When Karen Cambias returned to Houston in 1993, she moved to 1409 Arlington, a 1912 Craftsman style bungalow in the yet undiscovered Heights, which resembled her hometown New Orleans. Her house had no landscaping to speak of, but that didn’t stop legendary Margaret Sharpe, a charter member of the Texas Rose Rustlers, from planting ten rose cuttings. Armed with a sharpshooter, Margaret planted pencil size cuttings under the domes of clear plastic fruit drink containers in Karen’s front yard even though there were no beds. The bottom of the fruit drink plastic containers were sawed-off and placed over the rose cuttings, creating a greenhouse-like dome with the openings used for watering. Nurtured by Margaret, Karen was soon rooting roses from cuttings gathered from outings with the Texas Rose Rustlers. Ten bushes quickly grew to fifty. Karen’s lifelong love affair with roses began when she was seven while walking to St. Agnes Elementary School, where she attended first grade in Jefferson, Louisianna, a suburb of New Orleans nestled along a bend of the Mississippi River. She observed the climbing pink

rose Cecil Brunner, a polyantha introduced in 1881 known as the sweetheart rose, growing along a fence of a plantation home. She met the owner who soon offered her a cutting which she rooted in her mother’s backyard. When she considered returning to the trendy Montrose, she realized she could not leave her roses, “her babies” behind. Known as the Rose Lady, Karen’s rooting success spread around the Heights and soon had her teaching how to root roses from cuttings on Saturdays to an eager crowd at Buchannan’s. Her landscaping has matured with the support of Juan Alvarez Sr. There are now seven lovely flower beds of roses, augmented with many other flowering plants. Bees swarm the many varieties of pentas. Other plants include salvias, Mexican heather, agapanthus, Angelonia, and camelia bushes. We would like to thank Wabash for the very nice gift certificate awarded to Karen for being our November yard of the month.

Wabash Feed & Garden 4537 N. Shepherd Dr. 713-863-8322 www.wabashfeed.com