Grow a rose garden

“During the very first 7 years, Sparkle and Shine rose thrived on its own without my care. As I mentioned, I started my rose growing journey without knowledge or understanding about roses and also didn't have a desire to learn to care about them. I got frustrated and quitted because I felt roses were too high maintenance and difficult. This rose never received care from me at all. Not enough water, no fertilizer, no preventative measures. For several years, it struggled badly with blackspots and I was waiting to see if it would ever die. It went through a hurricane twice, snow about 3 times, years of drought, crazy amounts of raining year and you name it. Yet, every spring it came back and bloomed graciously I couldn't believe my eyes! [...] Then in 2020 when I had an urge to start a serious rose garden, I started caring for Sparkle and Shine rose along with my new roses. It got its 1st pruning and fertilizing for the 1st time. Since then it has been receiving a lot of appreciation and love consistently. It bloomed beautifully back then and blooms beautifully and happily now.”

“Every year I focus on updating a different section of my garden, and 2016 was the year of the rose bed. I have always grown roses in my garden—in fact they were the first flowers that I planted when we moved into our house in 1992. Six roses came on the moving truck with us from the city. I grew them in pots on the porch of our rented apartment in Somerville, and overwintered them in the unheated stairwell. They went into the ground in a circular bed in my front yard, created by the previous owner's leaf pile that had been left there over the winter. Most of them did not survive that exposed, windy location, pummeled by northwestern winds all winter long. I was a novice gardener, and did not realize that my tender hybrid teas needed winter protection. But despite my lack of success, I was determined to grow roses in my garden.”