NRoberts - G2 Black Rose

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s Imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

 The Penguin Putnam Inc. World Wide Web site address is

http://www.penguinputnam.com

 Dear Reader:

 When spring slides toward summer, and the flood of color from my azaleas has faded, the heavy heads of my peonies have given way to a dance of daylilies, my flower beds are approaching peak. I like mixed gardens, cottage gardens, shade gardens, herb gardens, sunny cutting gardens. I have nothing formal—formality wouldn’t work for me, or my land. I live on a rocky hillside, with rough, uneven ground, but love finds a way. And I love flowers.

 I have a long, long stream of raised beds behind my house, and more lining the land down my long front slope. They’re a lot of work to maintain, and a great joy for me. In summer, I have purple floods of centaurea, feathery red heads of monarda, cheery yellow petals of coreopsis, pools of sage, and oceans of black-eyed Susans. The columbine and coralbells are done for the season, but there’s always something new budding up or bursting out. Veronica, coneflowers, verbena, garden phlox, nasturtium. At a recent trip to a garden center, my son commented that I probably had everything in the place already. Because I rarely see a plant I can resist, there’s always something spilling or spearing or spreading.

 So are the weeds I hunt out and destroy like a soldier on an endless mission.

 In the shade, my astilbes are fanning their soft plumes, and my hostas are islands of soothing green. The deer love the hostas, and I love the deer. But that doesn’t stop me from warding them off. I pour bags of dried blood and spray gallons of vile-smelling deer repellent annually. And have been known to run out of the house waving my arms like a madwoman if I spot a deer snacking on my dianthus or morning glories. I have dogs, but they don’t seem to be interested in guarding my flowers against Bambi.

 Take a walk in the garden. Pull a weed, smell a flower. See if it doesn’t make you smile.

 NORAROBERTS

 Nora Roberts

 HOT ICE

 SACRED SINS

 BRAZEN VIRTUE

 SWEET REVENGE

 PUBLIC SECRETS

 GENUINE LIES

 CARNAL INNOCENCE

 DIVINE EVIL

 HONEST ILLUSIONS

 PRIVATE SCANDALS

 HIDDEN RICHES

 NORTHERN LIGHTS

 TRUE BETRAYALS

 MONTANA SKY

 SANCTUARY

 HOMEPORT

 THE REEF

 RIVER ’S END

 CAROLINA MOON

 THE VILLA

 MIDNIGHT BAYOU

 THREE FATES

 BIRTHRIGHT

 Anthologies

 FROM THE HEART

 A LITTLE MAGIC

 A LITTLE FATE

 MOON SHADOWS

(with Jill Gregory, Ruth Ryan Langan, and Marianne Willman)

 The Once Upon Series

(with Jill Gregory, Ruth Ryan Langan, and Marianne Willman)

 ONCE UPON A CASTLE

 ONCE UPON A STAR

 ONCE UPON A DREAM

 ONCE UPON A ROSE

 ONCE UPON A KISS

 ONCE UPON A MIDNIGHT

 Series

 The In the Garden Trilogy

 BLUE DAHLIA

 BLACK ROSE

 The Key Trilogy

 KEY OF LIGHT

 KEY OF KNOWLEDGE

 KEY OF VALOR

 Three Sisters Island Trilogy

 DANCE UPON THE AIR

 HEAVEN AND EARTH

 FACE THE FIRE

 Gallaghers of Ardmore Trilogy

 JEWELS OF THE SUN

 TEARS OF THE MOON

 HEART OF THE SEA

 The Chesapeake Bay Saga

 SEA SWEPT

 RISING TIDES

 INNER HARBOR

 CHESAPEAKE BLUE

 Born In Trilogy

 BORN IN FIRE

 BORN IN ICE

 BORN IN SHAME

 Dream Trilogy

 DARING TO DREAM

 HOLDING THE DREAM

 FINDING THE DREAM

 Nora Roberts & J. D. Robb

 REMEMBER WHEN

 J. D. Robb

(in order of publication)

 NAKED IN DEATH

 GLORY IN DEATH

 IMMORTAL IN DEATH

 RAPTURE IN DEATH

 CEREMONY IN DEATH

 VENGEANCE IN DEATH

 HOLIDAY IN DEATH

 CONSPIRACY IN DEATH

 LOYALTY IN DEATH

 WITNESS IN DEATH

 JUDGMENT IN DEATH

 BETRAYAL IN DEATH

 SEDUCTION IN DEATH

 REUNION IN DEATH

 PURITY IN DEATH

 PORTRAIT IN DEATH

 IMITATION IN DEATH

 DIVIDED IN DEATH

 VISIONS IN DEATH

 Anthologies

 SILENT NIGHT

(with Susan Plunkett, Dee Holmes, and Claire Cross)

 OUT OF THIS WORLD

(with Laurell K. Hamilton, Susan Krinard, and Maggie Shayne)

 Also available . . .

 THE OFFICIAL NORA ROBERTS COMPANION

(edited by Denise Little and Laura Hayden)

 For Stacie

It’s wise for a mother to love the woman her son loves.

But it’s a lovely gift to like the woman who becomes your daughter.

Thanks for the gift.

 A stock plant is grown purely to provide cutting material. It can be encouraged to produce the best type of growth for cuttings while plants that are grown for garden display can be left untouched.

 AMERICANHORTICULTURESOCIETYPLANTPROPAGATION