Looking at why my 1st rose plant died

My first rose plant died because I didn't have the right knowledge in caring for it for the first few weeks after I brought it home. It's as simple as that.

Many of us forgotten that a plant is simply a living thing, much the same as if you bring a puppy home.

When you bring a puppy home, you study the many things that are required for its survival and subsequently, prepare for its arrival. You learn about what it eats and when, where it sleeps, when to bathe it and how, and so on so forth.

As a plant may be easily replaceable, we often pay less attention to details pertaining to its survival for the first few weeks in our home. We often lured by its beauty that we urge ourselves to own it at once but fail to own the responsibility of caring for it for the next few important days of its life.

TIP: It's vital to know how to care for a plant during its first 3 weeks in our home.

So, I kept on buying new roses to replace the ones that died, but soon after they too followed the same footstep. Each and every time I had new ones, I blindly tried new methods of caring in hope that one method will eventually work.

After countless trials and painfully watching my roses died again and again, I began to understand one simple thing. That one thing was to begin fresh with just understanding the basics. Once I did that, my roses thrived.

My mistakes were:

1. I didn't know where my roses came from. The treatment would have been different to ease the shock and stress due to change of environment.
2. I didn't study the location where I placed my roses to ensure adequate sunlight and at the same time protected it from being too stressful under the intense Malaysia sunlight.
3. I didn’t know when to water, how much to water and how to water such a young plant.
4. I didn’t know when to fertilize and how much to fertilize.

TIP: Roses are plants too! Learn their 3 basic needs- water, nutrition/fertilizer and sunlight.

My first rose plant

I bought my first rose plant when I was shopping for a furniture. Go figure!

The magnet in roses

Roses have this super power of captivating you in a certain way which you can’t never quite explain. That makes you return to the racks where they display them so you grab a pot of the healthiest looking, full of blooms at their best and many more buds of promises of even greater and more blooms.

They smell intoxicating when you stick your nose in. They blind you with their exotic colors and perfect form. They simply make you a special person by just owning them.

Well, at least that was what I felt when I grabbed my first pot.

Never a gardener but a plant serial killer

Back then, I was not a gardener. What I had for a plant is the idea of having a plant. I had a cactus as I recalled, but even then, I almost killed it few times if not for my husband who seemed to care for it better than I did.

When I purchased my first rose, my aim was simple that was to have roses in my garden, that's all. But never I imagined that it changed me in a way that I never truly have expected. It was not my gardening skills that changed but it was my attitude!

It taught me to remain positive and never give-up.

It taught me about respect and love.

My first rose plant was a striped rose, a miniature which I purchased from IKEA. It died shortly, after 3 weeks in my care.