Senior Moments

Roses in our large rose bed. Fairfield Glade, Tennessee.

Betsy and I have been growing roses here in the Glade since 2005, two years after we moved here. We started with seven rose bushes in a flower bed we had constructed along the side of the house.

The roses were pretty that first year and we added more in 2006. But it soon became apparent that there wasn’t enough direct sunlight on the side of the house for roses to do their best. So we started moving the roses to the front of the house. The front of the house has plenty of direct sunlight, but the soil is not that great. After all we do live on a slope on the Plateau, so there are plenty of rocks and boulders under a thin layer of soil.

In 2007 we finished moving all the roses to the front of the house, making the beds as we went along. We finished with a large rose bed on one side of the driveway and a smaller rose bed on the other side.

Since we ran out of room to expand the beds, this year we added some roses in containers on the sides of the driveway.

We’ve persevered in spite of late spring freezes (2007) and summer droughts (2007 and 2008). This year we’ve had 34 different varieties of roses in bloom.

Roses can be a lot of work, but we think they are definitly worth it. Click HERE to see if you agree!

Tags: Garden, Roses

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