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| Creation Gardening - By Him Were All Things Made. |
The warm weather has prompted a burst of rose blooms. First the wild roses bloomed in profusion - three of them. They have small, dark red flowers, so colorful that the mail carrier asked about them.
His daughter recently said, "I want to grow roses, but I do not know how." He told her, "I have a book for you, but you have to give it back." He smiled, because I gave him two copies of Creation Gardening.
The small, bargain roses are blooming. I think one is called Home Run. The veteran Easy Does It rose began blooming on Saturday, but just for color - short stems so far. I need some longer stems for the vase.
Buckwheat is getting even for being mowed down last summer. It engulfed the roses to such an extent that our Laotian neighbors laughed and pointed at my
Hostas are gained in two ways. The tiny ones I planted last fall are popping out of the ground, so my despair is disipating. The established ones from the backyard and Mrs. Gardener's are in great shape and ready to bloom in the rose garden this year. I have permission to thin out her hostas, so I will spread more around when I get a good idea about the survival of the little ones.
People think a front yard of roses is odd, but people ask about it all the time. No one drives up to a yard and says, "Is that grass?"
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| The hybrid teas were not ready for vases, so I bought a dozen roses just for the neighbors - $10 at Walmart. |
Roses for Mother's Day
This is the third year I gave roses to each neighbor on our cul-de-sac for Mother's Day. Our SuperMom got a big bunch - she has four daughters, which I call the Esses. S1 played with Sassy, then S2, and now S3 fusses over her. The baby is not quite ready for Sassy's barking and kissing, but that may develop when the dog to child ration changes.
Ranger Bob takes flowers to the cemetery as often as he can, so Sassy and I took the other bunch of flowers to his house. We prayed for John and Pat in church - she got her rose. Another rose went to a police officer's wife a few blocks away.
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| Rugosa for rag-like leaves. I don't see that either. But they are easy to grow and enjoy. |
Rugosa Roses Will Give the Gardener Big Hips
The old-fashioned roses have fewer blooms but larger hips (the seed-pod or fruit of the rose). I got some rugosa roses from Direct Gardening and put them where they had rather poor light and eratic watering. I transplanted the rose this spring and it burst into bloom.
Rugosa roses are as tough as they come, so I may get more in the future.
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| Home Run - early color. |
