A Rose Grows in Overland

The saga continues... For those of you who haven't been diligently following the story of my rose clippings, here's a quick sum up:
I have a climbing rose bush in front of my house that I planted about 2 years ago. I love it. And when we started thinking of moving I was really upset to have to leave behind the roses that I grew. So I read up on how to start a new plant from the clippings. Most places I looked said that it wasn't easy and you had to buy all these growth activators and simulators and whatnot. A good friend of mine is a horticulturist and told me she had never been successful at starting a rose from clippings. Then I found a website that said the oldest and simplest way to start a rose was to just put a clipping in water and wait. So that's what I did.

I put two long stems in a vase of water and set it on the window sill. And waited. And waited. And waited. After months of changing the water and justifying the science project on the sill to my husband I finally saw roots! Both stems were growing tiny roots. Then they had a little bit of new growth, an extended stem here, a tiny leaf there... It was great!

Then I thought they both died. I didn't change or refill the water for a while.... Then one came back to life again, after another few months of waiting. The first one really did die. But I was too afraid to plant the live one in dirt. It had grown and lived in just water for so long. But then it just kept growing. It had a couple of new stems, many new leaves... And so I did it. I planted it in dirt. Now I have to remember to keep it watered and take care of it. But it's now an official clone of the rose bush I have outside! I really did it!

I've decide to try and clone other roses.... I just need to find some pretty rose bushed that people will let me cut off of.