teas in the world! I bought a Hansa and later that summer took some cuttings from my mother-in-law's roses. I got three plants from eight cuttings. Moved to a house with more roses and here I am. :)

Hi, I am Kathy. I have been on this forum for quite a while. I have been growing roses since I bought a Summer Fashion 12 years ago. That is all it took for me to start filling in the empty spaces between the daylilies and ripping out the rest of the landscaping plants we paid dearly for several years earlier (mostly parking lot plants.)
I have been married 35 years as of next month. Two grown children, a boy and a girl. Our daughter got married last month in San Diego, and she moved three days later from one paradise to another, Hawaii.
We have two rescued dogs, an Australian shepherd and a rotweiler-shepherd mix, both picked because of their sweet personalities.
My hobbies are growing daylilies (as well as roses), birdwatching, reading books and listening to audiobooks, and indie music.
DH and I are still working, although close to retiring. I work in the field of child welfare, he is a computer geek.
Here is my dh, daughter, and me at the Martin Johnson house in San Diego, where her wedding took place a year later, last month.
My favorite type of rose is the floribunda.
Kathy

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Hi, I'm Glenn aka Boxofrox. I posted the picture first to help illustrate the fact that I must have been certifiably crazy to have ever undertaken such a massive project. At the time of this headscratching, I was a couple of years into attempting to eradicate my wife's yard embarassment. The rock garden and pond behind me was the beginning. I had a herd of Arabian horses on the other side of the cedar lattice fence that I had to keep up with and a business to run out on the road all day. With little construction experience and no landscape experience I had no problem receiving my insanity certs.....I aced the psych evaluation :-)

Anyway, 7 long years and nearly 3,000,000 lbs of hardscape later, I'm in the process of trying to get my records expunged because against all odds, the project actually turned out OK. Here's a shot at the same angle I took a couple of weeks ago.

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Along the way, I started inserting roses into the landscape mostly for late summer color and very quickly fell in love. I'm currently at around 50 spread all the way around the project and plan to add a few more special ones.

My wife Kathy and I have been married for 36 years and were unable to have children of the two legged variety so have always filled our lives with animals. We did sell our equines and are now down to our two little female poms and our koi. We live in the suburbs of Seattle and love to call it home :-) Our garden has become our little retreat from the chaos of the outside world and although we love to travel, there's just no place we'd rather be, especially in the summer.

OMgosh, Glenn, I just LOVE that first picture!!! It very clearly states "How in HADES did I get to this place?"

I have admired your landscape before, and do so now, all over again. I would love to start a big project here, but I have no assurance that we will not move in a couple years and give it over for someone ELSE to enjoy.

What a joy to "meet" you fine folks who have taught me much.

hosenemesis, you have a beautiful way with words....

My name is Lance and I got onto these forums in mid 2005 when we got a computer. My rose garden predates my entry here by 7 years. I grow all types of roses but really enjoy the older roses from the 1800's.

My gated community of roses numbers 70 pots, with 105 in the ground in the so named senior center for roses that have avoided being replaced by their potted neighbors. I am in the beginning of a mass transformation of replacing the not so nice roses with some of the best potted roses in my extensive collection. It's not that they are bad roses but gee there are some awfully fine roses that have been waiting for years in some cases for a nice regular address.

I'm a little late but I was out of town. I wont say how old I am but our kids are in their 40's. This is me in the rose jungle with Fragrant Cloud.

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