It is so nice to have the sun back! After Tim posted his water-logged sad roses, I thought I should follow up with some happier roses.
I added about five roses bushes to my flower garden this year. They are all doing very well. The rain did take its toll and I had to snip off a few dozen moldy rosebuds. But, in the past week, the bushes have all taken off with new growth and buds.
My collection consists of some expensive roses and some that I have bought on clearance at the garden center mid-summer. I can’t really tell the difference between them! Again, they are all thriving.
I have to tell you about the “rose graveyard”. I once interviewed an avid gardener who had quite a rose collection at his home in Wrentham MA. He was an rose expert and he showed me around his property describing the different varieties. There are two things that I will never forget about that day. One, was that he didn’t like to deadhead the dead blooms. He did some…..but he didn’t burden himself with trying to get to all of his roses. 
And, when I asked about a little area off to the side of the garden, that was home to many beautiful roses…..he said that was the rose graveyard. That was the area where he put all of the plants that weren’t doing well. He didn’t get rid of them, he just moved them out of the main garden, where they all seemed to be thriving! The graveyard was just beautiful.
So, despite all the rain, the moldy buds, the aphids, the black spots…etc… have faith! If you plant them, they will bloom!
