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

Welcome to the rose forums, Scott! We can't wait to check out the new website when it's live. I recently placed an online order with Rogue Valley Roses (July 2019). One of the roses was out of stock (Little Grey Pearl), and Scott emailed me right away asking if I wanted a replacement rose or cancelling the order. I selected Reine des Violettes as a replacement. The roses were shipped and arrived in 2 business days in great condition. The whole process has been a fun experience. One of the roses, Double Treat, just has a bloom. Here are its pics. I will definitely buy roses from Rogue Valley Roses again. Thanks Scott. Helen

Thanks, fig_insanity - I always get great explanations of the weird things rose do on here, and your latest makes sense. I love roses which change color - either when the actual blooms change color over time, or as in this case, where the entire bush can be different colors at different times. When "they" finally achieved what I have seen called "stable" colors in roses after many years of trying, IMO the new roses lacked the excitement and mystery of the older ones which kept providing surprises. I am happy to hear that you think Lauren's different colors are due to night time temps - we are having (for here) an unusually chilly Winter, and I am looking forward to her first flush, which should be in a month or so - purple! Jackie

I honestly miss the golden rose age of the good old days. I was actively collecting the minis I wanted and made the master list of desires then got to compare them against DOZENS of mom and pop mini nursery lists to maximize orders and minimize the shipping costs. What seemed exorbitant then is NOTHING today. I tried to spread the wealth of orders around to as many as possible in hopes of keeping them around longer. Now days, not only are THEY all gone but the vast majority of the old minis I collected are no longer listed by any sources and many of the gardens growing them are also gone.