One of Calgary’s finest award winning rose growers, Joan Altenhof, sent me photos of her rose seedlings and an update on her famous rose garden today.

Joan is a keen gardener: “Today (April 4) I am uncovering the roses.  I will see if they have survived the winter.” After her hip replacement (almost 5 years ago?), Joan continued growing hundreds of roses but now ” I think I am going to stop planting tender roses in my flower beds and just try perennials and hardy roses.  It is just getting to be too much work with the covering of peat moss and leaves and then taking it all off in the spring.”

Joan has started breeding her own roses and last fall “[I] dropped rose seeds [from crosses I made and} collected into damp peat moss in a Ziploc bag and put them in the garage up by the south window.  In March I was out there and noticed something growing in the bag, just 2 little plants with 1 set of leaves. I brought them into the house and put them in front of the south windows.  The picture attached shows what they look like now.”

Thanks Joan! I appreciate your knowledge and love that you sent a photo of your seedlings!