My Rose Adventure

Nick and Anne Stanley

When your father and grand father were both florists and/or growers, you already have a heritage to follow.

I didn’t really start down that path till around 1997. A friend of ours was growing 30-35 roses down in the Center Grove area and I started observing her in the care she took of her roses.

The next spring I built a raised bed on the north side of our house and started with 16 roses. The north side is not the ideal location but it was all that I had available. I had a friend show me how to construct the raised beds out of treated 4 X 6’s, I brought in some good top soil, and away I went.

A year later 3.5 acres across the street became available. I started the development on that property by building six, 27’ X 6’ raised beds holding 18 roses in each.

Around this time, I joined the Indianapolis Rose Society and they started showing me how to care for and graft new roses. John Hefner and Mark Nolen were tremendous mentors to me.

I then had the rose house built followed by the 16’ X 32’ barn. One of the smarter things I purchased was a golf cart that made trips back to the rose house much easier. Shortly after that I built five more raised beds on the west side of the rose house. It was also about this time that I installed irrigation for the rose beds and grass area around the rose house.

My next project was cutting back the thicket along the Buck Creek directly south of the rose house. We cut down 25-30 trees, and probably 75-100 shrubs. This is where the gazebo now stands.

Shortly afterwards we thinned out the “thicket” behind the rose house and developed walking paths and beds for hostas and other shade plants. A few years later I bought a small Kubota tractor with a frontend loader, and a used Dixie Chopper to cut grass. That required a garage and more beds around the building. The tractor was one of my smartest purchases.

It seems like one project leads to another over the years. I could not have done all of this without the assistance of Francisco Posadas the past 18 years. I’m now trying to cut back beds to help me and my ageing body as I get older. I’ve spent endless hours over the years, but it was truly a labor of love. Now, to sit back with my wife Anne and enjoy it all.