“In my garden, the rose opened, but I was too much in a hurry and passed it by. Love remembered me and said, I will make a rose bloom in your heart. Today, I will remember, my body is the garden of my soul.”  Deepak Chopra

February is the traditional month for southern gardeners to love our roses. Sometime near Valentine’s Day, there is always a crisp, clear day that invites us out to make our seasonal pruning decisions. These judicious cuts will influence not only the overall form of the plant but also the abundance of blossoms that will flush out in the spring. We examine the central canes, remove what is damaged or deadwood and we reign in roses gone wild with exuberant growth from the previous growing season.

Sometimes novice gardeners think it cruel to cut the roses back, but they will learn through experience that this is how to best encourage healthy new growth. Different varieties of roses may require a little difference in technique or a latter pruning for early bloomers, but it’s a sure bet that if we make a clean start, we will have more success. The newly pruned rose may appear naked and austere, but the seasoned gardener knows there is strength in the roots and the central canes will support all of the new growth to come. There is power in new beginnings.

A gardener can even start out with a “bare root” rose. You’ve probably seen them at your local garden center. It’s almost unbelievable that an entire rose bush could possibly grow from an unattractive plastic bag of thorny sticks, but it can. Once I was tempted by the three dollar price tag at a hardware store trying to get rid of them and bought a couple. I took them home and gently unwrapped each one, untangled their roots and planted them carefully. I watered and watched patiently until first leaves, then buds, then miraculously roses unfolded! One bush produced delicately scented apricot colored flowers and the other offered up stately silver blossoms. I never knew their names because the markings had been smudged off the plastic bag.

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” 

William Shakespeare 

When Juliet spoke to Romeo, what was she really saying to him? Is it the label that defines a blossom, or its essence that makes it a rose? The name of something is only a poor attempt by man to sort out the makings of God. A name does not describe its value or its intrinsic beauty. A name is a label that cannot evaluate the worth of a rose.

Nor can a label describe you.

You are the rose, attracting love with your soul. Just as the rose beckons to the bee with its perfume, the love you send out into the world attracts the appreciation, attention and affection you desire. The roses willing open and share their fragrance and beauty; they have no need to search for love. Allow your heart to open and blossom.

You are love. Love is finding you with each and every breath.

remember goodness grows,

Heather