On a temperate August morning, Allene Able’s garden on the McCormick Highway just west of Saluda caught my eye, and I asked if I might take some photographs.

“Not much is in bloom,” she said with a smile, before leading me on a tour of her rose garden. She’d been pruning and pulling that morning, “before it gets too hot,” and cut a few blossoms for the house.

It’s a routine she’s used to in these hot, summer days. Able has been growing roses at her home for nearly 50 years.

“It’s a lot of work,” she said.

Visitors entering her garden are greeted by a verse by Dorothy Gurney:

The kiss of the sun for pardon
The song of the birds for mirth
One is nearer to God's heart in the garden
Than anywhere else on earth

An octogenarian, Able said she once had 300 rose bushes at her home but decided a while ago not to replace those that fade. ”I have about 100 now,” she said. “I think I could do more if it wasn’t for the spraying.”

These days she doesn’t do the watering and weeding alone. “Oh my yes, I have help. I wouldn’t be able to do it if I didn’t have help.”

Uncle Joe and Louise Estes are counted among the specialty roses Able has cultivated and entered into rose shows sponsored by the S.C. Rose Society and at the S.C. State Fair.

“I hope to be there (at the fair) again this year,” she said.

If you’re going:

South Carolina State Fair runs from Oct. 12-23 and the rose show runs from Oct. 12-17.