Roses are special to both mine and Nate’s families. The more I learn about our family history of growing roses, the more I feel
A. I’m on the right path and
B. I’m kind of a third-generation rose farmer :)
Growing up my mom had us clean the inside of the house while she did the yard work - true story! She has always loved taking care of her yard, plants, and flowers. My mom was raised in Sunburst Farms West (63rd Ave & Greenway) and has always told us stories about growing up on that acre farm and how much she loved it. Tons of kids and animals and roses - it always sounded so dreamy to me. When I told her about our plans to buy an acre farm and grow roses and that we had found out that there was a Sunburst Farms East that we were looking in, she was super supportive and excited. It's been so fun and such a new point of connection between her and I to talk shop about roses - how to grow in AZ, pruning, watering, varieties, etc. We often reminisce about her parents, my Grandma Arlene and Grandpa Howard (the real greenthumb of us all), and their love for growing roses and their Sunburst Farms days. My grandparents kept their rose bushes absolutely pristine all the way into their old age. When my mom offered to transplant the roses that she has at her house, that are from her parents Sunburst Farms house, I knew that she truly loved and believed in what we are doing.
My mother-in-law, Debbie was an angel of a human. She is the mid-west uber-caring and loving mom that takes care of everyone. She passed on October 5th, 2017 with all of her children and her husband by her side. A few days before she passed she got her final burst of energy and requested to dance with her husband. We put on music and watched as her and Poppa Jim danced in the living room. With a room full of tears, she seemed so peaceful and happy in her white nightgown, dancing like an angel with her lifelong sweetheart. It was one of the most memorable moments in my life. One of the last things she said to me was "take care of my boys". I took that to heart and knew that one day Poppa Jim would live with us. I didn't know at the time what that would look like but I knew she would help guide us in the process. This past October 5th, on the second anniversary of her passing and our fifth wedding anniversary, Nate and I drove out to Gilbert to look at a property and it was all wrong from the beginning. We ended up getting in a huge fight and it was one of those moments that made us both doubt the whole thing and dig deeper into why and if we should do this. Looking back, I think Grandma D was like "No! This isn't it. But keeping looking!"
A little more than a month later, right around the same time that we signed on the Sunburst Farms East house, Debbie's yellow rose bush out front starting blooming like crazy. Yellow was her favorite color! This photo is from Dec 26th, when it should have been going dormant, she was blooming almost daily and encouraging and confirming for us that we were on the right path.
Side note: Since Debbie's passing, Poppa Jim has taken it upon himself to learn all about growing roses as he wanted to keep Debbie's out front alive. They are from one of the houses she grew up in back in Ohio that they transplanted out to AZ when they moved here over a decade ago. It has been so special to watch him tend to and take such special care of her roses.
So we have roses from both of our grandparent's homes that we plan to transplant to the new house into their own family heirloom garden. I imagine this to be one of the most special places on the whole farm. I can just imagine sitting and reflecting and enjoying roses that are all over 40 years old, that have all been grown by our parents and grandparents at some point in their lives.