Water the Roots
What I learned from roses (and my therapy)
I’ve had roses for many years, but this honestly, embarrassingly, didn’t really sink in until very recently. Roses don’t get healthy by watering the plants, the leaves, and the blooms — they get and stay healthy by watering the roots.
I would go out early in the morning, get the hose ready, and turn it to the correct dial. I would get some level of pride or satisfaction in then misting the hose water onto the plants… making sure I got the leaves and blooms covered with a safe blanket of freshwater to start their day. I was their self-assigned hero, their caregiver.
It’s the leaves and the blooms that make a rose a rose right? That’s what we see… so our natural inclination is to believe that this is also what we should water and where we should nurture.
But it isn’t true.
For your roses to be healthy, you must water the roots. And that’s not very glamorous, and not nearly as rewarding I admit. But it’s what works.
The attractive bloom, that which seemingly makes a rose a rose, is not the source of the plant's health, but the result of it.
I also realized that in order to support the growth and health of the plant and the specific parts that I desired to see thrive, I also must be willing to cut…
