Beautiful! My mother's rose garden was a joy to behold. She was enchanted by many variants but loved The American Beauty, a timeless classic of course.

Rose bush in front yard is about 10 feet tall and full of small pink roses. It was here when we moved in.

There’s a place in Texas called the Antique Rose Emporium. Every rose in my yard has come from there. Bulletproof and beautiful!

Cliff, I’ve ordered from there. You can get varieties there that cannot be found elsewhere. Great place. I am partial to purple roses, and last I ordered, they had a lovely selection.

Joe, I’ve had various others at various times, but my favorites are Martha Gonzales, Katy Road Pink, and two very fragrant varieties in our front yard whose names are lost to the ages. One is a deep red, and the other is a very double pink rose. I think it’s a cabbage rose.

Katy Road Pink has since been renamed; they ran the genetics and found out that it and one other variety were actually the same as a third, which they had recognized by its true name. They rounded up roses surviving on abandoned homesites, roadsides, and other neglected places.

So they first named them by where they were found or other features. When you buy their roses, you can be confident that it will thrive without being kept on advanced life support.

Laura, I ought to look into their purples. One might work beautifully in front of our house! Thanks for the idea.

Interesting color fact: Purple is the rarest color in nature, mostly limited to flowers and fish!

A blue rose was featured in set decoration at the Grammys this year. suntoryapplause.com