Thank you for sharing your classic gardener hero's journey. I appreciate your trying to help me and others. Sadly, this is a universal tale of optimism followed by a painful appreciation of the obstacles we face creating our gardens of Eden. At the moment, after 50 years of gardening by age 63, I am creating a new garden after a move to this hot climate almost 2 years ago. Now, I get to make all the opposite mistakes I made gardening in the cold zone. Either way, I'll no doubt dig and struggle to get everything right, then find myself in a jungle of overgrowth too old to see or find the drip emitters in 30 years. And yes, I have planted Centranthus Ruber, crocosmia, salvia and no doubt a multitude of other mistakes. Good luck finding a good job you will enjoy. I found your posting very helpful Beth.

Oh, Beth, I hope you find a good job soon! I know how it is to lose your income suddenly. It ain't no fun that's for sure!

I can relate to a lot of your tales of woe too. I mistakenly planted violets in a bed once thinking they would make lovely ground cover for the roses...NOT!!! They took over and started to choke the roses out. The only way I could get rid of them was to dig the entire bed out, bare root and pot the roses, and throw away all the soil and put in new. Then the roses were bare rooted a second time before replanting in the bed. It was a huge job and still every now and then I see those tell tale heart shaped leaves pop up. I immediately eradicate them!

I'm so sorry about all your rare rose losses. You have such a magnificent collection that we all enjoy seeing here. I hope you are able to replace some as time goes on. I also agree about the bands. I tried to plant them here too and it was just a waste of money for me. They never can get big enough in my short season to make it through their first winter. Pots are the way to go until they are big and strong enough to survive out there in the beds. I also found that they grew better and faster in the pots anyway and I can give them better TLC that the beds don't get.

Know that you can always come here and rant and we will understand and support you. Keep your chin up and I hope things improve for you very soon!

You are really up against it, Beth... I am so sorry!

Here is my personal experience learned the hard way with notes to myself...

1. Grass is an invasive weed in a rose bed. Put deep garden edging along the bottom of all raised bed wooden boards. Remove all grass from a bed BEFORE you plant it... Tilling alone will not do it. RoundUp, or use plastic, or till and rake and be preparred to be vigilant. I have heard that lasagna (I was going to write spaghetti) gardening is effective for eliminating grass from beds.

2. Plants like yarrow, hairy vetch, mint, and queen anne's lace are weeds in a rose bed. Don't plant them unless you want to unplant the roses and use RoundUP!

3. Do not plant perenials unless you enjoy digging them up and dividing them every 5 years... Difficult to do in a rose bed.

4. Don't try to grow roses that aren't right for your zone. I would love to have tea roses, and gigantic climbers that eat a wall... Maybe someday in Heaven, but not in zone 4.

5. Do not plant more roses than you can afford or care for at any given time. We all age and as you age, you can do it, but it's more work. I now own 30 roses and only roses, and I enjoy every single one. I have 10 Johann Strauss and 20 easy care Austins. I am 66 years old. Lesson learned.

Here is my solution.

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/3990496/crown-princess-margareta-in-my-retirement-garden?n=7

Rebecca

Hope things turn around soon for the good Beth!

Beth, so sorry for all of your misfortunes, but you dutifully took amazing pictures that captured the essence of your roses! Back them up, again and again!

Hang in there Beth. Eventually things will change. I only have a couple of "rare" roses, e.g., Wedding Cake and Emily (an early Austin that doesn't do much). I would be happy to save any cuttings for you (provided the copyright police don't stop me).

You brought tears to my eyes..I hope everything works out for you..I will say a little prayer for you

Beth, thank you for sharing your rose gardening insights. Even with all of the struggles you may have in your garden, I look forward to your photos - to looking up varietals I'm unfamiliar with and learning... like Seil said, keep your chin up. I'm sending some good ju-ju thoughts your way.

I feel for you, I am about to be the same age and just trying to hold on until I can retire. We've all made those mistakes. Don't beat yourself up too much. Gardening is a life long learning process and you are helping others by passing this on.

Thank you for your courage and persistence in the face of these adversities, and for being willing to share your story with us. I'm sure I join most of the rose gardening world in admiring your rose photos and insights, not to mention your preservation of roses that aren't accessible anywhere else. For every rose that sadly dies from the conditions, take a moment to look at a rose that you've preserved against all odds (can we say "septic tank"?), and be proud of what you've been able to accomplish.

Hang in there and take things one step at a time, both in the garden and job world. There are blooms in the middle of thorns in both contexts, and make sure you give yourself some down time to simply enjoy the garden you've built. Let us know if we can help, and when the major work resolves a bit, you might think about passing on some of your rose preservation. Linda Loe at Long Ago Roses asked me for some cuttings of roses I had that aren't currently available (and are out of patent) and it was a joy to pass them along so she can make them commercially available. She mentioned a hankering for Camille Pisarro (as I do), and I think that's one of your many treasures. Some day I'll be glad when my original plant dies and I can replace it through a vendor in the full "circle of life".

In the meantime, we'll be thinking warm thoughts for you (but not hot dry ones) and wishing you gentle rains this summer.
Cynthia

So many wonderful words have been spoken here. Takings things one step at a time is so hard to learn. But the best there is to get thru difficult times. It hurts when someone is sad. I'm wishing you the best and know that good times are just around the corner.

Big hugs to you, Beth! Your contributions to us have been, and continue to be, wonderful. I totally understand, and I have a teeny tiny rose bed that is overrun with weeds. I managed to save Princess of Wales and Miami Moon, and I have to get out and save a Benardella rose that was never in commerce. I am resonating with your list, especially #3.

Stay safe and do take care of yourself!

Beth...you sound so sweet. Your in northern California? Even tho you meant this to be a rose thread I tend to focus on your financial woes when reading this. Working two jobs is difficult, I've done that as well. I hope you find a job soon. I wish you all the best.

Thanks everyone for the kind words of support. I wasn't intending to have a "pity party" by any means. Just basically was frustrated at losing so many roses and had to sort of explain the whys.

Sheila, I hope you have fun building your new garden! I know what you mean about the drip emitter-thing. I don't use many of those, I use mini sprayers on stakes, attached to the drip line with the 1/4" "spaghetti" line. Sometimes trying to move or replace them it's hard to find where they're connected. So much overgrowth of weeds and layers of pine needles! LOL

OMG Seil, you mentioned violets... I forgot about those infernal things. Wild violets grow everywhere here. I kinda gave up for awhile on digging them out too. But where I am digging them out, I'm finding tons of snails and other undesirable critters. Auuggghhh!!

Rebecca, speaking of grass... the other side of the yard from where we've been working is overgrown with Bermudagrass. I hate that stuff!! My husband tried digging a bunch of it out a few yrs ago, and he told me I was probably going to have to dig out the roses and start all over again!! I said "no" but we may have to do that!!

Thank you Rose_crazy! I certainly appreciate it!!

Thanks Jim, Mustbnuts, Towanda and Buford for your encouraging words!

Cynthia, you are so right. I really need to get cuttings of some of my really rare roses out there so they are not lost forever. My plan was to send a lot to John Bagnasco, but he's soo busy with his radio show and all the other things he does. Maybe in the fall....

Thanks Patty. I know you're right. It can only get better. I know I will eventually find a job, but it's really an eye opener after two and a half decades of not having to get out there!!

Oooh Diane! What wonderful Benardella rose is that??? I really must get his ROEDEAN and ZEBRA out to someone to propagate them!!

Nicole you're so kind. Yes the financial part is very discouraging. We had such plans of retiring a little earlier than maybe we should, but now we can't afford to. And not being able to find a job is really frustrating. I just don't know if I'm not good at interviews, or what. Or they just seem to want stronger younger people. I am however enjoying not working, and it's going to be a rude awakening when I do go back. It's almost 11 months since I lost my job. I'm getting set in my ways now. Crap, maybe I sabotaged myself in the interviews.... I dunno. The interviews are so different from yrs ago. So many weird "scenario" questions. I just don't get it. I mean I'm only looking for a minimum wage retail job. Not like I'm going for some big high-paying corporate career!

Sandra, thanks so much!! You are so sweet! Yeah, we do have that work ethic that so many of the younger generations don't seem to have. But it's funny. In my case, they chose to let me go... one of the more knowledgeable employees in the dept, and kept the two newer employees who are very nice retired gentlemen, but they know little to nothing about gardening. And one even said he didn't want to learn the dept... he just wanted to stock shelves and talk to people. If anyone needed help with actual gardening questions, he'd pass them off to one of us who knew about it. Oh well, I guess it's not about the quality of the employee, it's about the pay grade. I was making $3.50 more than minimum wage, and only working 24hrs, where the new guys were working 36-40hrs at minimum wage. So the new boss gets more for his money that way I guess. But... customer satisfaction apparently wasn't an issue. Go figure...

Thanks again so much you guys. I'm tryin' my best to get the rose beds cleaned out. But we pay extra for a third green waste can, and they only pick up every other week. I already have 2 1/2 filled up and have another week left before they pick up. So I can't get much done this weekend. My husband could make a dump run, but well, this weekend is a holiday one and we have family coming. So it'll be aother week before I can really clean up more crap outta those beds. I just wish they picked up the green waste every week. Oh well, we can only do what we can only do! LOL

My best to you Beth. I've alway enjoyed your posts and pictures. You are the one who inspired me to purchase coffee colored roses. With your talents and attitude I'm sure someone will be thrilled to hire you. The right someone just hasn't come along yet.

My heart goes out to you. Also, thank you for the advise in this post. I too have zillions of C Ruber in my beds. I'm glad to get the heads up and will start removing some of them from my roses. Lisa

Sorry to hear you're going through a difficult time, I hope things will get better soon. I know home care is a big business, child care is another one. If you let your church people know you're interested in these, you'd be busy again. I used to know a lady, she did babysitting in her house for $250/week / kid. That's a good income......

I think you have the most roses on this forum, no one has 2000 roses but you, so you're the rose queen here! Start to root the roses we can buy them from you! :-)

But still, it took 2 grown men to replace one little you, Beth! :- )

*Sigh* I guess it's all about the bottom line.

Sandra

To Beth and others who have problems with wild violets... Also, dandelions and white clover... There is a product called IRON-X from Garden's Alive that I have used successfully for years to kill all of these weeds. It is made from iron... Safe and absolutely works on my yard. I don't believe it would hurt roses, but I wouldn't spray it directly on them, just in case. I used it on my back lawn when I had THOUSANDS of wild violets and it killed every one. Spray the weeds on a hot day without rain forecast or watering overnight. It sometimes needs a second dose in a few weeks. It's great stuff!!

Rebecca

Hmmmm.. I'll have to look into that one Rebecca. Altho my luck it's probably not legal in CA.