Free Roses

As it says in my information, I am a florist. That is to say that I am trained as one. I do not currently work in a shop but would love to work wedding flowers.

My parents bought our house three years ago. It's a small house but it's on a fair-sized lot. WE really haven't done much in the way of landscaping but my Dad is working on it slowly.

When we moved in there were three white rose bushes under my bedroom window. Now, as a Florist I know that white roses always come with more thorns and these are no exception! They are what I call "garden roses"; they open wide and full and don't have much of an individual stem to speak of, in comparison to your standard commercial varieties. They also don't have any scent. Or, well, one bush has a slight fragrance but nothing notable.

About two years ago, my father and I bought a rose called a "Mr Lincoln". This particular variety is a gorgeous deep red with a hint of fuschia and a strong, wonderful scent. Since that bush we have been looking into getting more that have fragrance but they all cost too much. (A floral hint: purple and lavender roses always smell good, there's something genetically linked to the blue in the color or something)

Early this summer there was an ad on the Craigslist FREE page for FREE roses. A man had dug about twelve bushes out of his front yard and wanted them hauled away. First come, first serve. Quickly, my mother and father and I were in the car, on our way. There was one other car driving up when we got there, and it became a mad scramble to find the ones with the best scent.

We got out with two bushes: one lavender that I wanted and one variegated peach/orange cream that my mom wanted. When we got them home, Dad had to prune them all the way back and plant them, hoping that there hadn't been too much damage done when they were dug up.

They've finally bloomed and they're beautiful. It's amazing what you can find on Craigslist for free.