Thursday, June 09, 2005

A whole lotta roses

My Royal Highness rosebush is in full bloom (first flush; the second flush comes in August, I think). Compare to the photo here from May 2004. Just for fun, also compare to the photos here from March 24th of this year - two and a half months ago!


Royal Highness, June 9, 2005 Posted by Hello

This rosebush is about five feet tall and has a wingspan of about ten feet. I bought it in 1997 or 1998 for about $3.98 from a home improvement store. It was a mere slip of a thing back then, and spent a few years in a pot until it I was sure it was big enough to survive on its own. I planted it in the ground in 2001, and I think you can see that it's thrived since then!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

absolutely beautiful harold my dear. :)

anne said...

That's beautiful!

See how I am green with envy. Or maybe it's just what is reflecting up from my hostas...

Had I know this earlier, I would have slipped by your house on our way to Wegmen's last night and "borrowed" a cutting. Which I would have promptly killed anyway so I guess it's just best that I can come here and look at the picture.

D.B. Echo said...

Anne, notice the longish branch on the left, with another longish branch touching the ground. That bit of the bush is slated for "layering" - a ghoulish procedure involving knives, toothpicks, rooting hormone, peat moss, a pot, and two Fairly Large Rocks. In four to six weeks, I should have a "daughter" bush ready to transplant. If you find yourself coming into town for supplies again around then, send me an e-mail and we'll see if we can arrange a pickup!

This bush, by the way, has spoiled me for all other roses, because it convinced me that all roses are easy to grow and maintain. (They aren't, as some of my friends learned after I told them "Roses are easy!")

anne said...

Oh, what a nice offer! I will definitely keep it in mind. It is a gorgeous rose bush.

I have a lovely climbing rose bush at the house we are getting ready to sell. I'm hoping I can get a cutting from that - we'll see. It too is a very easy one to live with. Frankly, what I've heard about maintaining roses frightens me.