Plant the roses you love

10 years ago

What I love:
Perle d' Or
Caldwell Pink
Rival de Paestum
Bubble Bath
Ducher
Quietness
And more. What I think I can count on:
General Schablikine
Rubens
More:
Erfurt
Madame Antoine Mari

I do not know what has been lost. When I cut back to a foot from the ground, and the center is almost clean, and the cane has very little red, but quite a few spots, will the rose survive?

My answer. It all depends upon how much energy that rose can gain from nature. They are all own roots. For years I have been shocked at how well some roses come back from a terrible winter, yet others never seem to move, and end up croaking.

I will not have good answers until it begins to rain. Once that happens I will be pulling out the removed canes from a murky mess of weeds to try to discard them and clean up the weeds.

By the first of June I will have my answer, but it will be too late to order roses.

I have cut my garden from 276 about 10 years ago to 140.

To keep from feeling heartbroken, I need to look ahead. My last day of teaching is May 31 - after a lifetime of teaching. I will really have to pace myself, but I will have all day and night to work, dream, barely work, piddle around, talk to the roses, and sit.

Can you tell that it is almost 5 in the morning. My day today goes from 7 - 4 with a fortunate 30 minutes for lunch that cannot be legally taken from me.

My rant is too much, but my roses will be beautiful.

It is good to have so many rose friends here. We are good at forgiveness for those who care to ramble.

How about you? I would love to hear your ramble.

Sammy

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Comments (9)

ogrose_tx
10 years ago
Oh, Sammy, I do hope they make it, and it sounds like you've done all you can. I will say that during our wonderful summer of 2011 I purchased some of Cliff's roses, and the fully mature cut back roses arrived in the middle of August. While I did lose a few, most of them made it and are thriving today! So maybe June might be worth taking the chance if you have to replace...

Congratulations on retiring! I just retired three years ago and love it.

Good luck to you on both the roses and your retirement!
Poorbutroserich Susan Nashville
10 years ago
Sammy your retirement will bring so many good things for you to cultivate--within and without.
My fortuniana order arrived yesterday with many in bud and blooming. The amount of happiness it brought me cannot compare to any other feeling.
It's amazing how the simple joys matter so much more than all the other "stuff".
Remember, while it may take some time for them to establish there are very few roses that are irreplaceable.
When I took the first sniff of Celine Forestier last night I realized how terribly badly I had missed my garden. I felt the hole but I did not know how big the hole was until that sniff brought back last summer.
Life moves forward and life goes on and so will our roses!
Susan
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Lynn-in-TX-Z8b- Austin Area/Hill Country
10 years ago
Sammy, congratulations in regards to your retirement!!! Just remember, if need be, R.U. has their summer sale.

Lynn

This post was edited by desertgarden561 on Wed, Apr 2, 14 at 21:30
cath41
10 years ago
Summer Sale?
I had just reconciled myself to ordering no more roses this year.
Summer Sale!

Cath
hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
10 years ago
Not a rant at all, Sammy, but a lovely morning meditation.
SylviaWW 9a Hot dry SoCal
10 years ago
Sammy,
I retired from teaching in June, 2011, and have never been happier. Time is the greatest "health supplement" of all -- especially time to sleep.
Welcome to the future -- where the late bell never rings. :)
Sylvia
jerijen
10 years ago
Yes. That was a lovely meditation.

DH and I retired more than a decade ago -- and immediately became busier than we had ever been. There's no TIME!

For a number of years, our roses increased, and even matured, and all was well. Now, we face what will probably be a long, long drought cycle (with maybe some wet years, we hope).

So, now, our roses are dropping in number, but we are keeping what we feel is most important (or that we love most passionately) and there is something liberating about getting rid of things like 'Lady Carolina.'

So our garden will be sparser. And we will still be busy. And that's all good.

Jeri
sammy zone 7 Tulsa
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you everyone. With 8 weeks to go, last night and next Tues night will be the last parent conferences ever. My sister asked if I were counting my "lasts". She was reading my mind.

Jeri, I have not seen many of your posts recently. i wish you would update me on your garden and dogs. I am sure that others would like that update also.

Lynn, I do not order from RU since I live in Oklahoma. Their shipping charge for my zone is very very high. I love to click on to their site, and hear the music, but our zone is at the end of their list. Michael has recommended them for years, but the price is too high. i would really like to try some more bourbon roses that are like SDLM.

Sammy
portlandmysteryrose
10 years ago
Sammy, there are so many of us on this forum who are educators or former educators. I know you have been and continue to be a great gift to your students! It's quite challenging to work in school systems all around the country, and now is a nice time to step away and pursue all those projects that you never had time to explore because you were up at the crack of dawn, you were tutoring struggling kids in your spare skinny minutes during the school day, you were spending your lunch hours at faculty meetings, you were filling your evenings and weekends with lesson planning and grading, and you were diving into designs for September in the middle of your summer vacation. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on gardens, retirement and life. I suspect the roses that you truly love are survivors. When June arrives, your final "last" will precede what will be one of many "firsts" as you expand into uncharted and fulfilling territory. You and your rose garden will grow even more beautiful together. I hope you got at least a wink of sleep before you were up at 5:00! Sending strong, healing thoughts to your roses-- Carol