My most productive and rewarding activity over the past month has been murder. Yep, quite literally killing. And I must admit it gives me great pleasure to see the tiny brown specks which only the day before were an inconspicuous green. No longer sucking the life out of my rose buds, but in my imagination that life is drained out of them back into the roses. They are purely and plainly parasites. Aphids are to plants what fleas and ticks are to animals. And what pleasure it is! There's the challenge of the hunt. Without proper equipment (very good reading glasses) they'd escape detection. And then spritzing them with insecticidal soap! Ah, the joys of gardening. Similarly, the slight crunching sound as I squish the rose beetles under foot on the walk is somehow very very satisfying. As is the gentle search of myriad petals to find them nuzzled there. Gotchya! I understand the primates who preen their kin. And it's good practice for the next war. The one against the arrival of new fire ant queens who learn that they are sadly mistaken. My garden is NOT prime real estate for the likes of them.

I think the jury is still out on causes of rose replant, Rinaldo. Canina is rarely used these days - most growers have moved on to laxa but I don't think the reasons for replant syndrome have been fully explained or understood but I am no expert in plant pathology. An attempt to overcome rose replant involves planting in a 'clean' potting mix in a cardboard box of sufficient size (8 cubic feet)with mycchorhizal amendements which is then planted in the 'sick' soil.The mycchorhizae enables efficient uptake through increased surface area and gives the rose time to reach sufficient maturity to cope when the cardboard degrades and roots come into contact with 'affected' soil. For sure, there are pitfalls with this method (differentials in soil types, possibility of becoming rootbound)....but, on balance, given the current failure of new roses to grow where older ones have previously been (and you are all demons at moving roses about in the US - we don't easily have this option), the cardboard box and mycchorhizal method is having some success.

What hilarity! Love the fun posts, and learning a bit about y'all in the bargain. For those who have ever read my few posts, I'm the clueless one, the transplant subset. If there's subsets of subsets, I would be the transient transplant. I spend my life following my spouse's work, geographically speaking. I pack houses, and unpack. I accumulate all manner of flower pots and containers, then downsize, give away, and move again. My gardening efforts are full of hearty enthusiasm, as well as serial plant murdering (I like to blame it on local plant ignorance and not my PJIC disease, *plants jump into the cart*). Since we never get to live in one place long enough for either the humans or the plants to put down deep roots, we transient transplants collect any and all plants fervently, via swaps, pinching starts at public malls and other venues, and the local garden center. Then, we moan and groan about disposing of our pot ghetto when the next move is announced. Transient transplants spend way too much time covering up and disguising the objectionable architectural features of our current rental digs. We creatively hang plants, put up fishing line trellises to cover up nasty window views, and annoy the neighbors with our homemade garden accessories, obtained in pre-dawn trash-day scrounging. These charming accents (yes, even the old commodes planted with petunias), feed our collector (#6) genes, which we fervently nurture upon arrival in our latest garden planting zone. We don't consciously try to be specialists (#7s), but once we latch onto a type of plant that we don't kill in the newest climate, we grow it in every color known to the species. Oh, and yes, we have even been known to dumpster-dive in #2 and #4's trash bins, where the plant pickings are amazingly healthy, lush, and green. We transient transplants have become experts at covertly watching your work through our mis-matched window coverings (read - sheets), knowing there's gonna be really good pickings in YOUR trash this week. This serves to help our garden budget go further, knowing we must fill up our pots and fronts of landlord's planting beds to overflowing in such a short period of time, before we have to frantically put it all back, to get ready for the next household moving cycle. When the next move is announced, we lovingly dig up, label, package, and mail starts of all these frantically planted pot ghettos to our Northern friends, for safekeeping until we get settled into our next digs. In actuality, our Northern plant recipients can't even remember our names, or why they are receiving these care-packages of dirt and mushy, frozen green blobs, resembling a refrigerator science experiment....

Gregory! What an absolutely beautiful article and all that you have done..I love teh pictures and that is exactly what I would do to my place if I bought a house down there. I have friends from Thailand that live in St Petersburg and all they do is spend all day in their gardens trying to gorw what they could over seas.. Splendid and I really appreciate you sharing this with us.. What a beautiful family you have too... Thank you Mike:-)))