A Rose from Heaven

When I was a little girl, my Dad planted three rose bushes for my Mom. They were in the front garden. One was under my bedroom window, one in front of theirs and the third in between. They were small, red and very fragrant English Tea roses. The vines were the rambling type so they grew quite large. Every spring when the bushes bloomed, it flooded the house with the smell of roses.

I was only 8 when she went to Heaven and Dad did his best to raise me, my brothers and sister. The roses were always there, blooming each year as a reminder of her and her love. Life went on and we grew up. Everyone moved away and the gardens became over grown. The roses suffocated under the weeds and disappeared.

Love in the form of a bud

About seven years ago my older brother, who was living with Dad got sick and ended up in a nursing home. I went back home to help Dad get the house back together and started to weed out the gardens. I found three very small rose bushes growing right there in the garden where he planted them all those years ago. They were weak, but they were trying to come back. I made several visits to Dad during the year to fix this or that and make sure things were okay. The roses were getting stronger.

The next spring, the rose bush under Dad’s bedroom windows bloomed. I wasn’t there, he told me on the phone. By the time my visit came, the roses were dried up. The bush in the middle and under my old bedroom window were dug up to remove the old oil tank. Now we were down to just one. On this visit I took a few clippings to bring home with me.

When I got home I planted the clippings with root tone and put them in a large planter. They started growing in a few months. The winter was mild that year so they made it through strong. The bush over grew the planter so I decided to transplant it in the ground by my back deck. Once in the ground it didn’t grow as fast. I watched it and noticed that some of the vines were growing like weeds. The vines grew wildly and had buds. I thought this was going to be it, the roses were going to bloom for Mother’s Day.

Three years ago on Mother’s Day the roses bloomed, but they weren’t the fragrant red tea roses I expected. They were small, wild white roses. I didn’t understand what happened. I looked at the bush and noticed there were two different types of vines and leaves. I researched it and found that the roses may have been grafted. They take a strong root from wild roses and graft exotic rose vines on it. This is supposed to help them be more durable. With a heavy heart I clipped all the wild vines. I only had three healthy vines remaining.

A gift from Heaven above

I left the rose bush alone for the rest of the year. Last year, I continued to trim away the wild vines that sprung up. In fear of losing the bush all together, I dug it up and put it in a large planter on the back deck. I also read that if you plant garlic with rose bushes, it helps them stay healthy and repels bugs. So I planted a a circle of garlic around the vines and away she grew again. No flowers or buds formed at all but the vines were getting stronger.

This spring, the rose bush has very healthy vines and buds all over the place! I have been carefully removing the spotted leaves to keep it healthy. I planted fresh garlic a few weeks ago and it is growing. I continued to hope and pray that when the flowers bloom I will get to smell that sweet fragrant rose. Well, Mother’s Day 2016 is here and my Mom in heaven has sent me the greatest gift of love. One rose bloomed this morning and as I bent down to smell that heaven sent rose, my eyes filled with tears. The fragrance of my Mother’s love was remembered, cherished and continues to live on. This experience strengthens my belief that with love, all things are possible, that love transcends time and a Mother’s love is eternal.