"When my newly planted 'Duchesse de Brabant' came into bloom, I could hardly tear myself away. Since I had long been my family's designated photographer, I rushed back into the house, grabbed my camera, and did my best to record the glorious, pink perfection of the Duchesse's blossom. Before I knew it, I was experimenting with lenses, light exposures, camera angles, and 'snapping' the flowers that I brought into the house for bouquets."

At first, Sharon shared her pictures only with fellow gardening enthusiasts, but invariably they would ask if she could make a copy of a particular favorite to brighten a quiet corner or a bedside table. It wasn't long before the idea for a line of informal cards was born.

"I know that it was my profound love of the beauty of these roses that had survived decades and, in some cases, centuries of great popularity and nearly total obscurity that gave me the courage to launch 'Roses of Sharon.' I have great conviction in the necessity for beauty in every day life to keep us in balance."

The response from retailers has been gratifying. The Roses of Sharon line is now carried in 44 Nordstrom gift departments and 400 other select retail shops. Sharon has continued to hone her photographic skills, taking classes with master photographers, practicing and experimenting with new techniques. She has expanded her subject matter to gardens, houses, and villages she has encountered in her travels. But it is clear that the genius behind her very successful line of cards is her own knowledge of and love for the old fashioned and English garden roses that dominate her work. "She loves these beauties from the dirt up," says one of her fellow rose enthusiasts. "She has chosen them to be a part of her garden, planted them with care, fussed over them as bare-rooted sticks, and eagerly monitored the opening of each first blossom in the spring. There is nothing more frustrating for a true rose lover than to see a gorgeous bouquet of heart-stopping roses in a magazine and have no further identification of the varieties than 'pink and yellow roses in a crystal vase.' Sharon knows her roses by name. That makes all the difference."

Sharon Hoffman lives in Encinitas, California, a city long associated with gardens and nurseries. Her artistic talent appeared early in the form of musical ability. She holds the A.Mus. degree from the University of Alberta in her native Canada, and is an accomplished pianist and private piano instructor, loving wife, mother and grandmother.