Hi,

My name is Aerith (it's strange, I know), which is a character's name from a popular RPG game that my husband loves to play. LOL. I come from Taiwan and have moved to Seattle since 2016 after I retired.

I'm very, very new to gardening. In fact, it's the New Dawn climbing on the pillar in our porch kindling my passion last summer. At first, I just wanted to know what it is in order to prune it correctly (it's so big). Thanks to internet. I learned a lot. The more I survey, the more I fall in love with roses, even though I had ZERO experience of planting anything before.

Even more crazily, I decide to rebuild my front and back yard where there are both boring and water-wasted lawns. The construction is supposed to start in this year and will last a couple of years. Our land is not big, but we're still waiting for city permits because a half of the back yard is a steep slope with a giant walnut tree and lots of invasive plants in it. Before it gets done in a certain level, I can only pot my roses. I've never imagined that I can have a new habit here, in my "second life". It's becoming a great joy to check the roses every morning with my little chihuahua and a cup of coffee to see how they change no matter what the weather is like.

Since I've been diving in NGA rose forum for months, many of your names are so familiar to me that sometimes I think I know you all. I'm impressed by your sincere communications and warm friendship. I'm here to thank you. Your experiences and thoughts help me very much, and I'm eager to learn all the beauty of roses from you and would like to share a newbie's clumsiness and mistakes with you as long as you could forgive my poor expression in English.

Aerith

Welcome to NGA, Aerith. Please keep us up to date on your progress and please ask us as many questions as you want.

Welcome to the forum, Aerith. This is a very friendly place with some incredibly knowledgeable people who can answer nearly every question you have. They also have great ideas on garden design and colour combinations for rose gardens. I love looking at the photos of everyone's gardens because they gives me so many ideas. I hope you will share photos of your gardening projects with us as they progress as they sound exciting.

Welcome to the garden, Aerith! Your English is just fine so don't worry about that. Besides, we have lots of people from all over the world and we all speak roses and gardens and understand each other very well. Please, take some "before" photos of your gardens so we can follow along and watch it change as you get your projects done.

Wow, starting out your rose journey with New Dawn! That's quite a big job! It's a gorgeous rose but is a BIG GIRL!! Known to have devoured entire houses, lol. I'd love to see some pictures.

Welcome Aerith! So glad you were able to join us! I think your English is great so don't worry about posting anything at all. Roses are very addicting so welcome to our group! Take your time in planning your garden. Just this morning, I was thinking I needed to redesign my back yard all over again! I don't, but wish I had the knowledge I have now when I was planning it 15 years ago. So ask any questions you may have and take a look at the extensive data base here. Great people and great info!

Welcome Aerith! I love the name!! I'm also a big FF7 fan so excellent choice. How funny that the character is a flower merchant

Rose gardening is certainly one of those things that you admire from afar and then when you finally jump in it's easier and much more enjoyable than you ever thought. I'm on my second year and am about to triple my number of roses. This forum/website is a wealth of knowledge and everyone here is super friendly and helpful. Best of luck on your project I'm sure it will turn out perfectly! Keep us posted!!

Hi Aerith!
I also live in Seattle, and grow many roses in pots (in addition to some in the ground). Good luck with your landscape remodel! If the walnut is a black walnut, be aware that it may take some time for the juglone (which the walnut produces to avoid competition with other plants) may take some time to dissipate after you remove it. If you do not remove the walnut, assuming it is a black walnut, it might limit the sorts of plants you can grow in its general vicinity. Have you been to the Antique Rose Farm in Snohomish? It is a great place to visit when their once-blooming roses are in full bloom, and I always walk away with a rose I didn't know I needed... https://www.facebook.com/antiq...

I'm happy that you are finding joy in growing roses!

Welcome to the forum Aerith and welcome to your new passion. We are all pretty addicted ourselves.
You will find many helpful, generous folks on the forum.
We look forward to your pictures as your vision becomes reality.
Kris

Welcome, Aerith!

I don't have to tell you but you will find this forum to be engaging, fun and most importantly educational! I am a novice rose grower myself who joined last year when I found my passion for rose gardening. Like you, I am also renovating my backyard in the process of establishing a rose central. Rose gardening is a rewarding and addictive experience!

Thanks for your replies. Your words mean a lot to me. Now I do need some encouragements because the garden project is such a long and lonely journey that needs much patience and skills which I'm trying to have more of that.

zuzu: Thank you. I'll update the progress as soon as we start it.

Lola: You got me. I have little taste of art. Color combination and plant texture are truly my weakness, and I'm still working on arranging plants (mostly roses, of course) in the front yard. It's facing east and the neighbor in the south has a two-story house which means that I can only get about 4-5 hours sunshine in summer. Sunshine here is so precious, so I would like to use every inch of the land to gain the best result. BTW, I love your lambs and other wild animals though they can be very annoying.

Seil: New Dawn is left by the ex-ex-ex owner. It sits in a quite shadow lot and has been neglected for a very long time, but I can see how hard it tries to grow and show me beautiful flowers. I'm considering to move it to somewhere else before the construction. Could you give me some advice about how much should it be cut and when is the best time to do it?

Mustbnuts: Yap, the database here is rich! I'm really addicted to roses. I've bought over two dozen of roses, and there are even more coming in April. I need more space!

Ray: So glad you like FF7 too. Plants, especially roses, are so vulnerable but strong as well, just like human beings. Being able to live with them is such a wonderful thing.

KS: Hello dear neighbor! Thank you for reminding me about the walnut tree. We are not allowed to remove it because of some soil erosion issues. Now we are working on the geotechnical inspection and hope to hear good news. And yes, I've heard about Antique Rose Farm but haven't visited them. Do you think March is a good time to do it?

Kris: Great comments. All the words are valuable to me.

Shyam: I've seen your garden design pictures. They are amazing! I wish I could have a half of your aesthetic and the ability of designing. You are an example to me, and I might need more suggestions from you.

Welcome, Aerith How exciting to be starting your journey! I would love to know which rose varieties you have? I'm glad you've joined us!
Carol

If you want to see the roses blooming at the Antique Rose Farm, March might be too early. I'd keep an eye on the roses here in Seattle, and wait until you start to see blooms on the earliest ones before visiting (of course you could go multiple times, but that might be dangerous in terms of the number of roses you buy!) You can also write a message to them on Facebook and ask them when they think that their main spring flush will be.