On Tue, 8 Apr 2003, "Emil" wrote:
Hi group,

Out of curiosity...How did everybody start with their hobby, more like a
passion :-) of roses? Did you learn by watching parents plant roses? Is
growing roses your occupation, any of you own a nursery? Etc. Etc.

As for me, when we bought our first house a couple of years ago, we bought 4
roses. Everytime we went to the nursery, we came home with more and more
roses. Final count at our old house was close to 35 rose bushes that I
planted from bareroots.

So what's everybody story?

Emil

Hi Emil,

My Dad has always had an incredible green thumb. I can remember when I was
a kid the neighbors always complimenting him on his roses. He can dig up
wildflowers and transplant them without them showing any signs of shock.
He never kills a plant. So I've always been interested in gardening, but I
stayed away from the roses at first because I thought they were difficult
and demanding.

When I moved into this house there was an Oklahoma and a couple minis stuck
in the grass right out in front. They were looking pretty sad. I think the
realtor had plopped them into the ground because there were no other
plantings and she figured having a few blooms out there would help sell the
place. Instead of tearing them out, I tried to save them and babied them
and they started looking better. I still had the attitude that roses were
difficult, though.

The second year I was here, the Antique Rose Emporium catalog showed up in
the mail and I found out about OGR's and ordered several. I then had my
curiosity going about roses and started looking into them. I found out I
really liked the OGR's and they weren't so hard to grow. I then ordered
several David Austin roses and found out they either liked me or were also
not that difficult. I also thought they were so beautiful that I could not
live without them. Then I had a brief period of insanity when I would order
every rose I saw that appealed to me. I have since found I have much better
luck with Austins and OGR's than the hybrid teas.

I think I must be on every mailing list related to roses. A large
percentage of my bookmarks are websites that are in some way or another
related to roses. I don't think I have bought anything new for the garden
that wasn't a rose in the last couple years. Nothing beats the satisfaction
of growing beautiful roses. I am officially obsessed.

Mike
z8TX