What a day. I dug out the poor Whimsy that won't leaf out, and mixed up peat moss, compost and potting soil. I trimmed back all the tiny canes and soaked the whole thing. Then, I mixed up a bucket of what daylily people call the "Hooker formula". It's water, epsom salts, miracle grow, superthrive, rooting hormone and fish emulsion. I added some soil moist crystals just for fun. Once I planted the rose in a 3 gallon pot, I poured the mix in. Boy does it stink. My dogs thought it was wonderful. I used the rest of the Hooker mix on annual combination planters. DIdn't get far with it, because a blue-black wasp of some sort stung me. I'm horribly allergic to some insect stings, so I have an epi pen in the house. The sting was one of the most painful ones I've ever had. Last time, the doctor said I would only get stung one more time...funny guy...looks like I survived. My arm swelled up and has a big purple area, but it didn't affect my breathing this time. My daughter was home from school so she mixed up baking soda and got poison control on the phone. We keep Benadryl handy too but in my near-panic I had forgotten to take it until the medics told me...duh.
We still have not identified the wasp. It was about 2" long, mostly black, little bit of iridescent cobalt blue. It didn't attack me. It was on my shirt and I didn't see it, and pressed my arm against it. Really don't know how it could fly in this wind. Anyone know what wasp it might be?
Tomorrow I'll get to follow up with the doc, hopefully won't have to do steroids. Terminex is coming in the afternoon but they use a pretty mild chemical because we keep bees (I know, it's like i have a death wish, isn't it) and we had a cockatoo in the house so that limits them. All the bee hives are on the far corner of the property and I have a bee suit for when I mow around them. They leave me alone for the most part.
Anyway I'm blaming the rose, thinking it must have a curse on it or something.
