I think sometimes people just do not know what to say when they read a sad post. It doesn't mean they don't care, but they are a bit paralyzed.

I'm still here (and still missing Florence as well.) I haven't had any difficulty responding to a post but I just tried to start one and could not get it to work. I'll be patient and try again, and maybe it will go through eventually. It is aggravating and that's not what we come here for, is it? Hoping they really, truly do pay attention and fix things.

Anne

This forum was my introduction to the internet -- about 20 years ago. My son helped me sign up and it felt very daring and somewhat dangerous -- you had to have an alias and all that and could be spied upon or God knows what. Sigh. It seems like yesterday. I am not about to abandon it, but am interested in the other forums, too.

Oh my gosh, Florence's husband was younger than she by quite a few years; I had no idea that he had passed away. I can't believe I didn't know this or that she was leaving.

I'm afraid I feel like the village idiot on the other forum. It was mentioned that someone (it was me) was making posting photos to the plant base much more difficult than it needed to be. There's a reason I majored in English Lit. and not computer analysis in college, and it was there for all to see since I admitted I was the not so bright one. Maybe the gardening gods were telling me firmly that this was my place, not "over there".

I hope that everyone who possibly can is using an ad blocker. I never receive a single ad and it's wonderful. I noticed that one unlucky soul from a gardening forum that wasn't ours ended up in the kitchen. I suppose there are worse places to be.

Jeri, Jeri, please do not abandon us. Yes, I'm begging. You are one of the firmest foundations of this forum in every way. I know they'll love and appreciate you at the other site, but you've been at my side for years, never steering me wrong, always ready to help. And then there's Clay and the doggies, oh god, I'm tearing up.

I'm still here! :)

You're right, Ingrid. Jeri is a treasure, as are Clay and their dogs. I like the way she speaks her mind. She inspired me getting Jesse Hildreth whom I've come to love. Several more I'm sure too, like Lady Ann Kidwell.

Alana, you are such a joy, I'm glad you are here.

Daisy, you have the best photos! We surely are appreciative when you can post. Your Marechal Niel is very inspirational. I hope your energy ebbs back up.

Sheila, Jeri is also the reason I have Jesse Hildreth in my garden. He had to be moved and is slowly settling into his new location, but I'm still disbudding him because the move set this rose back, as did the drought, as I seem to say endlessly when it comes to anything in my garden.

Daisy, I'm so sorry you're not feeling well. I'm worried that it's difficult for you to post. I see you still have lovely roses, though. I hope you have someone to help you in the garden.

Ingrid, your post was so self-deprecating and funny! Don't worry - I'm an English major, too, and work in IT, now. But none of us are born knowing how any software works. If a website is not intuitive to use, it's the fault of the website designer, not yours! Don't let a website make you feel less intelligent than you are. I really enjoy your posts - not only for the photos of your beautiful garden but for the thought and skill with which you write!

Everyone here knows who you are, Ingrid. Your photography skills are amazing. Well said John.

Carol I am still here and will continue to follow until it's clear no one is posting. I just love this group - everyone is amazing and so generous with support, observations and info and the roses are to die for. The other site has obnoxious ads, just like this one. I love reading about roses in general, but this antique rose forum is absolutely unique.

Still here. Don't post much, but do read a lot

I'm hanging in too. I know this site has been a pain lately but the friendships are irreplaceable.

John, you are so sweet and kind! Sheila, warm thanks for your support. My husband was in IT but he's always disliked Houzz and I didn't want to involve him in yet another garden forum. I said good-bye to the other forum today (in my mind, at least) and I feel quite relieved. Some people can belong to several sites without a problem but I felt as though I was sitting between two chairs. I will dearly miss the people who have made the other forum their new home but I had to find out where I belonged, and for me that's here.

swamp_rose, Brandon and Kristine, I'm so glad you're also staying. Somehow we have to rebuild from the shambles made of our beloved forum. I know we're all going to join together to make that happen.

Still here Carol. It seems like my road here is like Monarda's, a long time yet it's gone by so quickly. I do venture to some of the other garden forums here on GW and enjoy the reading/members there as well. I plan on staying; not ready to give up the ship I still enjoy everyone's posts and miss the old friends that aren't on GW anymore.

Thank you for this thread Carol.

Patty

I could not agree more, Ingrid! There was something too cutesy about all the emojis etc I could not resonate to, and a little bossy mean girls too. I wonder if houzz could get it's act together Jeri would not be back eventually. She could state some obvious truth and someone will slap her down, and she will say goodbye. Here the people are lovely. Who cares about houzz, not me. (If it would get it's s*** together.) The reddit site looked lovely but picture loading sounded too laborious.

Oh, I missed Jeri, I email her last week not to leave and her response was did I tell you I love plumerias ?

She is so funny. When , I was lurking around. I read on her wisdom on roses and was thinking wow if inly she will help me. She is good..like gooood. Then, I read about how she cross two roses together the pollen thing in details. At that time, it sound so easy and how detail and easy steps. What did I knew then..nothing. it seems so complicated until when she came on. I thought she was a Rose goddess. She is brilliant, kind, full of rose stories, speaks her mind and full of knowledge. A Story teller cannot abandoned us. Most of the roses, I wrote down names, they all came from her. I do miss, Jeri, very much and I know she will be back, hopefully.

Jin

I am really hoping so, Jin, since everyone loves her here.

All we can do is hope, but it has to be Jeri's decision and I want her to be happy in whatever place suits her best. Selfishly I want it to be here, of course.

I am still here, but only occasionally. I hope that Jeri comes back when things get smoothed out with Houzz. I have very little interest in modern roses, so this site is the best fit for me, along with FB.

Thank you Anita for being here. And to many of you.

Yup, Ingrid, you are right but I still can be hopeful. And I know she will be on and off. Thank goodness for that.

Jin

Hello, Anita. So good to see your name. I miss the times when you were here more often, but I know yours must be a very busy life. Still, sometimes is much better than not at all.

I'm a newbe but I love reading everybody's experiences and seeing their pictures. I haven't checked in as much or posted because I can't figure out how to get the pictures to upload. Thought it was just me but doesn't sound like it. I'm here.

No. It’s not just you, biff72. Houzz changed things and suddenly those of us who had no trouble uploading pictures for years, suddenly couldn’t, along with a host of other problems. This occurred right after you started successfully posting your pictures. Hopefully things will get straightened out, and you’ll be able to upload pictures again. Try making a new thread and starting with only one photo. That’s the only thing that’s working for me. I then can add as many as 4 pictures at a time in a comment. Lisa

I have hesitated to post to this thread, because I don't want to seem pushy about anyone leaving Houzz. I've played on GW since the early days when Spike owned the site and know many of you and know your stories and how you love roses.

Many people I loved when I more active on this site have moved on, for what ever reason. Life happens.

I haven't met some of you, but I have always looked into GW now and then.

I have always thought of rose people as family, whether or not I knew them well or they knew me. We all love roses.

I've learned new things about roses from both experienced rosarians and those who are new to roses. I love sharing what I know because just phrasing something differently might make a light bulb flash in someone's brain that leads them to connect the dots of what they already know and helps them to grow better roses in their gardens.

You never know when you might say something that helps someone else or when someone writes something that will give you one of those Ah-ha moments.

I was excited to see many of you visit NGA because I was looking forward to learning from you. Most of the antique roses you love simply do not thrive in my current garden, but it doesn't mean that I don't love the roses. I just can't grow them here. There are others on NGA that have never even heard about them. You all have so much to contribute. What you know about these roses is a treasure to be shared.

No matter how much I think I know about roses, truthfully, there is so much to learn, I don't think I'll come close to knowing as much as I want to know about roses, but I love rose people and what each of you can bring to another site is so important because you are exposing a whole new group of people to the roses you love.

I do believe you should play on the forum that is most comfortable to you. It's an important part of your own rose experience.

I left Houzz long ago because I lost my sense of comfort with GW when they took over. I've missed many of the people I truly enjoyed over here.

I like NGA and the people who play on NGA. They are gardeners. That makes me happy. There is great kindness on that site, too. I think gardening brings that out in us.

I met Ralph Moore late in his career and didn't have an opportunity to know him well, but one of the times I visited his nursery, he said something that has stayed with me all of my rose life, "Knowledge unshared, is knowledge wasted."

This thread makes me hesitant to post here, but I will be looking in to see what all of you are up to and to learn from you.

Be well.

With Regards and rosey smiles,

Lyn

Hello, you-all! I'm here! Having an especially hectic week or two so haven't taken
time to post. Beautiful post and what a lovely photo, Carol! You, your
little girl, collie, seaside -- beautiful. Makes one happy just to see
it. Also envious as I wish I were there!

I have peeked at the "other" forum as well, but I haven't signed up yet. I have so many
accounts and passwords to keep track of that I am slow to add more, but
in time, I probably will. If things get straightened out here, though,
I'll probably focus on this forum because of the wealth of the archives.
Much of my time on this forum has been spent poring over old posts and
discussions here in Antiques, and on Container and Citrus forums. I also
like that the forum is mostly about antique roses.

If our archives are not fully restored, I'll be very very peeved. Hopefully our
other regular forum members will stick it out or at least come back to
visit. And I'd love to meet more of you who are in the Bay Area or visiting. We should try to arrange some meet-ups!

I really wish we could have a noncommercial platform
without all the advertising and "top posters" and annoying features --
something like, hey, the way it USED to be on GardenWeb! I wonder what
it would take to find or create something like that. They do seem to be
slowly fixing some of the problems here, but really . . . I wish that we
were on, say, HelpMeFind. I don't want to have half of my screen real
estate taken up with advertising for remodeling companies, etc.

Roses--today I had a first bloom (this year) of William R. Smith, which I bought
last summer from ARVR. Poor thing is stuck in a too-small pot and I know
wants to grow big. I have no room. But what a gorgeous flower! He is
sending out new growth valiantly in spite of confinement. I'm so
grateful to my roses for hanging in there with me and giving me such
sweet blooms.

AND -- Let me add -- how very grateful I am to all of you, the people of this forum, here & not presently here, for sharing a wealth of knowledge, the photos of your beautiful gardens, for answering questions so patiently, for all the kindness and good humor and camaraderie that I was so fortunate to stumble upon when I discovered this forum. Because of you, I've learned so much, I've found help when I needed it; I've learned about roses and gardens I never knew of; I now have roses with me that are happy or mostly happy in my difficult location, roses that I love; I've propagated successfully and have experienced the thrill of making baby roses; and more. Finding this group of rose lovers has let me finally have the joy of precious old fragrant roses in my life and has let me share them, as well.

All best to you, rose friends.

Sheba

(in surprisingly hot! San Francisco)

I think we have an ad-blocker on our computer, too,so Houzz doesn't offend more than a little...

I am still here:) I spent a bunch of time on the other site adding some brugmansia and other plants to their galleries since they don't have photos of a lot of stuff I have.

I will probably still be mostly posting here but I post on other sites as well sometimes (a sure sign of a true plant addict lol). Its been really hot and humid here so not a lot is blooming except morning glories, hibiscus, and sunflowers. I'll post some recent pics for fun.

Hardy hibsicus bud..I love the corrugated look! So dark and dramatic.

Jasmin, those are cool flowers. I was wondering what happened to you...lol

I try to go to rose forum but it won't load for me. I was wondering if they combined it or it is still separated or just me having issues with Houzz ??

Jin

I think it is still there, Jin, on my computer. I have Antique Roses and Roses in that upper left "your topics" section so I can go back and forth. I hope you can find it.

I see it too. But when I click on it, it loads but takes me back to Antiques. It won't change page. This is so weird. I click so many times but I am stuck in Antiques.

Jin

So sorry. I'd rather be stuck on Antiques than anywhere, but that is not right.

I think it's a momentary glitch I'm having the same thing when I click on it takes me back to the same place.

Sometimes I've had trouble with the header (the section with forum name down to the horizontal line before first message) changing correctly but all the messages stay from the prior forum. It would usually reset itself if I reloaded the page from the address line. Mary

I'm still here and will probably stay. But I've become more active on Swedish FB groups lately.

I still look in here and appreciate the support I received on another thread recently, of which I was truly grateful...

..and thanks for the mention on this thread too Carol, in your first post. I can't be as active at the moment, so it's a case of down, but not out... see you soon I hope xx

That is good to know that it is Houzz. Yup, I rather be here but I just wanted to know what is going on other side

Marianne that is great you will be here and also being active at home

Marlorena, I wish I can give you hugs. Yeah, you sound down but we are all here for you. I am speechless and I know you are going through so much in life.

Carol is a sweetheart and she did so much and thinking about it I actually never thank her. Thanks , Carol . For going back and forth with Houzz. For being here. For being a Rosarians and best if all being a FRIEND.

Jin

Hi Carol, I’m still here. Reading, but not posting.

Yucca Rose! I'm glad to see you're still here. I'll be posting a surprise soon in the antique forum so stay tuned!

I tried posting some pictures here twice last night, and both times when I hit the next button Houzz froze, and I lost the entire post. So I ended up posting them to reddit:

Late June Flowers

vaporvac, a surprise, how cool. I'm sure it will be something nice, and we can use that right now. Well, at any time really.

Marlorena, thank you so much for your support right when your mind is on other things. Just know that whether you post or not you are one of us. I'm glad you have your incredibly beautiful garden to give you some needed respite.

Marianne, please don't let FB steal you away from us. It's wonderful that you have a more local group that shares your interests. I was a member there because of its many sites for antique Chinese porcelain but found it was taking more and more of my time and so stopped looking in. It may be time to go back.

Beautiful rebehs. Your photography is great!

Still here.

Thank you, Sheila! I wish it was easier to post them to Houzz, and I hope the antique rose community sticks together.

Beautiful pictures! I might sign up and see if I can post the pics directly like you mention. Although I'm staying here it's still fun to visit!

I can post as long as I navigate my page with the bar on the right side of the screen. When I hit 'return' the trouble begins. I haven't had any trouble if I post my remarks and pictures as a response, which follows all the normal rules we're used to. I don't know how it is for you all when using something different than Firefox and an ad blocker.

Rhebs, your roses looks great. That is cool how you had it done. Sorry, you still can't paste it here. It happens to me many times like what you said. Freezing and dissappears.

I was wondering about Nik. I hope he is reading all this. Maybe busy with summer holidays.

Jin

Thank you all so much for your replies! It's wonderful to see so many of you slogging through the Houzz changes in order to remain in touch, sharing your words and your photos. I hope others continue to chime in as they check in with the forum in between scheduled summer activities and in spite of current technological difficulties.

Titian, thank you for the information about Florence's last posting. I may have missed it since it was located on a thread which began with another topic. I wish there were some way to reach her just to say how much it meant to share the exchanges that we did. We even shared family history and photos and artwork.

Mary, I have no idea if Houzz ambushed the Furniture Forum with my post after the fact or whether I neglected to deselect the FF as a suggested cross posting site. I THOUGHT I deselected everything but Antique Roses. Since we will never know, and I prefer to maintain the fantasy that I can manage my own affairs, I'm going to cry "Houzz ambush" in order to save face. :-)

Carol