JACKSON JONES CAN’T get away from roses. First his mother got him a plot at Rooter’s, a community garden where Jackson planted a rosebush of thorns and no blooms. Now Mr. K., a fellow gardener, enlists Jackson’s help to rustle up some rare old-time roses. The kind that grow in cemeteries! And no sooner do Jackson and his friend Reuben take the rose cutting home than Reuben’s gloom-and-doom talk of curses seems real.

His plot in a community garden brings 10-year-old Jackson Jones more zucchini than he cares to see and the unwanted attention of a bully, but when a company plans to destroy the garden, Jackson turns his attention to trying to save it.

When his mother gives him a garden plot for his tenth birthday, Jackson Jones hopes to earn enough money to buy a basketball, but all he seems to get is trouble.

Nothing but a big mess of trouble and weeds..

That's what Jackson Jones thinks of the garden plot his mother gives him for his tenth birthday. What happened to the basketball he's hoped and prayed for all year?

When Jackson comes up with a moneymaking scheme for the garden, it doesn't seem so bad after all. He even cuts his friends in on the action. But before long, Jackson finds out that friends and business don't always mix. When the neighborhood bully calls him "Bouquet Jones," Jackson is ready to give up. Maybe gardens don't belong in cities after all....

Winner of the first annual Marguerite de Angeli Prize.