Sharon's blog: No prizes for planning

I've never aspired to be the world's greatest gardener but I sure have a lot of fun gardening. Most of that fun is not planned, it simply just happens.

Remember the rose, the one with the cane that I forgot to cut back last fall? The one that grew and bloomed bright red in the top of the wisteria a few weeks ago?

Well.

Actually Trish has been talking about vertical gardening. I was going to write about how creative I was this year and planned that all these roses would fit right into her topic, but you know better than that. My garden plans would never win a prize and that's for sure; besides, none of this was planned. It just went ahead and happened mostly without me.

So here are the roses that first appeared in the top of the youngest wisteria. They are the roses my neighbor tossed and I caught, so I don't know their names. Pretty though.

Be sure to enlarge the last image above, it is just too cool.

That's about an 8 foot trellis against the clothesline pole, so you can get an idea of how far above my head the roses are.

Then there's New Dawn, the thorniest rose known to mankind but oh boy the scent makes it one of my favorites. I planted it beneath the largest wisteria in my back yard; I'd like to say I planned it but the truth is, I didn't have another trellis, so I figured it might as well decorate that wisteria. It did, all the way up to the top of it and the top of the wisteria is even with my roof line.

You can't see the blooms very well. I guess I could climb upon the roof and get a better photo looking down, but it might be best that I don't. Just trust me when I tell you that wherever you see white in the foliage photos, that's New Dawn high above my head. I think I won't cut any canes this fall and see what happens next year. My neighbors just shake their heads anyway, so it really doesn't matter.

This is Peggy Martin. She came to me by way of a writing friend named Benny. Originally this rose survived days underwater in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. She has quite a history and I've had her since 2009. That was the year of the Ice Storm of the Century here in WKentucky, the one that destroyed so many trees including my beloved redbud. I thought. I didn't cut the redbud down, hoping it might survive a little bit, even if only a small part of it. I planted Peggy Martin at its base, thinking even if I did have to cut the redbud, I could leave some of its trunk. But it didn't die, it just lost a few limbs. The redbud and Miss Peggy are now living happily ever after.

Peggy yesterday and then today.

And then there's Granny Laurie's Rose. I wrote an article about her last year when she decided to take over the back corner of my house. Granny Laurie was Ninna's mother, my great grandmother. Actually this rose has a name too, Dorothy Perkins. She also has a history. If you know a little bit about this old climber you'll know that it received an award from the National Rose Society in Great Britain in 1908. To this day, the Dorothy Perkins climbing rose graces the walls of such places as Windsor Castle along with this tiny little castle that I call home.

The picture on the left was taken last June, the one to the right was taken yesterday, April 29. Not quite as full yet, but every bit as tall. Again.

I really wish I had made better plans; I wish I'd realized that roses have a mind of their own. It's fun though, because no matter what I do, Mother Nature does it her way. I don't really have a lot to say about it. I only have a few roses and haven't had them very long, all except Granny Laurie's rose and it's been here as long as I have. 

It's a lot of fun to wake up to all these new rose surprises. Vertical gardening, Trish, for sure!

Happy May!

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