A Very Special Visitor

Stephen Scanniello is the former director of the Cranford Rose Garden at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, is currently the president of the Heritage Rose Foundation, and was honored last year as one of the Great Rosarians of the World.  He is an author of numerous rose books, a popular speaker, and a helluva nice guy.

 

 

 

I first met Stephen about five years ago, when he was the featured speaker at the spring garden symposium at the Lynchburg City Cemetery.  He and I hit it off, and we have seen each other from time to time at other rose events ... and we email about various things occasionally. 

 

 

 

 

Earlier in the year, I contacted him to ask if he would be interested in taking my remaining rose inventory for garden projects that he is working on in Harlem ... and he gratefully accepted my offer.  He had other business in my general area this weekend, so he combined trips and swung by here yesterday afternoon to pick up the roses.

 

 

 

Stephen Scanniello was here ... at my house ... and in my unholy mess of a garden.  I should have been mortified, but it was quite the opposite experience.

 

 

 

When the garden is as big a mess as mine is now, the roses that are doing well shine even brighter ... flaunting their flowers despite the weeds and neglect.

Stephen and I walked the garden and talked about the roses (of course).  We both have a particular fondness for found roses, and I introduced him to some of my favorites.

 

 

 

 

We also put our heads together about a project that I will be working on at Hollywood Cemetery (more on this later in a separate post). 

 

 

 

Though the sky was cloudy, and we had brief spells of light rain, my visit here with Stephen was absolutely lovely.  There's nothing much better than sharing roses and conversation like this.  It was a great way to spend the afternoon.

 

 

 

(All of the photos in this post were taken yesterday, shortly before Stephen arrived.  The overcast sky created a perfect soft light, and the roses were patient and willing subjects.)

An Unexpected Obstacle

Most of the projects here are long term, with no real beginning or end.  Yesterday, I needed the feeling of accomplishment that comes with FINISHING something, so I chose to work on the new bed on the south side of the house.  I showed it to you originally in THIS post.

Here's the bed, outlined in Richmond cobblestones.

I want to soften this view.

The roses I decided to use to climb the wall are Reve d'Or, Marechal Niel, and Alister Stella Gray ... all are yellow Tea Noisettes that should love the warm brick and bright sunshine on this side of the house.  Earlier, I sprayed the grass and weeds inside the bed with herbicide, waited a week for it to do its thing, and added a few tractor-bucketloads of topsoil to raise the bed a bit.  All I had to do yesterday was lay out the roses and peonies, dig holes and plant them, and spread mulch.

There was a surprise waiting for me with my first attempted shovel-full of dirt.

Concrete!

Under about 6 inches of soil next to the driveway, was the remains of a concrete pad.

The husband went to the garage to get the sledge hammer to see if he could break it up. 

He succeeded in chipping off a bit of the corner, only to find that the slab was at least 5 inches thick.  We agreed that it was not going to come out without the encouragement of a jackhammer.

He and I stared at the slab, brain-stormed a bit, and worked out what we think is a pretty good Plan B. 

We decided that this is the perfect place for a half whiskey barrel planter filled with trailing roses.  I dug the soil off the top of the slab, and he laid concrete blocks on top of it to raise it up to the level of the surrounding soil.  I'll go to the store in a few days and buy some tumbled pavers to cover the concrete blocks, and I think we'll have a nice feature. 

I have to straighten the cobblestones out a bit.

While he was laying out the concrete blocks, I planted 6 pots of peonies on the far end of the bed by the light post.  That's all we had time for, so I never did get the roses planted. 

Still no finished projects ... sigh.

*************************************

In honor of the first flower of the year, be sure to check in here on Friday for "Friday Flowers" and the first Give Away of the season.

(written by Hartwood roses.  Hartwood Roses blog.)