A couple of days ago, a new friend I met at the local library came to see my rose garden for the first time. As we walked between the bushes, I did what I always do without thinking: reaching out to gently remove a spent bloom with my fingers.
When she saw that, she paused and asked, “Can you still see a rose without thinking that it’s work?”
Without hesitation, I replied, “No. I don’t see it as work at all.”
I understand why she asked. When a passion becomes a business, things change. It stops being just a relaxing hobby and comes with real responsibilities — tight schedules, orders to fill, customer worries, and decisions that have to be made every day. It would be easy for the joy to get lost in all of that responsibility.
But the truth is, I have never felt that way about roses.
Taking care of them has always brought me a sense of peace and fulfillment. Watering them, pruning them, watching for new growth, seeing the first buds form, waiting for a bloom to open — these things do not feel like chores to me. It feels like a nurturing relationship with a living thing.
Sometimes a rose opens more beautifully than I ever expected. Sometimes the color shifts between flushes. Other times, the fragrance is so lovely that it lifts the mood for the whole family. Those quiet, tiny moments are exactly why growing them is so rewarding.
My friend also asked what made me want to start selling them. It’s a great question, because this is definitely not what I imagined I’d be doing when I was younger.
I think the answer is actually pretty simple: growing roses has brought me so much joy that I wanted to share that feeling with other people.
The reality is that roses aren’t essential in a practical sense. They aren’t food, fuel, medicine, or shelter. We don’t need them to physically survive. And yet, somehow, they make life feel more beautiful. More romantic. More meaningful.
Over time, I’ve come to realize that people don’t buy roses just to add another plant to their yard. They’re usually looking for a feeling, or a memory.
Sometimes they are searching for an old, retired variety they thought they’d never find again. Other times, people buy them in memory of someone they love and miss deeply — a partner who passed away, a child they lost, a beloved pet, a parent, or a dear friend.
Roses are so much more than plants. They hold a special place in our hearts. They help us remember, and they help us carry our love, our hope, and our longing. They become a living part of the stories we carry with us.
Recently, I’ve also taken up the habit of making rose bouquets. I’m far from a professional florist, but the process feels so rewarding. It started simply enough — cutting a few blooms from my garden to gift to someone who helps us around the property. She loved them so much that I kept doing it.
Sometimes, there is nothing we can do to change a painful situation. We cannot fix everything. We cannot completely take away another person’s suffering. But we can still offer something beautiful, something reassuring, something that says, “I am thinking of you. You are not alone.”
That is what roses can do. A bouquet from the garden may not fix a painful situation, but it can bring a quiet moment of comfort. It can remind someone that somewhere in this world, someone deeply cares about them.
Roses bring beauty into ordinary life. They hold memory, longing, and meaning. And the joy they’ve given me is something I want to share with others.
That is the heart of Highgarden.
