Roses! Flowers! Color! - Days 1-3

(The above photos were taken by Greg.) Before flowers were added. We didn't have the foresight to take photos of this area before the 4 bushes were recently removed.

(The above photos were taken by Greg.) (1, 2, 3) Me working in the garden. (4) Closeup of one of the Cosmos flowers. (5) My beautiful Cavalier Z24, Bill's Harley Davidson motorcycle, and Bill who cannot believe what his eyes see as I work in the garden.

(1) I let Bubba the Goat (hmmm, our grass-crazed cat) wander around the front yard grazing while I took photos. She's strictly an indoor kitty and cries for hours when the front door is open and we're outside or go anywhere near the screen door. She sniffed the roses and flowers but found the grass more interesting. And, yes, we have an alarm system - in addition to advertising the alarm company, the sign is supposed to warn potential intruders so they'll go somewhere else. (2) 5 rose bushes in front of the window. (3, 4) Assorted flowers planted in the long side of the L-shape.

(1) Perennial Coreopsis (golden yellow daisies). (2) Dwarf Lily of the Nile. (3) Sugar Cheer Marguerite (double pink daisy flowers) and Cosmos Mix (white, light pink, redish delicate flowers with lovely lacey green leaves). (4) Prime Time Blue Star Petunias. Not shown: Ultra Mix Petunias (solid red, maroon, pink, white), Ultra Blue Petunias (solid dark purple), Hulahoop Blue Petunias (dark purple with white borders).

(Photos taken the afternoon of Day 3 - Sunday, June 22.)

3 of the rose bushes have small buds. The pink one (called First Prize) had a fully-formed bud when it was planted. The rose opened overnight! So purty, err, pretty!

From left to right facing the house, the rose bushes are:

• Gypsy - large, fiery orange-red blooms with a light, spicy fragrance
• John F. Kennedy - large, fully double flowers in greenish white with high centers and mild licorice fragrance
• TANorstar Tropicana - large, fully double flowers in vibrant coral orange with strong, sweet fruity fragrance
• Gold Glow - very full, high centered, golden yellow flowers with a mild fragrance; dark green to bronze leaves, tall upright growth habit
• First Prize - very large, double, high centered flowers in gentle pink with ivory tones and mild tea fragrance

Day 1 - Friday, June 20

Friday morning, after seeing Home Depot's ad for roses at $5.99 each for a 2-gallon bucket, I decided that was cheap enough for me to go look at them to decide whether I wanted to buy and plant now - instead of waiting until January or February to buy and plant bare root roses. So, my husband took the VW Bug to work and left his truck for me. (Friday was a 3-day weekend for me - the college I work for allows us to work our 40 hours in 4 days for 10 weeks during the summer so they can save on air conditioning and electricity costs, etc. and we can have 10 3-day weekends.)

My son, Greg, is visiting us for a few weeks before he moves to Virginia to attend William & Mary School of Law. So, of course, I dragged, err, took him with me to Home Depot to buy roses and other flowers for the front yard! How fun! About $80.00 for 4 rose bushes, 11 other flowering plants, a large plastic watering can, and 3 large bags of composted soil to mix in with our clay-like soil. (After 45 minutes or so, I hear "Mom, it's getting close to my one-hour limit on shopping..." Did I rush? No. We got in line to check out another 30-45 minutes later, then it took another 15 minutes or so to get through the checkout line. Hmmm, at least he isn't a toddler anymore throwing tantrums in stores.)

We came home, placed the rose and flower containers where I wanted to plant them, waited a few hours for the major sunshine part of the day to be over, and then got to work loosening the dirt in the L-shaped garden bed around a grass section of the front lawn. Bill got home from work around 6:00pm and laughed at all the containers of flowers on the front lawn. He and Greg dug holes for the roses and chopped up more roots from the bushes that had been there before. We removed old bark and chunks of rock, mixed composted soil with ground soil and planted 2 rose bushes. I then started dinner while they finished planting the other 2 roses bushes.

Day 2 - Saturday, June 21

There was room for a 5th rose bush so Greg and I went back to Home Depot Saturday to buy it. We again waited until about 4:00pm when the sun wasn't as hot to do the planting. Bill was home from work and his motorcycle ride by then so the 3 of us planted the 5th rose bush and the 46 other flowering plants in L-shaped area in front of the house. It looks so good! Very colorful! The roses will (hopefully) grow and bloom and be just beautiful next to the other flowers.

Yippee! No back pain or other discomfort as a result of stooping, sitting on the ground, and crawling around on hands and knees.