We have had five inches of rain in the last 24 hours or so. The backyard has standing water. The rain-barrels are full, and the orange roses are blooming.
A few days ago, Mrs. Ichabod responded to my rose predictions - "Don't promise roses next Sunday. Don't even mention it."
I saw budding all over the garden, before the torrential rains last night. Hybrid tea roses form their roses slowly, so there was reason for caution. But shrub roses - KnockOuts - and floribundas have smaller and faster-growing roses.
I said this morning, after walking Sassy, as if I had something to do with it, "The orange roses are blooming. Not about to bloom. They are in bloom."
Everyone would have been content with the Easter Sunday rain, about 2 inches. The additional rain will help the moisture deepen in the clay soil, which was turning white from the drought.
As Ichabodians recall, we heavily mulched the area next to the new Crepe Myrtles, so we have a mass of shredded cyprus covering the cardboard, instead of soggy cardboard with little logs on top.
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| Falling in Love (pink/white) and Veteran's Honor. |
The rain this week will also disclose which roses were alive but not growing yet. Improbably, the roses planted around the maple tree came up first and bloomed first. Falling in Love roses are slow-growing, but worth it for their blooms. They are thorny and touchy, so I think an English cousin named them for fun - or possibly as a warning.
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| The largest rose under a maple tree? Both Bride's Dream rose bushes bloomed well last year. |
