EVERYTHING’S COMING UP ROSES…I HOPE!

We finally got a break in the weather this weekend…it’s up in the 50’s, the snow is finally gone, and the sun is even trying to find its way through the clouds. This seems like the perfect day to drive to the garden center and get my McCartney rose.

A quick phone call to Antonella by the owner of the garden center tells us where to look for the rose she has set aside for me. As we walked to the back of the yard, Art stopped to get two large bags of rose planting mix.

After a few minutes of confusion, the rose with my name suddenly appeared right in front of me! It looked very healthy and had just the first beginnings of growth. I was told to plant it as soon as possible, and after a quick stop at the grocery store I was ready.

As I gathered everything from the garage, I realized that the slow release rose fertilizer that I had brought from the states was nowhere to be found. Art and I looked in every imaginable place with no luck. The last time I saw it was sitting on the ledge of the small window in the wood room. Neither one of us can imagine that someone in San Venanzo would take it out of the garage, but for now, I can’t imagine what else could have happened to it.

I took a few empty buckets, the shovel, and a rake to the backyard. I had a few plants to rearrange before planting the rose, and that was fairly simple. First I moved the verbena that fried last summer. I had thought about putting it into a large pot, but since I didn’t have one and the plant needed to be moved NOW, I decided to take a chance and move it to a VERY shady location. If it lives, great, if not, well, every garden has things that just don’t work out.

Next I raked all the mulch aside and started to dig in the area where I would plant the rose. I figured that the dirt that was the deepest would be the worst dirt, and planned to take it over to the garden at Adamo’s. I’ll use it to hold the newspaper mulch in place later in the spring.

Previously when we’ve dug in the backyard, we’ve actually needed to add more dirt than expected because we always remove so many large rocks. This was why I had insisted on two bags of soil instead of just one. Art and I took turns digging and turning the soil over, and we removed lots and lots of rocks as expected. Once we had the bagged soil worked in thoroughly, I played around with the placement of the rose. A good watering, then raking the mulch back in place and I was done! Although the sun in this particular location was way too intense for the verbena, I’m still not sure that it will be sufficient to support a rose. I had to take the chance and at least try, because I love this rose so much. Time will tell.