In 2004 when I started gardening, an elderly friend sent me three bare-root hybrid tea roses to plant, one each yellow, rose and red. Even after meticulously, though nervously, following the instructions I soon killed all but the red one. Each year the red rose would come back and bloom fairly well considering that I don't use pesticides and sometimes don't get around to fertilizing. In recent years, the plant shrank in size and did not bloom as well. My friend died in 2014 at the age of 100, and I thought the rose might die too. However, I was delighted this June to find a single blossom blooming.
