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A gardening sad saga. A cousin gave me a cuttting of a night blooming cereus. That plant takes over the world! It heads for the ceiling. I worried because of my black thumb, but it turns out that that was just what the plant wanted. So there it was, so pot bound that I had to put big marble chunks in the pot to keep it from falling over, with the roots sticking out and looking pathetic. I watered it every couple of weeks, when I remembered, and it bloomed. Everything you've ever heard about them is true. A smell starts in the house sometime after midnight and you begin to follow it until you discover a blooming flower on the plant. The smell takes over the world. Magnificent. Strong. And completely gone in a couple hours. This went on for YEARS!

Until I got so guilty I repotted it. Never bloomed again. My new theory is that it was so desperately aware it was dying that it was trying to attract some insect to fertilize it and save its genes. Now it doesn't bother.

I pulled the plug today! After getting confirmation from, 'The Chairman' who said building my two beds around the greenhouse are Priority One this spring, I ordered most of the roses that are going in the rose bed. They'll come packaged, bare root, so they won't look like much for a few seasons, but it's much more economical than buying potted roses. Here are the varieties. All are hardy to my Zone 4/5 with no need to cover, and are classified as 'Shrub' roses:

Hope For Humanity

Blanc Double De Coubert

Morden Fireglow

Morden Blush

White Meidiland Groundcover Rose

All are varieties that I had at my other farm and they're still going, unless the new owners pulled them out! Very hardy, prolific bloomers and fragrant...which is what The Perfect Rose should be!

I will also be adding purple and silver perennials in with the roses, and the groundcover rose and the Morden Blush will be in the other bed with more purples and silvers and perennial herbs. Can't wait to get digging in to this project!

I will also be adding Therese Bugnet and Hansa somewhere else on the property, which I have grown before. Both are fragrant, super-hardy and leave behind HUGE Rose Hips in the Fall for tea and jelly.

Therese Pugnet

Hansa

I cannot recommend these varieties enough for pretty much care-free roses in Zone 4/5.