"Every rose is an autograph from the hand of God on his world about us. He has inscribed his thoughts in these marvelous hieroglyphics which sense and science have, these many thousand years, been seeking to understand."

In the world of roses it is comforting to know there are many others like myself. We truly love roses. We do whatever it takes to have them. My rose garden is filled mostly with Old Garden and Antique Roses. Many of the roses are much older than the dates placed on them. They were cultivated hundreds of years ago. Cuttings and bushes were brought to America from all over the world. My goal was to have roses to cut out of my garden every day if I wanted. This goal was reached by the hard work done by the gardeners that were gardening long before any of us were born. They were true to their hearts about their roses. They did all the legwork the cultivating and then the hybridizing of these jewels of our gardens that were to come. Sometime about 1988 I received my very first Antique Rose. It was a Louie Phillipe from 1834. This rose stole my heart with its fragrance and performance. No muss, no fuss. Through the years since then I have added and added to my collection. As of last spring I had one hundred and fifty roses. This spring my count is close to one hundred and seventy. I have added some new tea roses over the past year and of course some more Antique Roses. Frequently I am asked, what is my favorite. I laugh and I remember my mother's answer when we would ask her who was her favorite child. Her answer was always whoever I'm with right now. There were nine of us, so you can see why this question gets answered the same way by me with my roses.

Rose growing in Florida used to seem like a lot of work and until I was introduced to the Old Garden Roses I must admit I merely played at roses. They were this dream in my mind that I was always cautious about fulfilling because of the work involved. After watching my first Louie Phillipe rose grow so beautifully, I started searching and as I searched I met many people who like myself wanted large bouquets every day. Within the search I also met many nursery people who had cuttings and no market for their roses. In order to sell them I had to learn them. The only way to learn them was to grow them myself. I wanted to know everything about each rose, it's history, it's parentage, color, size and special requirements. In researching these roses I also learned the histories and the hands they were passed through before they got here to our gardens. As the years have rolled by, my collection grows larger. My love for them deeper and my gratitude to God and the growers has reached a high I cannot cut loose from. I am just as excited today with my first Louie Phillipe (1834) as I am with the third Prosperity (1919) that I brought home yesterday. These roses effect you that way. The biggest difference between these Old Garden Roses and hybrid teas is simple. Old Garden Roses are on their own roots. Hybrid teas are grafted onto rootstock to grow in our climate. When you look at an Antique Rose, remember it's a cutting from a cutting, from a cutting…. They have outlived the people who found them and I am sure they will outlive us and go on to grace the gardens of our children and their children. They have two requirements, sun and water. They live with neglect, but will thrive with care. And when I say "care", in rose lingo, that means fertilize and clip. No spraying, no special mixes, just rose food.

Our soil is very poor and sandy so I do recommend a good potting soil when planting. It's called Stim-U-Plant®. Many of us know it as Hometown®. It's now been replaced and has a less frilly bag and costs a little less. The main objective with any plant is getting the plant to acclimate to our soil and weather as easily as possible. This potting mixture is the ticket. Dump the bag of soil into a wheelbarrow, wet it down good and you're ready to soil dress each hole. If you're planting vegetables stir a bag of Black Kow in with it. But for roses I say use it straight up. Keep in mind with good potting soil on the transplant you won't have to fertilize it for at least a month. Soil dress the hole and also the top after planting. Use pine straw, pine bark or leaves for mulch. Cypress mulch is just too heavy and doesn't let the ground breathe. In the heat of summer this will be important. Water newly planted roses in the morning every day the first week. Then back off to every other day and in a month every three days. This water schedule is for Old Garden Roses. (Hybrid tea roses will require more water and, of course, do not water with overhead irrigation.) Old Garden Roses aren't fussy this way. They take what ever comes and persevere. It's part of why I love them so. The other reasons are the colors, the shapes, and the scents. They come in different heights, and while some are shrubs others are climbers or groundcovers. Then there are even more that are just huge bushes. The buds and blooms vary from loose noisette shapes to cupped styled to tiny hybrid teas in shape and form. Colors range from dark red to so many shades of pink you can't count them all. Then there is one called "The Butterfly Rose" Mutabilis (1894). This rose has open flat flowers, but there are pink, yellow, rose and salmon flowers all on the same bush. Yes, the list of reasons I love these roses could go on and on, but the reason I have these roses is because they are easy to care for. I fertilize once a month with two-parts Bayer® Systemic Rose food mixed with one part Osmocote®. Give each rose ¼ to 1 cup depending on the size of the bush. Sprinkle right on top of the mulch and then water it in well. You'll do this schedule March through October. Just remember our warm months and you'll remember the schedule. The secret to getting more flowers is also simple. The quicker you get old roses cut off your bushes, the faster new ones come back. And there are always more.

It is my hope that you'll try a rose this year. Make it an Old Garden Rose and let these same roses that lived in a palace garden or in the Emperor's secret garden, or better yet possibly your Grandmother's garden grace your garden. And to answer the question, which is my favorite rose? It is each rose that I hold in my hand, examine with the wonder of a child and look above me to say, "Thank You God for this gift." From His hand to mine. I have no doubts.