Usually my blogs are true stories, with more than a little humor, of my garden adventures at Casa Buxton. Today is different as I say good-bye and thank you to a true plants woman. Muriel Humenick may not be familiar to many outside of the Sacramento region who don't grow roses, but she was a force of nature to those of us to love roses, especially the OGRs or Old Garden Roses.

She was a well-traveled lady in the world of rose competitions, both as a competitor but also as a judge. She and her late husband, Bill, lived on a 4-acre rose garden called Rose Acres. She gave lectures, demonstrations, and pointers to rosarians of all abilities and experience – all you needed was an interest to learn; from Master Rosarians to the newbies, she was available to all and never spoke down to others even when she could see a person was missing the point.

She handled 5000 varieties of roses in her home nursery/garden with the help of volunteers. It was one of her trusty volunteers who found her lying there among her roses on July 15. She picked the perfect place as her husband Bill had passed away there himself in 2008 at age 88. Muriel herself was a mere 89. When you spoke with her, the years fell away as you discussed roses, pruning, favorite varieties and much more. Usually with a rose-covered hat on and a brightly flowered blouse, she held court with her followers.

Her love of roses began in her childhood home where her father had 1 rose bush in the corner of the family Victory Garden; that sparked her love of all things roses for the rest of her life.

I had the pleasure some years ago of going to her nursery to look for a few rose bushes which I had only found in books before; these rose where introduced pre-1940s: 'Silver Moon' (a white single rambler), 'Bloomfield Courage' (single bright red, small flowered rambler) and 'Apple Blossom' (a small, dainty rambler with small flowers like those of a raspberry plant). My mother and I went up there to Shingle Springs to look and came back with a total of 4 roses and the promise of Muriel rooting the 3 I went for. We went to look and stayed chatting with Muriel there for 4 hours – none of us had expected such a long visit!

I saw her at various other places through the years in the Sacramento region and managed to chat with her a couple more time. She was a true force of nature! She was the co-founder of the Sierra Foothills Rose Society, and was also active in the Sacramento and Mother Lode Rose Societies as well. We will all miss her, but those of us who have rose bushes she propagated will always a piece of her to help us remember this remarkable lady!