How many places in this world around us can we find such perfection?

andrea

P.S. I know that was answering a question with a question. But that must be the reason.

All of the above. For many, their gardens are likely the one place they feel they actually have some "control", though Nature vigilantly stands ready to stick a stick in your spokes every time! Kim

For me there are two reasons:

1. Creation through growing.
2. I can't draw or paint, but I do appreciate art. My artistic hobbies are black and white film photography, lapidary, and growing roses. All involve creating a scene and capturing it. For roses, it's picking the roses I want to look at and nurturing the plants so I get to look at the blooms. The deer make this challenging.

I've cut over 1000 cabochons, which involve finding a scene in a rock slab, framing it, cutting and polishing it.
It's a lot like creating a rose garden.

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Oooooh, Steve. That IS so perfect and beautiful! Thanks!

Thanks, Kim, and Andrea. So clever!

All other folks, please share your answers. This is like a loooong awaited scratchin' of an itch.

Beautiful, Steve! Kim

Nice work, Steve!

I think Kim came closest to my reasons. A sense of control, false as it may be. Also a sense of peace and tranquility. My garden is my place to go and forget about everything else. Hours can disappear in quite contemplation of nature and all it's wonders. I can stop and smell the roses!

I've gardened before, but why roses? They are the Queen of Flowers. Each one an individual. Beautiful and fleeting...never the same.
Digging and tending to the roses gives me something to nurture which responds generously and kindly to my efforts. (Unlike children. LOL).
I go into a sort of "zen" mode when I sit in my garden and look at the roses. It's very meditative.
Roses remind me to "gather ye rosebuds while ye may"!
Also, I like collecting but I'm not a big fan of jewelry and can't afford the artists I admire.
Keeps me moving.
Ok...***TOTAL CORNBALL ADMISSION HERE****
Yesterday when i was out wandering the garden and realized my new Therese Bugnet had buds, I literally SUCKED MY BREATH IN AND JUMPED UP with delight. Spontaneous pure JOY.
Cannot think of ANYTHING that has ever gotten such a reaction out of me.
How about you, Dove Song?
Susan

I just like to have a reason to use my scythe.....LOL

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No actually the same reasons as Kim and Seil mentions...:)

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Susan (poorbutroserich), Thanks!

I do it for:

(1) the sheer artistic enjoyment that Deervssteve wrote about.

(2) the same sort of "zen" mode that you enjoy while out in your garden with your roses. Financial, health worries, etc. are NOT relaxing to think about. I simply don't like them of course, and find I need to "zen" out when they get too overwhelming and I need a break.

(3) The pleasant social aspect of growing roses. OK, yesterday I was innocently surfing the web when I entered a discussion site where an innocent man was writing about his troubles and worries with his son having a peanut allergy. Then WHAM, 3 vicious, sociopathic trolls entered the discussion and attacked the nice man. Sickening. Stuff like that SELDOM happens here. And also, it's a nice "social thing" to have fun with rosy local rose lovers.

(4) I love, love, love bringing folks joy and happiness by giving them rose bouquets. :-)

(5) Enjoying the beauty and perfection of roses Andrea wrote about.

Jim, you are so funny. Thanks!

Gorgeous colored, frilly rose, Susan4952. Thanks!

And thanks, Seil!

Unfortunately, I'm WAY into paying too much attention to our politics these days, which is certainly depressing, and being in the garden takes me out into a simpler nicer world, out of the mess we're in today. I need to get off the internet and start reading again, another hobby I used to treasure.

Or, I could clean our house, that would be a change, too, lol!

I do it, because I love it and I love roses, plain and simple and they are worth it. I love the sharing part too. Steve, you are really gifted, your work is lovely!

Lovely work,Steve. Thank you for sharing with us! Lesley

Those are nice Steve! :)

I always loved gardens and gardening. I didn't think I could grow roses until my friend Robert encouraged me. I thought they were too advanced. When I saw Robert's garden ( 70% roses) then I was determined to jump in. Roses always seemed so extravagant and to buy them was expensive. So they were always special occasion flowers when I was a kid. We had a few plants that would get a bloom now and then ( probably after a rain, but I was just a non gardening kid then) so I thought they were hard to grow.

Now I like to try out roses I hear about or like the pictures of. They aren't difficult here once the weeds are gone and the soil is improved. I wish more free water would fall from the sky. Camellias are surely easier than roses and just as pretty. But roses have a longer season and amazing fragrance. I like to carry roses when I go out. People say, "what's the occasion?"

Roses are all different. Each one has its own likes and dislikes. You get to know them and it's fun to bring out the best in each one. When I first read the Vintage book of roses I thought, I'll never begin to know most of what there is to learn about roses. You could spend a lifetime trying.

Because they're pretty and they make me happy. I really don't need any other reason than that.

Kim (Roseseek), RE: "Nature vigilantly stands ready to stick a stick in your spokes every time!" I have to thank you again for your answer. Every day since you posted it I've had to laugh!!! It's so true! Do you realize what a joy you are here? Kind, thoughtful, intelligent, knowledgeable, and funny! You are akin to a precious jewel in a crown. I don't have a crush on you or anything like that, LOL, but when one has been on the forum for a long time one notices a consistency in a person's way of being. Ok, I'm done now. Hope that I didn't embarrass you too much. :-)

OG Rose. Thanks! Hat's off to you for being involved in the polictical mess. I'm burned out on it. Seriously. No, don't clean up your house, Hon. (Although a clean, clutter free house is *very* relaxing.) Perhaps you could just put small dents in that endeavor. Yes, do read a good book purely for relaxation. You deserve it!!! Just my thoughts. Take them or leave them. :-)

Kitty Moon Beam, Thanks for sharing! Now, I know that I just wrote that Ogrose should put that housework off, but I'm not going to take my own advice. I need to work on doing the dishes a little more. The thing is, I read "Your Page" yesterday and want to comment on it. Also to comment on some of the things you shared on this thread. You're a lady after my own heart!!! :-)

Thanks, Sara-Ann and Debbie1776!

This post was edited by dove_song on Sun, Sep 29, 13 at 0:13

Thank you, dove_song! Much appreciated. No ma'am, you haven't embarrassed me. Quite the opposite, I am honored! I'm glad I've brought you some chuckles. Thanks! Kim

You're welcome kind, sir. I consider it a great privilege for you to be honored by my sincere words! :-)

Kitty Moon Beam, your words convey that you are a true nature lover. I too, LOVE animals, wilderness, rocks and trees as you wrote about on "Your Page". There is sooo much satisfaction in them, unless of course, *giggle* nature decides to stick a stick in their and/or our spokes.

Natures ready to stick a stick in our spokes...lol

Like a rose finally getting going and putting out lots of new growth when suddenly it starts raining golf-balls...LOL :-O

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OR:

Its the middle of October and your admiring all the blooms and you wake up to this the next day... :-O

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And it looked like this just the day before....

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This post was edited by jim1961 on Sun, Sep 29, 13 at 21:39

I love roses for the

- many times daily jaw dropping moments of WOW that their beauty and scent provide - This reason has the heaviest weight.
- pride of doing what few here can do.
- joy of collecting
- for their ability to change daily. Always a reason to go see them again
- for the texture - touch an Oklahoma petal.
- for the huge variety
- for the involvement - watering, fertilizing, smelling, touching, admiring.

I just love them.
Carol

The COLORS warm my heart. I do stained glass and find fascination in the intensity and hues of each flower, different so many times from others on the very same bush. YAY for roses! (not unlike your gorgeous stones jim)
What IS the name of that beauty in the pic you posted Jim?

johnnycabot,

That was Livin Easy in that pic johnnycabot... I had to shovel prune it in its 3rd year due to severe blackspotting.

But some climates it does well I heard...

I think your climate may be to cold for Livin Easy?

No Jim, I have Livin Easy and she is one of my favs. (!) She comes back from the root in spring and stays small here as most roses do, but blooms her heart out and shouts at you to notice her. Usually I don't care for orange flowers but shes electric. Thanks.

johnnycabot,

Wow! Awesome Livin Easy grows for you in zone 4b!
Yes she/he was electric! I agree... I liked how its blooms glowed at dusk...lol

I really liked mine also...Just wish it would of did better disease wise though here :(

Jim and johnny, your Livin Easy roses were/are gorgeous. It's too bad about the blackspot, Jim. That pic of LE covered with snow cracked me up, but it must have been infuriating for you. I love my new Easy Does It. I understand LE and EDI are part of the same series (hope I'm not wrong on that). They seem to all be winners. Diane

My initial reaction to "why we do it" was "That's ineffable. How can I explain it?".

My garden reaches me on a primal level. Every morning I stare at it while drinking my morning cuppa. That morning communion with my garden resets me somehow.

I love tending the roses. They probably get more attention from me than they need. I dead head mercilessly, get scratched constantly, and have become immune to the aroma of fresh manure.

I love eating a meal I've grown while sitting amongst roses I've tended. There's a great sense of accomplishment and of connection to the earth.

I've tried to write a song about my love/passion/addiction but have never been able to capture my feelings in a musically productive way.

M

nanadoll,

I also had Easy Does it which I also liked very much
BUT it like Livin Easy was not disease resistant to BS and other leaf spotting diseases here...

Same as MJ.

probably because I am an unloveable misanthrope who vastly prefers plants to people but here are some more reasons:
cheap, even free - gardening is, I believe, the most egalitarian hobby inasmuch as the poorest of us can save a few seeds and plant them in hope altho' yep, you can spend 400 sterling on ONE paeony........
The pleasure of nurture - I surely struggled as a mother, feeling bored and overwhelmed a lot of the time (although 35 years later, a bit more patience and experience has graced my efforts....but growing tiny seeds, pricking them out, potting them on, watching, watering, wondering - a rather lovely pastime.
The pleasure of creating beauty - colour has always stirred me - to the extent that a mere colour chart causes me to practically salivate - gardening is painting the world in drifts and swathes of brilliance.
Curiosity - as an inveterate meddler, I find I can do my frankenstein graftings, crossings, pruning, training, and general fiddling about in relatively guilt-free circumstances in that no plant has ever wailed, moaned, had a tantrum, sulked, stomped off or complained - they either stoically endure, thrive or provide me with compost - nothing ever lost.
I get to make a bit of money - selling, swapping, bartering.

Um, I know these are rather prosaic reasons and I am not immune to the numinous or the transcendant but I truly enjoy keeping my head bent to the soil, enclosed in a little world of my own construction....since the rest of the world often seems hostile, disappointing, politically inept and cruel. A sustained weeding session takes all those fears and anxieties away.

Thanks, Carol!

Jim 1961, "Its the middle of October and your admiring all the blooms and you wake up to this the next day... :-0" Lol, bro, been there. Hope NOT to have that happen this October...but you never know. ;-)

Campanula, "...since the rest of the world often seems hostile, disappointing, politically inept and cruel..." I totally get you on that. I flee any hint of that in a nanosecond. I just flat out refuse to go there! I do love people like Rick Steves who spread the gospel of peace, love, and understanding to EVERYONE wherever they travel. In places like Iran for example. And even here in Spokane, Washington if we are lucky. P.S., I love you, sweetheart, and I've noticed many other people here seem to adore you, too. :-)

"Europe's my beat. For four decades now, it's been my second home." Rick Steves

Johnny Cabot, "The COLORS warm my heart." They deeply warm my heart, too! I LOVE color sooo much. I took a stained glass art class once because I adore stained glass, but I cut myself one time too many so I eventually gave it up.

Mirenda Jean, you are such a soulful lady...your very being is your song. And I suppose that is the same way for the roses, too.

Susan4952, your bouquet is VERY beautiful. Soft and compelling. What are the roses in it, hon?

This post was edited by dove_song on Fri, Oct 4, 13 at 15:00