California, United States

I'm just your ordinary, "garden variety" gardener with a particular obsession with roses. As a newbie gardener 16 years ago, I was foolhardy enough to plant my first garden with mainly antique roses from ARE. This was when I was starting a family. With two babies to chase after, I was harried and overwhelmed by the wild, unruly but beautiful flowers swallowing my backyard. Ten years a later, I was both sad and relieved when we had to bulldoze the backyard to make way for a swimming pool. Well, that took care of pruning! I was still very sad to say goodby to those roses that mocked my pruning efforts. With a chance to start afresh with my garden, I purposely avoided roses and dabbled in tropicals, tropicals, fruits, berries, etc. But now I found myself going back to my first love - roses. So here I am trying to grow unusual varieties once more. I wish this website was around 16 years ago!

Experienced (30 years)

Last visit: More than a year ago