I am digging a hole in my backyard. I’m doing this for many reasons. Namely, because it’s a pandemic and I’m stuck at home. Sometimes people who are stuck at home go batty and start digging holes for no explainable reason.
I’m also digging because this hole is going to be a rose garden. I love roses, and I’ve always wanted to try growing them. My Aunt Eulah often used to say, “I’d rather have roses on my table than gold in my pocket.”
One year ago if you had told me I’d be digging a rose garden I would’ve choked on my chili dog. Because before the pandemic I never had time for roses, I was always busy. I was usually on the road, visiting places, meeting new people, or eating cholesterol in distant airports. It was the life of a writer, and it was my life.
But now I’m at home all the time and the most active thing I do is take my dogs for potty walks. Which is a frustrating task because one of my dogs refuses to pee on a leash. And it’s very important to make her “go,” otherwise this dog’s bladder will reach red-alert status and there will be a nuclear accident on our kitchen floor.
So my life has become uneventful. Finding material for columns has also gotten harder because most things I write about are things I read about. And most of what I read comes in the form of emails, personal letters, and messages. I get a lot of emails.
Used to, the majority of these messages were happy and encouraging. But as the pandemic raged forward the messages got angrier and more negative. Some of the comments became downright cruel. One guy told me I had a face shaped like a “football covered in hair.”
You almost have to admire that kind of verbal creativity.
Of course I also read about current events so I can write columns about those. But writing about current events is tricky because this means you have to do research by poring over news stories. And reading the news can be a major bummer.
This morning, for example, I opened a newspaper and was immediately sorry. Each story was about the worst thing that had happened within a 24-hour period. So I closed the newspaper and used it to clean up my kitchen floor.
The funny thing is, I grew up in an age of newspapers. Each morning my mother and I delivered the Daily News to half of Okaloosa and Walton County, working from 3:30 A.M. until sunrise. I read the paper constantly. I desperately wanted to be a journalist.
But now? I wouldn’t survive in a modern newsroom. Today’s journalism has become younger, “hipper,” and internet based. Even the headlines are written funky.
Here are a few actual headlines I saw this morning:
“14 Foods I Literally Haven’t Been Able to Stop Thinking About.”
And: “22 Millennials Share Their Debt Struggles so Gen-Z Can Totally Rock It.”
I don’t want this stuff in my home.
What I’m getting at is that sometimes I am out of step with the current world. And this brings me back to this column’s original point. Roses.
Since the COVID era began, I’ve been reading a lot about roses in “The Old Farmer’s Almanac.” I almost can’t believe I’m now a reader of the quintessential old-man magazine, but there you are.
My grandfather read the almanac. My mother still reads it. All my ancestors once read it. The “Old Farmer’s Almanac” has been coming out every September since 1792, making it the longest running publication in North America.
And it’s a delight. Beneath the almanac’s ornately illustrated cover is a much simpler world than the one we live in. You can read about long term weather predictions, old-fashioned herbal remedies, American folklore, wives tales, phases of the moon, and of course, growing roses.
Oh, the roses.
Years ago I wrote a story about an elderly man who grew roses. I’ll never forget him. He was a tall, hunched man who wore tweed trousers and loafers to work in his garden. He grew the prettiest flowers you ever saw.
He’d been perfecting his rose varieties since the 1950s. But when his wife died of brain cancer, he practically began living in his garden. He named his roses after her. He talked to his flowers. He pampered them.
That afternoon he showed me his rose garden by throwing open his garden gate with a sweep of his arm. I was overcome by what I saw.
I didn’t expect so many roses in one place. There were hundreds. Maybe hundreds of millions. They stretched toward the horizon. It was too much magnificence at once, and it hurt my chest. I almost started crying.
I walked among the blushing pinks, the linen whites, the peachy yellows, and the crimson reds, overcome with genuine awe. And I knew that someday, somehow, I wanted to be like this man. I too wanted to bring something lovely into this world. I didn’t care what that something was. I just wanted my life’s purpose to be about beauty.
I don’t have children, I’ve never done anything remarkable. I’ve never won a single award, never hit a grand slam, my house is itty-bitty, my truck is 20 years old. I’ll probably make a mess of these roses and accidentally kill them all, but I hope not.
Because I can honestly say that in these troubled times of negativity, sadness, and scary headlines, I’d rather have roses on my table than gold in my pocket.
68 comments
Lori Klein - February 22, 2021 6:23 am
Good luck to you! There’s a wonderful optimism amongst gardeners. As a government teacher, I’m convinced that is what made the founders believe they could create something as beautiful as they did. There’s a book you might like called the Founding Gardeners. It’s one of my favorites.
Bob E - February 22, 2021 6:28 am
Can’t prove it by me but I’ve heard you fertilize roses with fish – good luck and send your readers a picture when you succeed.
elliemac3 - February 22, 2021 6:31 am
i wish i had your email address because i want to know why/how people send you nasty emails? Why do people want to be hurtful and hateful? I agree with you – there is so much beauty and good in the world. But I just don’t understand the haters — I guess they are broken and sad and that is how you don’t take it personally.
I signed up for your blog because a man in my sunday school class years ago told the class that your blogs had “changed his life for the better.”
I hope that encourages you and helps you to ignore the haters!
turtlekid - February 22, 2021 1:42 pm
ellimac3, agree with you. I wrote much more, but it disappeared!
Christina - February 22, 2021 7:39 am
Glad you can “almost admire”, but please ignore “that kind of verbal creativity”. Your columns are roses in the garden to us
Dean - February 22, 2021 9:42 am
I am not good with flowers but i had bought a rose bush from a friend who was selling them years ago it bloomed every year but this past year it was the best year ever. It was breathtaking. I had a horrible year like a lot of people and it was showing me God’s beauty is still around us. Good luck with your roses
Laura - February 22, 2021 9:57 am
I must disagree with you, you do something remarkable every day with your column. It starts my day on a positive note even when it is about the bad things that have been going on. I look forward to it and make sure it is the very first thing I read every morning, no other e-mail or message until I have read Sean of the South and forwarded it on to someone else who might need the message. Good luck with your roses, proper pruning is the hard part. I used to have some rose bushes, I never learned the proper art of pruning, but there were lots of roses on the table!
oldlibrariansshelf - February 22, 2021 10:04 am
Mother taught me that for roses to do well you must give them away. Don’t be afraid to cut them. More will come. : )
Cindy - February 22, 2021 11:45 am
You are wrong about one thing. You do something remarkable everyday. I just read your latest “something remarkable”.
Leigh Amiot - February 22, 2021 11:48 am
Sean, planting and growing roses has been the easy part for me. The hard part is keeping the deer from dining on them! I have two rose gardens and would love to have a field full like the gentleman you spoke of, but presently the two gardens I have are now surrounded by wooden stakes with aluminum pie plates dangling from the strings connecting the stakes. Lovely. 🙄 But it’s the only thing that has deterred the deer and I’ve tried numerous methods. BTW, I love the Old Farmer’s Almanac, buy a paperback copy each year, and they have one of the best websites on the whole world wide web. I was blessed with a live-in grandmother, she had to have a copy each year and she also subscribed to the Market Bulletin. Precious memory, thank you for evoking that.
Erin Whitener - February 23, 2021 2:52 am
Hey Sean….be the roses!
Christopher Spencer - February 22, 2021 12:22 pm
Buy some Knockout Roses. They are a hybrid rose and are almost impossible to kill. I planted some 12 years ago and they and they are still with me. About all I ever do for them in trim them back in the spring and leave them alone. They grow whether it is dry or hot and they need to be in direct sunlight at least 8 hours a day.
Me who killed a Boston fern, supposedly the easiest plant in the world to take care of.
But the Good Lord has blessed me with these roses and I love when they bloom out around late April or early May and stayed bloomed until late November.
They come in a variety of colors but mine are crimson. After all, I live right outside Tuscaloosa, the home of the Crimson Tide.
angie5804 - February 22, 2021 4:02 pm
I suggested Knockout roses, too, before I saw your comment!
Delicia Thornton - February 22, 2021 12:27 pm
Good luck, Sean! I may be inspired to grow roses. I’ve been reading books and Pinterest on raising ducks, goats, and having a quarter acre self-sustaining farmstead. Now to find that quarter of an acre. Stranger things have happened during this pandemic! 🤔
carolanne78 - February 22, 2021 12:37 pm
Buy roses that will be fragrant. They are the best. The thorns hurt like the devil, but the fragrance makes it worth it!
Lisa Wilson - February 22, 2021 12:53 pm
I beg to differ with you. The statement you made about you never have done anything remarkable. Every single day you make a difference with your words. You give people hope. You make them laugh. You make them feel. How much more remarkable can you get? Thank you for being you and for sharing with all of us. Sending love and prayers from South Carolina.
Bar - February 22, 2021 1:06 pm
Your life’s purpose IS about beauty, and you share it with us every day. Thank you. Love from GA.
Beverly King - February 22, 2021 1:18 pm
It’s easy to sling poo, but harder to till it into the soil in order to plant and nurture something beautiful that can be enjoyed by others. Don’t get discouraged; we need your cultivating skills. 🙂
joan moore - February 22, 2021 1:30 pm
As many have already said, if you can create something that makes people who want to share your thoughts so they too can enjoy your thoughts, then yes, you have done something. A great deal of something.
Donna - February 22, 2021 1:32 pm
Dear Sean, when I opened your email this morning, I thought of a town near me called Rosebud. It is a charming little old town. They have a citywide garage sale
every year. I’m sending this link to you because I thought it would interest you.
http://rosebudtexas.us/index.php/about-us
Julie - February 22, 2021 1:34 pm
I have just a few comments today…
🌹I’m sorry that one of your dogs emptied his/her bladder on your kitchen floor…good thing the newspaper wasn’t worth reading anyway‼️
🌹What on earth makes you think that you’ve “never done anything remarkable”…because there is NO truth whatsoever to that!! Note: Read your Column‼️
🌹And let’s all “stop and smell the roses” as often as we can…gardens, flower shops, or floral depts. in the grocery stores‼️
Kristen D - February 22, 2021 1:37 pm
I love this. My husband and I are doing something similar–starting a vegetable garden for the first time in our fifty-something lives. We’re looking forward to eating nourishing food grown in our own postage-stamp yard.
I hope you’ll share photos of your roses in the near future!
Nana - February 22, 2021 1:41 pm
You are a gem! 💎 A treasure!💰 An American hero! 🇺🇸 Thank you, God, for Sean Dietrich! ❤️🙏🏻❤️
Knockout roses, THICK long-armed gardening gloves, rose fertilizer, sharp pruning sheers = 🌹🌹🌹
Heidi - February 22, 2021 1:43 pm
You already have your garden Sean. We are your roses.❤️
Peggy - February 22, 2021 1:45 pm
Sean, you have the most remarkable and unique writing style that I’ve ever encountered. I discovered you several years ago and look forward to seeing your email pop up every morning—your column is the highlight of my day since this awful pandemic began. Disregard the ugly comments and continue on — this old world is in need of your perspective and insight. I wish I could meet you one day and give you a hug!
Sonya Tuttle - February 22, 2021 1:48 pm
Life is just a vapor, then it is gone. Your life is leaving a sweet fragrance by the words you write!! Surely you receive many many more positive remarks on your blogs, but the negative ones seem to linger longer. God be with you and your wife as you plod daily in your respective roles.
Jo Ann - February 22, 2021 1:50 pm
Sean, you win an award every day from all your readers!! Good luck with your roses. I’ll have to try the Knockout rose, if we can find a sunny place to put it. We live on the side of a mountain & don’t get much sun. My husband has a hard time with his garden, finding what will grow where we are. Garden catalogs are his reading favorite in the winter. (we call them garden porn!) We’ve had so much snow this winter & it’s snowing again now. Please hurry, Spring!!
Jan - February 22, 2021 1:54 pm
Amen!
Lauren D Ulrich - February 22, 2021 2:01 pm
I found it sad that you said your emails have become so negative over this year; it makes me have to face the fact that, left to ourselves, we often aren’t very nice. But I HAD to write this comment when I read “I haven’t done anything remarkable,” because that is irrefutably false. Every day you bring the reality of beauty and goodness to print and internet, and I doubt there is anything more remarkable than your ability to do that day after day in spite of the meanness and rudeness and unkindness you also face day after day after day. Remarkable~
Bob Brenner - February 22, 2021 2:03 pm
Aunt Eilat was a wise lady! ❤️🥀 🌹
Bob Brenner - February 22, 2021 2:05 pm
Eulah (sorry)
Louise Todd - February 22, 2021 2:21 pm
I have a scraggly looking rose bush I will not part with. When my mother died in 1993, a financially struggling aunt on my husbands side gave me five dollars. I wanted to buy something to remember my mother by and one day at the end of gardening season , I saw this rose bush with very few leaves for five bucks! That was it! My mom had been a lady with a green thumb! I planted it close to my house so I could watch it and nurse it along. A few months passed. I was feeling especially the day of my mom’s birthday. While out walking toward my door, I looked at my rose bush and there was a red bloom shining in the sunlight. A sign from above on November 8th!
Karen - February 22, 2021 2:23 pm
The American Rose Society has excellent information on its website ars.org. Good luck!
Mark Daigle - February 22, 2021 2:29 pm
Ortho-Rose-Flower-Insect-Control-Plus-Miracle-Gro-Plant-Food-Granules
alisonbaird765 - February 22, 2021 2:33 pm
I love roses, too. Your articles cheer me up, which is not an easy feat in this crazy old world we are living in right now. I like your football shaped head and in the words of the millennials, you rock your beard!
Melody G - February 22, 2021 2:36 pm
1. Buy your roses from a nursery. I spent many years thinking I couldn’t grow roses as every time I tried, they would last one year and die. Then, my daughter got a job at a nursery and started giving me rose bushes. Every one of them has not only survived but thrived!
2. I’m sorry that the pandemic has gotten you (and countless others) down. I quit watching and reading the news quite some time ago, as I don’t need that kind of negativity in my world. I also don’t suffer from depression and must admit to not being very understanding of the condition. it’s not that I’m not sympathetic to it or feel bad for those who suffer from it. I just don’t understand it. When I look at this wonderful world that God created, there are too many things of beauty and awe for me to focus on the bad. (That’s also why I’m not a teacher. When I try to explain something to someone and they don’t get it, I can’t figure out why they don’t.)
3. I love your columns. I read them to my husband every morning. I also love the insurance commercials you do as now I have a face to visualize and a voice to hear while I read your stories. And it looks nothing like a football covered in hair.
Gail Johnston Guinn - February 22, 2021 2:37 pm
It is Joy each morning here in East Tennessee after reading my Bible to read your column. Thank you for your gift of laughter, remembrance, love and honesty. God bless you!
nebraskannie - February 22, 2021 2:43 pm
By your count, a lot of us do nothing remarkable. Bringing happiness and laughter to millions of people seems pretty remarkable to me.
Susan Kennedy - February 22, 2021 2:44 pm
You, my dear, are indeed VERY remarkable! We all love you!!
AlaRedClayGirl - February 22, 2021 3:12 pm
While it may seem to you like you haven’t done anything remarkable, but to your family, friends, and readers, you are incredibly remarkable. You’ve uplifted us many times when life was gray, you’ve inspired us to do things we never thought of, you’ve encouraged us to dream big and act on those dreams, you’ve taught to be more aware of those around us and their struggles, and you’ve taught us the value of the simple things in life, like kindness, hugs, smiles, and furry companionship. Thanks, Sean, for being there for us.
KATY @ 10:43 am - February 22, 2021 3:43 pm
🌹💐Sean, Hooray for you wanting to bring more beauty into this world ! I know your writing brings beauty into our hearts every day🌹💐
ps. When a friend first saw your countenance on Facebook , he said your face looked like it was covered by a swarm of bees 🥰 ( just an artist’s creative impression I suppose )
Helen De Prima - February 22, 2021 3:51 pm
I envy your opportunity to go play in the dirt this time of year. From late March, when I plant peas, until late October, I live in my gardens, flower and vegetable. The flood of seed catalogues right after Christmas is all that keeps me sane as I look out at snow, six inches plus, covering our back forty. Good luck with your roses; their beauty and the beauty of your words make the world a better place.
angie5804 - February 22, 2021 4:00 pm
Get some Knock-Out roses. Pretty fool proof. I should know.
Suzanne Cahill - February 22, 2021 4:05 pm
“Because I can honestly say that in these troubled times of negativity, sadness, and scary headlines, I’d rather have roses on my table than gold in my pocket.”
Words to live by.
Thank you, Sean.
Suzanne Jones - February 22, 2021 4:08 pm
One of my pleasures each morning is reading your column. Always makes me smile. And that IS remarkable in these times. Good luck with the roses!
Jane - February 22, 2021 4:15 pm
Well said. And may your roses grow. And grow. And grow.
Betty F. - February 22, 2021 4:24 pm
Try knockout roses- they come in a few basic colors and single as well as double blooms. They are almost impossible to kill- I can attest to that. Some of them even seem to have the old-fashioned smell of roses that seems to have been bred out of most modern roses.They are a bit slow in establishing themselves (maybe because I did not water them or fertilize them or put them in the right locations), but when set in they go! and bloom a couple times a season.Good luck.
Phil - February 22, 2021 4:29 pm
Sean, when you can get out and about again, check out the rose garden at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. I think you’d enjoy it. The rest of the garden is great, too. It’s one of the best free things in the area.
Betty F. - February 22, 2021 4:40 pm
Want to knock your socks off? Take the 7 hour drive from your home to Gibbs Gardens in Ball Ground, GA in about two weeks. He has planted millions of daffodils that spread over a beautiful rolling set of hillsides. (The display changes, but continues over about a ?6 week period.) His website does a pretty good job showing the pictures of each day, if you can’t take the time or gas to go up there. You’d love his story of developing the gardens over the years.
Lorna Jane Helick - February 22, 2021 4:44 pm
My grandpa grew roses, he was a quiet, gentle man and he nurtured those roses just like he nurtured his grandchildren. He and my grandmother taught me the important things in life, all about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, love for our neighbors, near and far, and love for roses. I enjoy your essays very much and I look forward to hearing about your rose garden.
Connie Pearson - February 22, 2021 5:16 pm
My Granddaddy Rose (yes, Rose was his actual last name) grew beautiful roses, and I loved living next door to him as a child. One Sunday morning, my aunt and I (she was actually 6 months younger than I was) got ready for church long before the grownups and were wandering through Granddaddy’s rosebushes. For some reason, we decided to start pulling off petals and pretending they were our lipstick. Naturally, the biggest petals made the best lipstick. We had a lark of a time until my Granddaddy walked outside to go to church and surveyed what was left of some of his prize blossoms. I’ll never forget the look on his face. He didn’t spank us. He should have. But, truthfully, his sad face was punishment enough.
I wish you much success with your roses. And I agree about the value of roses on the table. When my husband and I were missionaries in Ecuador, we could buy a dozen for $1.50, so I kept them on my table all the time. You would enjoy Ecuador, I believe.
Have a good day and keep writing.
Linda Moon - February 22, 2021 5:29 pm
I “saw” the sled as soon as I read the title of this post. So that shows how out of step I am with the current world, and happily so. I also saw the old man’s rose garden. It was beautiful. Me, too, Aunt Eulah and Sean…..about roses and gold. Me, too.
Suzanne Moore - February 22, 2021 7:17 pm
You can do it , Sean. My Aunt Lucille had hundreds of rose bushes in her yard, and a visit from her almost always included dozens of roses to beautify and perfume our house when I was young. My ex-husband was a rose gardener for a few years, but he was such a perfectionist that when his rose bushes didn’t perform up to his ridiculously high expectations, he dug up the whole garden and destroyed the bushes. I cried and cried. When you plant your roses, just love and appreciate every bloom you get, and share some flowers with people you love. I know that they will bring you joy.
Anne Trawick - February 22, 2021 7:46 pm
Let me tell you my rose story. Years ago, before we retired back in our home town of Donalsonville, we lived in Columbus, GA, and I taught school on nearby Fort Benning. The first few years that I taught there I observed that many of the staff members received floral deliveries, mostly roses from sweet, romantic boyfriends or husband’s. Of course I commented on this to my not as sweet, not as romantic husband. One Valentine’s Day, I got a call from the office that I had a delivery. When I went to the office there stood my husband with his gift in the back of his pickup truck, a dozen roses bushes.They were the first roses in my rose garden, which grew to have around 109 roses in it.
Kaye - February 22, 2021 8:02 pm
Sean, you do something remarkable every time you sit down and start to write. I feel like I have to dig out from a pit more often than I should – in this world it’s hard to stay “up”, cheerful and positive sometimes. Lost my husband in a car accident and now have my 87 year old mom and her 75 year old sister, who are both ill, to take care of. Things are at a point where nothing can make them well – so hard to watch. I work full time. Some days I just don’t want to get out of bed – then I read your column and it helps me see beauty, my blessings and life itself through clearer eyes. This thing you do….pretty remarkable. Thank you!
Marcy Stave - February 22, 2021 8:19 pm
Your piece here about the rises reminds me of I book I loved to read with my kids when we homeschooled, Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney. She spread lupine seeds to make the world more beautiful. We should all be working toward that end. Best wishes!
Kathy Spruiell - February 22, 2021 8:38 pm
I love your soul!… and you are wrong about never doing anything great in your life. You make mine richer every day. I think that is pretty great!
MAM - February 22, 2021 11:06 pm
But Sean, your writing life’s purpose IS beauty. You provide it to us every day! And all of your readers appreciate it!
David M Jones - February 23, 2021 1:23 am
And I’d rather read your blog than anything else
Richard and Nancy Cobb - February 23, 2021 1:35 am
Sean,if you really want to do roses,ignore the advice to get knockout roses. Growing them is easy, but they have no character. Growing them is like getting the news on the internet,or driving a Prius.It’s just not the real deal. If you want to do roses right, grab your lady, get into your 20 year- old truck and go north on I-65. Get off at exit 219 at Jamison. Go left on county road42 . Turn left on County rd.29. At 16034 you are at Petals from the Past nursery. Go inside and ask Shelly,or whoever is at the checkout, to find Jason Powell for you. He is the rose guy. He is my nominee for the GOAT of plant growers. Jason started Petals right out of college to grow and sell heritage roses like the ones Aunt Eulah knew and grew. Now he grows and sells all kinds of plants and is knowledgeable about all of them. No crappy trendy stuff from the latest issue of Southern Living .Your Aunt Eulah would break her piggy bank in an afternoon at Petals ;I and my wife do it regularly-break our piggy bank in an afternoon, that is. You could write a great column on your experience at Petals, especially about the great people you will meet there. Do not go on Saturday, or you will be competing with dozens of plant lovers all trying to buttonhole Jason. Tell Jason that Richard and Nancy Cobb sent you and that we expect him to treat you like family. Really, he is a wonderful nurseryman and an even better person. P.S. it is always a good idea to call ahead and make sure Jason will be there.
Melanie - February 23, 2021 2:11 am
Hey everyone! Help support small business and make your favorite writer smile. Buy Sean’s book “The Incredible Winston Browne”. Can’t wait to read my copy when it is available on my Kindle. Thank you Sean. Love your books.
Bernadette Wyckoff - February 23, 2021 4:16 am
Me too, Sean. If I read your column in the morning I feel better and if I read at night I wonder why I didn’t read it earlier to claim a better day . Let’s just grow roses and not think so much. Love and blessings to you and roses for everyone. ❣🙏
Karen Erwin-Brown - February 23, 2021 12:30 pm
I grew a lovely 4 rose bush garden last year. Started out 7 years ago when my neighbor built a fence for my running rose. It is purple and a German variety. Good luck.
Cyn - February 23, 2021 1:43 pm
Funny how life can give us perspective.
Lancaster Tony - February 23, 2021 2:29 pm
Just think, Sean, after you get the roses in, the dogs won’t have to pee on a leash. They can pee on the roses🤣. I truly enjoy your writing.
Verna Montgomery - February 24, 2021 6:22 am
I have faith in you Sean…You WON’T kill the roses….
Verna😊
Frances D Lester - February 25, 2021 6:52 pm
It is always a good day when you plant something! Trees or turnip greens, you join the long line of people who grow things for beauty or for food. You are making the world better as well as helping yourself! “Better to have any kind of flowers (or weeds, leaves, sticks) on your table than gold in your pocket!”
Think I’ll write that on the wall!
Shirley Jensen - March 8, 2021 11:32 pm
I loved this!! Thanks for sharing.