Sort:  

I started with roses because when I started the gardens in 1984, I could not afford to buy plants. So I used what I could scavenge and was given. My father had the climbing rose. My sister put the rose in when she built the Herb gardens around the house. I did buy the rugosa one year, and the 7 Sister a decade or so later. And Big rose came from BuyNothing. So like much in the early gardens, nothing was planned and had to grow where I had room for it. I have no idea where the Damascus rose came from, perhaps a bird... I certainly would not have planted such a nice rose in the middle of a lilac bush....