Emil wrote:

Hi group,

Out of curiosity...How did everybody start with their hobby, more like a
passion :-) of roses?

OK, I'll play along. When we bought this house 10 yrs ago there were a few
scraggly roses and I logged on to the formerly wonderful rec.gardens.roses to
perhaps learn what to do with them. It was a warm and friendly group (I still
have a big folder of print-outs of messages which included advice, but also
poetry, essays, observations, erudition, short stories, and some gentle
insults). I became an enthusiast. When Judy Pineda hosted a dinner party for
Sam McGreedy, I had to be there. When the group got T-shirts (thanks to Alice)
and wore them to SJHRG, I had to be there too. I now have maybe 60 roses in the
ground and 20 in pots. Latest purchase is Hot Cocoa, even thought I didn't want
any more floribundas, the color got me.

zia maria