Karen Roos' Garden

Like many young brides in their first home, I decided to plant a garden. I had more fun at the nursery buying everything that LOOKED pretty. Since I jumped into this without so much as reading a magazine article you can imagine the success I had. I worked on this for two years and at the end of that time I had nothing. By now I am expecting my second baby and have decided to read and read and read about gardening. All the things I never paid attention to like sun exposure, season, zones, and water needs began to sink in. If I were to give any new gardener my most important tip, it would be to study first. The old saying "Knowledge is power" is true! My first years were not wasted though. I got lots of fresh air, listened to every bird, and learned all my neighbors by the car they drove. By the third year my girls and I spent endless hours on a big quilt outside while I weeded and basically puttzed around and I wouldn't trade those times for a big deal garden for anything!

To pick favorite flowers is really hard for since there are so few I don't like. I pick my favorites by season. In the late spring and early summer. peonies and iris are my absolute favorites. When my mother died and we sold her home I took time to dig up many of her favorites and bring them home with me. Her peonies we always called peppermints because they are almost entirely white with very thin red streaks in them. She would bring a bunch in and always set one aside for my room. Her Iris were tall white bearded and have the best smell in the world! I could never describe the scent until a garden club tour and one of the members remembered her grandmother had them and they smell like cherry koolaid - she is EXACTLY right.

In the heat of St. Louis summers shasta daisies, moonbeam coreopsis and Russian sage top my list. All long bloomers and mass of color.

Late summer and fall have always been the biggest challenge to me. This year I finally succeeded in a colorful fall garden! My thanks to bluebeard, black-eyed susans, phlox and grapeleaf anemone.

Now, if I had to pick the most rewarding plant in terms of length of flowering season, beauty of the flower and scent of the flower the award goes to my 20 David Austin Roses. They begin to bloom in May and I will be cutting and bringing roses inside until November! They are very hardy as they are considered shrub roses not tea. The rose "Heritage" has the most wonderful scent of just about any flower - spicy and strong. A couple in your kitchen and the whole room will smell like roses!

The best tip I could give anyone who gardens probably already does it, as it is something we gardeners have in common from the get go - enjoy the plants you receive as gifts from friends the most and more than that - enjoy your friends!