Who's behind love-of-roses.com

let's get one thing straight....I'm a rose lover, not a rose expert! There is a big difference. And Im quite sure many of you reading this will have more knowledge of roses than I do.

Anyway, welcome along to my little corner of the internet, I hope you have a good time here browsing some of the pictures and information on this web site. You are welcome to take any of my images and use them for your blog, web site, crafts, or whatever. But a link back acknowledging my site would be much appreciated.

My love of roses started about 20 years ago. I had just moved into an old house, with an overgrown garden. It was like a jungle out there, but it was full of old plants. Daphne, honeysuckles, dahlias, lillies, jasmine. And of particular interest, was dozens of old fashioned roses.

It took me nearly 2 years of hard work to get it back to it's former glory, and by that time my passion with old roses had taken hold. But not content with just nursing the roses back to health that I already had, I wanted to find new varieties, and perhaps even breed some of my own.

My quest to learm more

I bought some rose books, and began to identify the varieties in my garden. I was constantly picking blooms, and comparing them to the phots in the books! slowly but suely, I began to put a name to everything. New Dawn (that was an easy one!), Alister Stella Grey, Birthday Present, Tuscany, and many more.

Then I began to experiment with breeding roses. My first crosses were with New Dawn x unidentified red HT. I still remember the day the first little seedling poked up through the potting mix ~ I was like a first time dad checking on his newborn! I read as much as I could on the breeding process. A book by reknown Irish breeder Sam McGredy was one of the most helpful to me.

Today

Well, my love affair with roses continues. we have a new place now, and it has many roses that Im not familiar with. Time to dig out my old book, I guess. we are planting a few new varieties, and hopefully this spring will see a new look to the garden.

Finally, I have enough room to indulge a little....so Im taking cuttings of all my old favorites, in preparation for expanding the collection.