Roses

I've never grown roses before because they seemed too fussy. They have to be sprayed for aphids and they have to be pruned and fertilized. Obviously I love roses even the cliched dozen red roses but I prefer gardening with unfussy shrubs and bulbs.

I inherited about a dozen rose bushes when I bought this place. I don't have any red roses but I have a couple of different shades of yellow, an orange one, a white one, a few shades of pink, peach and salmon, some pink and white rambling roses and two purple roses which have the strongest perfume - so strong that one rose on the dining room table fills the whole house with its scent.

Fortunately we haven't had aphids yet and, apart from watering them in the dry summer months and cutting them back when they get too uppity, they have been problem-free and bloom prolifically enough to fill vases with blooms from spring through fall. Maybe I'll take up rose-growing in my old age - along with giving organ recitals about my latest health problems, golfing and kvetching like all proper senior citizens do.