It is not what it once was, we none of us are, we are a little worse for the wear, but we are ready to begin again…
Today Maurice was back. He and a helper cleaned up the yard and cut the grass, a tree growing over one of the gates and up over one side of the house was cut down. Everything is opened up there again, there is light and an airy feel now. And the green gated garden and all the way around it were dug and raked, cleaned up and made ready for planting. I ordered a pound of seed called “Burst of Bloom,” a bright, colorful mix of annuals and perennials with a quarter pound of giant zinnias and a quarter pound of mixed varieties of cosmos to add to it. It will be a glory come late summer even if the fence could use painting. Baby steps. I am moving forward a little at a time.
Before the fire this was a place of breathtaking beauty, it was my pride and joy. And while yes such a profusion of flowers surely meant that there were always flowers in the house there were so many that what I cut didn’t make a dent in this cottage garden. I mainly planted for the insects and the birds. The garden was always abuzz with bees, butterflies and dragonflies, hummingbirds and more. This was the garden before the fire…
It won’t look the same, and now this whole front side of the fence is covered with a climbing rose that is breathtaking. It is ‘Mel’s Heritage’ from Rogue Valley Roses. I planted it the autumn before the fire and it thrived despite neglect. Last year it took me almost a month to prune it, it is very thorny and it was growing out all over the yard. It is full of buds now and will soon be in full bloom. Here it was last year…
Right now it is filled with tight pink buds just starting to open…
This morning when I went out with the dogs I went around to check out the roses that have begun to bloom. I am so delighted. They had been so overgrown and neglected for the first years after the fire they weren’t even blooming almost at all. Last year I pruned them hard and fed them well. A few weeks ago I fed them again. The first of them are starting to bloom and it makes me so happy. These are almost all old-fashioned fragrant varieties but sadly I’ve forgotten what most of them are. I’m going to have to figure that out…
And the rose that is one of my deepest loves, ‘Veilchenblau,’ is considered a violet rambler from Germany, 1909, and the clusters of roses can turn several shades from almost blue to deep purple and everything in between. It is a stunning rose…
A couple of days ago when I checked the roses around the front of the house I was surprised to see the most beautiful buds, normally a peach rose it was painted with red. It was stunning. Along with the sweet white rose that will take over the world if not pruned hard they looked lovely together. The second picture is the peach rose open on my kitchen windowsill and you can see that the red disappeared when it opened. I have got to find out what these roses are. Almost without exception all of my roses came from Rogue Valley Roses. I am going to ask their assistance in naming them and I will share the real names when I find them. I have planted roses for decades and am embarrassed to have forgotten the names but after the fire the tags were lost and my mind went along with it…
I started to write a different blog post today, and then I thought no, I cannot go to a sad place again. I will turn my eyes to the garden, and I will find comfort there. All the rest of the little bulbs and many seeds will be planted this weekend in pots on the deck and in the raised beds. Within the week the bulk seeds should be here to plant the green gated garden and all around it, and there are more roses just starting to bud, not yet in bloom. They will be soon. I don’t have all the answers that I have been seeking, but I do know that this blog and the garden are work that I can do, my sweet little pugs are here with me, and we will soldier on. There is new life in the garden. I am ready to begin again.
The Experiment ~A 365 Day Search For Truth, Beauty &
Happiness: Day 1 ~ Introduction To The Project
“Do or do not. There is no try.”
Yoda
my mom – Rose – would be (probably is, from heaven) celebrating all of your roses. she always planted roses wherever she lived… i have a rose (one of the wild climbing everywhere you can’t stop it variety) that my girlfriend natalie gave me when mom (Rose) died in 2002. then a few years later, natalie died too. now that rose bush cannot be stopped. Roses’s and Natalie’s mojo lives on! so it will be with your splendid and varied family of roses. i am so happy for you. (and for them, because you tended them and brought them back to life.)
you are an unstoppable woman, maitri. i salute you!
xo
ka
Thank you so much sweet Ka, and ah, I love that your mother’s name was Rose and that she love roses. They are my deepest delight and I have several more coming on. And oh, how sweet that your friend sent you a rose when your mother died. I’d love to see a picture when it’s blooming. And unstoppable? I’m not sure, but I won’t stop, how could I? I get down, I get scared, but I get up in the morning and on I go. As my friend Jeff would say, “What else is there?” Indeed. On we go in the garden and beyond… 🙂
M. xoxox
Oh, Maitri, your flowers are so beautiful! For some years, every year, I bought 2 rosebushes to replace the 2 that died the year before. They were so fragrant! I had flowers, planted by a lady whose thumb was that green, it could have provided the torch light for leading the St. Patrick’s Day parade. It was like digging a hole and flinging a couple hundred bucks and covering it over. One year I had hollyhocks! They were so beautiful beaming away.
Another time, I had planted moonflowers from seed right by our screen-enclosed porch. I envisioned sitting behind scented curtains of moonflower vines on warm summer nights. I nurtured them daily admiring the vines valiantly trying to catch-on to the strings that would guide them. “Brrrrr!”went the Weed Whacker as the Master Un-Gardener was edging. ‘I deedn’t know,’ proclaimed my beloved. ‘Sigh,’ replied I.
Thank you so much dear Marge. I’m sorry your roses didn’t do well. Roses can be finnicky, and they are a lot of work, but worth it. The own root roses are the hardiest, many that you get from garden centers are not really healthy. That’s why I would only order from Rogue Valley. Now I don’t have roses in my budget but I have many here that I planted before the fire and I am working as I said to reclaim them. They are doing well,. I am so happy.
And ah, moonflowers! I adore them. I am just getting ready to soak and plant them. I am going to plant them in pots with Heavenly Blue morning glories to grow up my porch pillars on the front of the house. I hope that they do well. I will be planting them in pots for my deck in the back too. I think they are magical and they are very easy to grow from seed. You should try some again. Never fear, there is always another year!
Good luck to you fellow gardener. Keep me posted as to what you are growing. I’d love to hear… 🙂
Oh Maitri, I so love all your beautiful roses and other flowers. I sort of envy your love of gardening. It was something this Taurus did not get. But I can enjoy them from your lovely posts. I am so glad these are making you so happy. I know there is sadness underneath but focusing the beauty certainly helps while honoring your other feelings.
Love, Jean
Ah Jean, thank you so much honey, and yes, I am a true Taurus, earth mother to my core, since I have been young it has been my animals and the natural world that saved me. I was really afraid to make the leap to get the green gate garden going again but, well, here I go! And today I have had a little thought about something I might do that could be fun and make a little money. I’ll see. Just a little side project. I think the thing is, and you asked this last night, does it have to be big? No. And when you start thinking in terms of just little things, it opens up a world of tiny possibilities. It makes me smile. We shall see…
I am sending you a gentle hug honey. I hope you are well. I’m getting ready to take the pugs out and get ready for bed. Tomorrow is another day… 🙂
Happy Earth Day Maitri! Your roses are all SO beautiful, I especially love the delicate pink one in the picture with the pug exploring underneath. We just have one rose in our garden, a wild rambling rose that appeared from nowhere one year, it climbs up through the tree in the front garden and fills it with blossom and fragrance. The bees love it. Happy gardening! xxx
Thank you so much Jenny and Happy Earth Day to you too honey and yes, I really love that soft pink rose, it’s really lovely. What color is your wild rambling rose? I love them, something enchanting about them. And yes, I love to see the bees, they’re so important. I can’t wait for the green gated garden to be filled with flowers once more and buzzing bees in multitudes. It’s a glorious thing. Love to you dear Jenny… xoxox
Our rambling rose is a deep rosy pink, the blossoms fade to a very pale pink, almost white, after they’ve been open for a while. xxx
Oh they sound lovely Jenny, you’ll have to share a picture with me, I’d love to see! 🙂