Speaking of the Tightwad Gazette, I was flipping through it and came upon this:

Dear Amy, When my sister was married last year, I took the half-dead roses from her bouquet after the ceremony. At home, I rooted them by cutting off the heads, making a clean cut on the bottoms, dipping the fresh-cut bottoms in rooting hormone, and putting them in a pot that was half Perlite and half soil. I kept these moist until rooted and then planted them in a shaded location in my garden. This year, on her first anniversary, my sister received a gift that could never be replace: 12 rose bushes from her wedding bouquet. – Kimberly Hill

Warren, Michigan

As soon as I read that, I immediately imagined a rose garden made from anniversary, wedding, Valentine’s, and other meaningful bouquets that you receive in a lifetime.

I was under the impression that rooting roses is hard, but the above passage makes it sound like rooting any other plant. In fact, this how-to on rooting roses in Hartwood Roses goes over almost the exact same process. They recycle a milk jug to plant the cutting in and a soda bottle to protect the rose from the elements and keep in moisture while it roots, like so:

I find that winter is a good time for little gardening projects like this. Now if someone would just bring me a bouquet of roses…

ETA: Since writing this post, I tried this, and the rose didn’t root. I would be interested in hearing other people’s experiences with this idea. Has anyone been able to get to root roses this way?

ETA 2: I enjoyed reading Sheila’s comment about her experience with rooting roses: