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| Falling in Love, from the side. |
I watered the entire front yard, anticipating a long rainstorm. They may seem odd to some people, but automatic systems have sprinklers working merrily during a storm.
I planted Calladiums, the biggest bulbs I have obtained so far. I wanted them to be hydrated before the storm, because they were ready to grow. Like other bulbs, they were already showing some new growth.
The Calladiums are under the mother of all Crepe Myrtles, so the bush was pruned and then watered. Wasteful? What happens when a flowering bush needing little rain gets a generous watering and a pruning of the seeds from last year? The bush, late in leafing out each spring, burtst into leaves in less than one day, during the storm. The watering gave it the impetus to grow leaves and roots, and both lead to all-summer blooms.
Last year's bargain Hostas were just out of the ground. I wanted all Hostas to present themselves so the rabbits did not eat the plants one by one. Divide and conquer, or in this case, divide and digest.
Mints came by early, no problems with cold, and Cat Mint is already in bloom, serving meals to needy beneficial insects, not just to bees.
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| California Dreamin |
Last and Best - The Roses
Daily attention to roses is a good investment. When a bush looks weak, I prune every bit of deadwood away. When roses are blooming, I "prune" and give them to neighbors and medical people. John 15 - the unfruitful ones are separate. The fruitful ones are pruned to make them more fruitful.
I saw one bush with a lot of small buds on it. My wife said, "Which one?" I said, "I will know when they bloom."
Neighbor Surprises Wife with Rose Bushes
We planned this last year. The neighbor whose relative pruned my trees said he wanted a rainbow collection of roses. He was too late for those offers, so I told him I would get them this time.
I got an early offer and ordered them. He came over with paint buckets for me (all clean, very useful for gardening). I pulled five bare root bushes out of the rain barrel. They cost him $6 each when the typical price is $15-20 each. The colors are purple, red-yellow, yellow, orange, and white.
The typical rainbow offer is five colors, no choice in which ones they are, a bit late in the growing season. No refunds. They are great fun in finding out some new or old names.
If someone wanted a new rose garden, a double offer would be $70 with shipping, two of each color. I took on some bigger offers and had a great time seeing roses I never heard of before - and finding roses I wanted to add in large quanitities -
- Falling in Love - pink and white, fragrant
- Hot Cocoa - hard to define, glows in low light
- Bride's Dream - largest rose
- EASY DOES IT! - out-performs all other roses in blooming
Thanks to two offers I had three Easy Does It roses ($15 total), splendid in growth, prodigal in blooming - orange and sunset colors. The rose does not photograph well but I want them for the vase, not for the darkroom.
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| This Easy Does It rose was almost pure orange. Other blooms will vary in color, randomly it seems, all very attractive. |
