how to grow a bed of roses

to a botanist, growing a bed of roses is probably easy. all the elements need to exist to create a wonderful bloom of roses. the soil, the temperature, water..you know the drill. from their point of view growing a bed of roses is probably roses101.

from a personal point of view, this is roses 404.

the decision to move back to chicago consisted of long debates, list of pros and cons, rational and irrational thoughts and emotions, and lots of tears which noone knew. we decided to move so we can create and nurture this one particular rare rose - Aisya Iman Jennrich.

Sentimental? Mushy? Yes and yes. I take full responsibility for that statement and with pride. Kids will do that to you. Turn you into mash potato. You will, I guarantee, lose this battle.

As parents, we will seek and source to the best of our ability. At the end of the day, only the Almighty knows where we should be so that this one rose will grow to be a strong, healthy and vibrant rose.

Until then, this is the pasture we have chosen. Tomorrow is another day. We are grateful that we have been given the chance to "dirty our hands" with growing this one rose. I am sure there will be many band aids covering the bloody fingers pricked by the thorns on this one rose.

Who knows, maybe tomorrow we will be blessed with orchids. Wouldn't that be fun?

We can only do our best. We are after all, amatuers. Nomadic amatuers, just trying to grow a bed of roses...