The roses almost always have a space that is right next to the space you're supposed to be in and in the beginning the roses almost always spawn with two spaces in the middle ( at least in my experience ).
I found the cards difficult initially, but when I found the right pattern it was just a case of juggling them with the coins which I hated the most in hard mode, because you have the area of effect aslong with blocking off areas that you may need to venture into later on...