In a similar vein, I went on a rant to my SO the other day about "low maintenance" or "no maintenance" yards and plants, to the extent that I swerved into no-maintenance houses, carefree jobs and "easy" children. There comes a point, with all this no-care philosophy, when one must ask oneself: what do I care about and into what am I willing to put my time, energy and love? If one buys a house touted for its low-maintenance, a yard for it's plant-it-and-forget-it ability, wishes for mild, temperate children, looks for stress-less jobs, and well-adjusted friends--what has one actually chosen? The absence of care, time and love. There is no struggle, no righteous fight against nature’s elements or discordant events. Ones daily interactions are meaningless because all the struggle and all the desire to support, love and aid those interactions has been lobotomized, split away from reality, cleaved apart with aloof precision. This is not to say everyone should wish for a garden requiring of sweeping measures of care, or that it is some terrible thing to wish for mild-mannered--or at the very least, not ragingly monstrous--children. Rather, there should be some line one must establish, some point breached that makes us think, “yes, I should care about this; I should put care into this”. So much indifference and impassivity disassociates us from reality--messy, frustrating, trying, tiring reality, but also rewarding, giving, bountiful, harmonious, joyous reality. I, for one, choose to place my love and energy into my garden, my plants, and my roses. I deadhead roses because I know I’ll have a lovely second showing sooner rather than later. I thoughtfully prune to give my roses the opportunity to show their best features. I fill planters with colorful annuals, propping them out front so passer-byers might catch a glimpse into my reality, the things I choose to care for and put my love into. I plant roses that require some degree of love and attention, because the fragrance of a single rose fills me with harmony and peace. Frivolous? Perhaps. Meaningless? I think not. Who is to say what might bring another meaning? So, yes, I understand the thought that sometimes that which requires no attention elicits little wonder. Similarly to children vying for their parent’s attention, I was under the mistaken idea that striving for perfection would win my parents’ approval or attention. Rather it was the rebellious, drug and sex fueled antics of my siblings that so ensnared their attention. For good or ill, sometimes a little fuss and muss is necessary to truly appreciate something. What is appreciation without perspective?

WOW!!! I'm so happy that you stumbled across this rose. Funny thing is that last week I didn't stumble on a rose but my DH whose an actual house mover and was in the process of moving a house came across what looks like a climber or rambler at the house he was about to move. He dug it up and brought it home (we're known to rescue EVERYTHING from dogs and cats to apparently now plants too :D ) but forgot about the rose!!!!!!! the next day he planted it and watered it and forgot to tell me the planted it and watered it that once!!! So here I am now 5 days later giving it lots of TLC because it doesn't look good BUT it's not dead I cut it back some in hopes that it would focus it's energy on growing strong roots. Have been watering it and I'm so hopeful that it will turn into a beauty like yours!!! Gives me so much hope for mine. I think roses are so resilient. :D Elce

In SE VIrginia, Home Depot contracts with a local nursery to produce most 0f the plant material, arrange the displays and provide all the care. Plants that are not up to par are pulled by nursery employees and put back on the truck. The nursery employees are fairly knowledgeable but when they're not there, good luck getting answers to plant questions. Since the nursery eats the losses they are motivated to take good care of the plants and locally, they do a very good job keeping up with the watering. Lowe's, on the other hand, has a plant specialist in the department assisted by others who have some on-line training. The Plant Specialist does the ordering and makes markdown decisions. Our Lowe's has several employees who are knowledgeable and their training is geared towards assisting customers. During peak season they are assisted by vendors who unload and arrange the plants. In our local store, the nursery has a subsidiary who provides these merchandisers, called Plant Partners. Lowe's expects the merchandisers to focus on tasking and let Lowe's employees handle the customers. The weak point in this arrangement was that the watering was supposed to be handled by part-time, untrained employees. (One told me she refused to water the Kordes roses because they were so thorny and she wasn't provided any gloves!) I've worked at both stores.

What about Don Juan one?? I have blaze roses and the big one had over 20 blooms on it last year but is having issues this year with the sawfly larvae. But my 2nd one has 3 blooms on it and it isn't that high yet!!! Will cover them up this year. This is my blaze from last year. Shocked out of my shoes to see this many blooms on it. But once they are gone that is it. But I am not complaining. More than what I saw with the finicky hollyhocks. Died before they even could get so tall never mind any flowers on them. So took a chance and bought a blaze rose. First year grew to top of fence but no buds. Covered it up next year was cut back and like wow 20 buds on it!! Those aren't mine at the bottom btw.