JANESVILLE — A woman recently walked into Indu Patel’s motel office.
“I don’t need a room,” she said. “But I’d like to know what you’re doing with the flowers.”
It is what many who travel the busy Racine Street corridor doubtless wonder as well.
Motorists and walkers shout to Patel from the nearby stoplight or sidewalk. “They say they like my roses,” he said. “ ‘Nice flowers,’ they’ll yell. I get lots of comments.”
Patel is happy he can give others enjoyment but roses also make him happy.
“I have loved them since I was born,” he said.
Patel, 70, was born in central India, where at one point he grew more than 30 roses. He emigrated to Chicago in 1988 and moved to Janesville with his family when he bought the Lannon Stone Motel, 1524 E. Racine St., in 2001.
Perhaps his roses cause a stir because they are a splash of beauty and color in otherwise concrete surroundings: gas stations are on two corners, the Italian House on another and the former Dairy Queen next door.
But most likely it is because they would be a delight anywhere.