I discovered my love for roses years ago when I purchased a historic rowhome in Central Pennsylvania that already had an Old Garden Rose (OGR) growing in its garden. A few years later, I planted four disease-resistant, ever-blooming roses in a barren corner of my small urban yard. Although my beloved Paul’s Scarlet Climber bloomed only once each season, the other roses were repeat-bloomers, rewarding me with waves of blossoms throughout the growing season.

Within a couple of years, I found myself completely enraptured with roses and had accumulated eighteen in my little garden. As I cultivated my roses, I recognized parallels between gardening and spiritual lessons I had learned during my roaring twenties and enlightening thirties. Those painful, thorny years left me battered and hurting. Despite life’s prickles, the more I learned about nurturing roses, the more I discovered how gardening could illuminate the journey of faith, growth, perseverance, and renewal. God used gardening to heal me. Motivated to encourage others, I penned two inspirational books combining practical rose-gardening advice with spiritual reflections.

Eventually, I sold my rowhome and later embraced another dream: living aboard a sailboat. Even surrounded by water, I found ways to grow roses. I fell in love with a fragrant, fluffy white hybrid tea aptly named Full Sail, collected miniature roses, and even cultivated vegetables on a floating dinghy dock. As fascinating as sailing was, I discovered that I was even more captivated by my little BOATanical garden!

Eventually, I traded my sailboat for a patch of earth to dig into. Today, I am planting, growing, and cultivating a garden in USDA growing zone 8b while encouraging others to bloom along the way.

Beyond my own garden, I enjoy traveling to rose gardens throughout the country and beyond, discovering new varieties and finding inspiration wherever roses grow.

The overarching purpose of Ever-Blooming Roses is to document my ongoing growth in God and gardening while reminding others of a simple yet enduring truth:

You will bloom again.