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Anyone Can grow Miniatures
And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.
ISAIAH 35:1The proper time to plant and to grow miniature roses is just about any time you may be thinking of them. These lovely little gems are fast winning their rightful place in the gardens of America and the world. Enjoy these adaptable beauties in small gardens, big gardens; at the seashore, in the mountains or the desert; in pots, tubs, planters, borders and hedges.
Anything worth-while requires effort, but final results are what count. The real artist thinks of the joys of painting, rather than the messy paints, dirty rags, windblown hair or sunburned skin which may be coupled with this creative work. So the rose gardener thinks first of the joy of growing them; of their lovely colors and delicate fragrances; not the pruning chores, messy sprays, smelly fertilizers and thorns.
just about anyone can grow miniatures if a few simple rules are followed. And it need not be expensive nor difficult. All too often we cheat ourselves of simple joys just because we try to cross too many bridges before we ever come to them, many of which we may never have to cross.
Growing miniature roses can be child's play or it can become a fascinating hobby, and with some gardeners it becomes akin to an obsession. Children often have the best approach to doing things. To them each new thing is an adventure, a tantalizing and beckoning venture because it is new to them as they have not been this way before.
A child does not worry too much how a plant, be it a miniature rose or a bean, is going to grow. He is not bothered that his way of planting does not follow the book or is not the approved method of an expert. The child uses the skill and know how which he has and then has the faith and patience (at least until tomorrow!) to wait for results. His efforts are not always successful, but at least a step has been made. Next time, or the next time, results will be better.
As the child grows his learning and his skill grow. He. is not afraid to try again. And so he learns by the trial and error method. "Except ye become as little children" can easily apply to the growing of miniature ro ses One must have the faith to expect results, even the unexpected; to believe that "all things are possible."
When I say anyone can grow miniature roses I mean just that. Young or old, rich or poor, no matter on which side of the tracks or the freeway you happen to live; if there is a will there is a way.
I have seen picture-pretty miniature roses growing in fancy pots in elegant surroundings and I have seen perfect plants growing in tin cans! Several years ago I sent plants to a lady who lived in Alaska along the shores of the Bering Sea above the Aleutians. Her plants had to be grown indoors because the ground really never thaws out, and the soil to grow her miniatures had to be brought in by bush -pilots who came to the trading post.
In another case an Air Force officer stationed in Arabia grew miniature roses in soil flown in from Africa. Miniatures have been and are being grown around the world, often in most unlikely places. They may grow in a penthouse garden atop a New York skyscraper or in pots in an old man's garden at Key West, Florida; they may grow in someone's garden in the Mojave Desert or thrive in a window at Groton, Connecticut.
Some time ago a lady wrote me a seventeen-page letter telling all about her garden in the Matanuska Valley in Alaska where she had to leave paths for the wild animals to pass through her garden. Again, a young boy or a girl will write telling of the joy of watching tiny rose buds open. I have seen how blind people express joy as they feel the tiny buds and smell the delicate rose fragrances. Miniatures may grow atop a brick fence in New Orleans and yet be perfectly at home in a garden in Tel Aviv.
Growing miniatures depends more on a state of mind than upon physical surroundings. If you truly want to grow them, think positively; believe you can grow them wherever you live.
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