Why I Wrote Four Seasons of Roses

Julia Child

Necessity…the mother of invention ~ Plato Necessity is why I wrote Four Seasons of Roses 2014 Monthly Guide to Rose Care.  Everyone that visits my rose garden tells me that they want roses.  I ask them “what’s standing between you and the object of your desire?” The answer is always Continue Reading

Planting Roses in The Fall

'Weeping' Rose and Leaves

“The tints of autumn…a mighty flower garden blossoming under the spell of the enchanter, frost.” ― John Greenleaf Whittier   Beveridge D. Fergusson’s Scottish Proverbs circa 1641 proclaimed, “An open confession is good for the soul.” I openly confess I have never planted a rose bush in the fall. I Continue Reading

A Rosarian’s Ode To Lilacs

Something happened on my way to building the new rose garden. A memory so vivid it took my breath away. Fragrance triggers are like lightening bolts in our brain.           The fragrance was the smell of a lilac bush just starting to bloom on a cool Continue Reading

On Becoming A Rose Sommelier

Sommelier, doesn’t that have an elegant ring? You also will wear a tastevin on a silver chain around your neck, French for “taste wine.” According to Master Sommelier Catherine Fallis at the French Culinary Institute in Campbell, CA when asked what does becoming a Sommelier mean to the average person “It means doing Continue Reading