Conversations in the Rose Garden

Some years ago, Miss Judy and I were planting miniature rose bushes in her lovely backyard Pensacola garden. Her friend, Miss Jeanne had joined us for the afternoon. It was quite lovely actually. There was a tiny cool breeze, we had lemonade on the patio and all of our little trowels were lined up with our gardening gloves, ready to spend the spring afternoon deep in the dirt. Well.....I guess you could say we were "deep in the dirt, alright!" We got to talking about Miss Jeanne's husband, rather former husband. He was a dentist and they had been married for thirty-eight years. Jeanne was his secretary when he opened his dental practice. I guess they had been divorced for about fifteen years at this point, and I never really knew the story behind their divorce, although Jeanne would mention him from time to time, saying he was now living in the Bahamas. As we were on bended knees, troweling away, we began to discuss her husband....turns out, there was a story to be told. She began to reveal details, which I won't mention, but the end result was....as Miss Jeanne told it.....in exactly her words.....as she was barely audible since she was rolling in peels of laughter, barely able to catch her breath..."he ran off with a Hoo-Hoo-Hoo-Hooooooooooooters waitress!"  I swanee, she must have laughed for a good fifteen minutes! Miss Judy and I joined her, in her moment of glee and we all three laughed until we had tears rolling down our pink cheeks! It was time to add a little rum in that cold lemonade and get back to planting those beautiful mini rose bushes. Now, that was a good spring afternoon!

Everything's coming up miniature roses. These varieties flourish in containers or in hanging baskets where they can be utilized to accent outdoor spaces like patios, decks, and porches. A perfect little collection by the new pool!


Plant them together to create a carpet of color or install them as border plants along walkways. With Golden Horizon you'll have petite yellow blooms.

 Lavender Jewel grows purple blossoms and Little Tiger

 has white petals with red stripes.

Julie Link is a peachy pink, Jackie Williams is a cherry red/pink blend, and Hope and Joy features blended orange-red blooms with yellow centers.

Perennial

 Ideal as container-grown or border plant

Zone varieties range from USDA hardiness zones 4 through 10

Spacing: plant 2' to 3' apart

Sun exposure: full to part-day

Keep soil moist first year

Fertilize every two weeks during growing season; discontinue after September 1

Blooms early summer to frost

Mature Height and Spread: 1-1/2'H with 2'W to 3'W spread

Will Attract butterflies and hummingbirds

Not Drought Tolerant

Fragrant