Five Things for Friday

The roses in my new garden behind the greenhouse are doing very, very well.  Even the teeny tiny ones have settled in and are growing like crazy.  The garden itself, though, still needs me to finish the mulch.  Three more pick-up loads, which equals about six cubic yards, should do it. 

One of the roses in that garden opened its first flower yesterday.  This is 'Mrs. Robinson', a Floribunda from Cliff Orent in California.  This rose has everything that I love most in roses ... single row of petals and colorful stamens.  It's still a baby and it's kind of floppy right now.  I hope it will stiffen up and grow more upright as it matures.

I have noticed that the new leaves on the ends of some of my long rose canes are being eaten by something, starting at the tip of the cane and working downward.  A careful look at the underside of the leaves showed these little guys, Curly Rose Slugs.  I don't use insecticides, and there really weren't enough of them in the garden to justify it anyway.  I just spent a little time checking all of the roses that had damage, and I picked and flicked the little critters one by one.

I am leaving later this morning to go to my brother's house in SW Virginia to finish painting his kitchen cabinets.  In preparation to be gone for a few days, I moved my potted roses to a central location to make it easier for The Husband to keep an eye on them for me.  These little pots contain rooted cuttings from friends and rustling excursions.  I think they will be big enough in the next month, to have some to sell at a fall open garden day/weekend in October.  Stay tuned.

The big-leafed things up by the seat are figs ... They will definitely be for sale.

I have little appreciation for vinyl stick family decals ... but these, on a van parked beside me at the store yesterday, made me smile.

 

I have been thinking and thinking about how to pack and transport the doors and drawer fronts for my brother's kitchen so they don't get damaged on the trip.  Yesterday morning, I had a brainstorm ... pack them in pillowcases!  Now all of them are packaged and ready to load into the car.

Speaking of loading the car, I should hush now and get to it.  Most things are gathered and ready to go, so it won't take long.  I have no cell phone service where I'm going, and I don't know the status of Internet access, so I may be out of communication here till the middle of next week or so.

It's a beautiful day for a road trip!

(Happy "Random Five Friday", Everyone!)

Five Random Things

This has been a week filled with lots of different things, so it seems fitting to finish it by participating in Random 5 Friday.

1.  I caught a groundhog shortly after I put out the trap on Wednesday.  I loaded him into the truck, took him a few miles down the road and let him go at an abandoned/dilapidated house.  There are lots of outbuildings and places there where he dig to his heart's content and make a new home.  I think the rest of the groundhogs got the memo about cantaloupe, though, because no one touched it yesterday.  I can hear them now, "Eat that stuff and you disappear, man."

"I smell cantaloupe."

 

 

"Oh, crap, I can't get this thing open."

 

"No!  I don't want to go for a ride."

 

"Hey, Lady, you need to wash your truck."

2.  I took my camera out with me early this morning when I went to bait and set the groundhog traps.  Everything was covered with dew, making for some really pretty photo opportunities.

A frosted flower on 'Plain Talk'

 

New leaf on 'Sombrieul'

 

 

Japanese Beetles are still here ... and there were a LOT more of them than in the past few years.

 

3.  I'm working hard to get my new rose garden along the fence behind the greenhouse finished.  The weather has been terribly uncooperative, with hot temps and stifling humidity ... so I worked in short shifts and took lots of water breaks, planting 10 or 12 roses per day.  Yesterday, though, was unseasonably cool and wonderful, and I got a LOT done.  It doesn't look like much yet, but it's going to fill in and be fantastic!  (I'll give you a start-to-finish post about this when I actually get to the 'finished' part of the process.)

I'm being a good girl and finishing each rose completely before I move on to the next one.

See how they are all hooked to the irrigation line?

 

That little patio table is shading a small rose so it can acclimate to its new location without getting scalded.

4.  This is where Dorothy spends her mornings ... sitting at the kitchen door watching birds.

5.  As of today, The Husband and I have been married for 33 years!  We met at a college party in December 1979, went on our first date a few weeks later in January 1980, were engaged by mid-March, and four months later we were married.  Three daughters, numerous homes, untold challenges, and we are still crazy for one another. 

Today will be another beautiful day.  The Husband has to work, and I plan to continue planting roses ... at least until lunchtime.  We'll have to see about skipping out and doing something special this evening.  Honestly, it doesn't have to be much because any time I spend with him is special.

Happy Anniversary, Sweetheart ... I love  you!