Oregon, United States

My husband and I had, at one time, 250 roses in our yard. When we retired, we sold our home and moved to an area that is not rose friendly - all pumice. We were members of the Portland (Oregon) Rose Society and my father was an award winning rose enthusiast. My favorite rose is Sutter's Gold . We had a gorgeous bush that eventually grew a trunk that looked like it belonged to a tree. When it rained, we could always go out and find little tree frogs in the water that had collected in the cup of the petals. After a stressful day at the office, I would come home, get into something comfortable, grab my shears and a bucket, and would spend about an hour dead heading and nurturing my roses. Wonderful therapy!!!

Along with roses, we always had a few tomato plants. The August that our daughter chose to be married in our backyard, the roses were outdoing themselves - and so were the tomatoes. She still laughs that she is the only bride that had roses and tomatoes for her bridal decorations.

We plan to come back to Portland soon, and one of the first things we plan to do at our new home is to plant roses. The first rose will be Sutter's Gold and the second will be Handel.

Experienced (60 years)

Last visit: More than a year ago