A Story Behind a Rose and other Everyday things

We just got a very nice rain and I don't think it is finished.

I knew it was coming so about 6:30 AM I dashed out and planted some zinnias, cosmos and some very old cleome seeds. I had prepped the beds yesterday so I was ready to go.  I even finished in time for my daughter's morning call.  She calls most mornings on the way to work and  I don't feel like my day goes forward as well as days she doesn't call.

I also got two kinds of pole beans planted yesterday and the lettuce bed cleaned out.




The above is a close up of an heirloom lettuce that is a first for me, Grandpa Admire.  I love it and will be planting it again.  The first red is Beaulah Rose and the other just called red romaine.  Love them both.


A Rose Story


We moved to the country way back in 1976.  That first year or so my paternal grandmother gave me a cutting of a rose.  She didn't know the name, just knew it was a good one.  It was.  It grew to about 5 feet tall with a gorgeous double, very fragrant bloom. I kept it for a very long time and researched it and decided  it was the rose Aloha.  I am very confident in that identity.

I took cuttings.....moved a couple to the new farm back in 1992.  It grew well and bloomed  for me for many years....I took cuttings and gave to my Iowa Sis.  Then disaster hit  the rose.  Rose Rosette Disease.    Thankfully my Sis took some cuttings for me and two years ago I planted them in the garden fence border.  This is year it has really taken off.  I will be taking cuttings again just to be on the safe side.  So I have  had this rose in its many lives since 1976.....



Since I took this photo, the cutting on the left (I have two) has shot up about 36 inches.  I am a happy gardener.  I wish you could smell it.

Food

I made bread yesterday and Max made a strange request.  He wanted it all in bun shapes.  I thought what the heck!  So I made it up in various  thickness and sizes.  So far  so good.  We eat one half toasted for breakfast and it is slightly smaller than a regular slice of bread so that is a good thing.



I made a quick and easy lunch using them.  Barbecued wieners on a bun: ( I suspect that is a redneck lunch!)

What else is new?  I know, I bought a long-handled scrubber for the shower and tubs.  It is almost impossible  for me to get down on my knees now and this works well.  No more excuses for not keeping pristine bathing facilities!



Finished on morning of 5/25.  Happy to report 1.75  inches of a nice steady rain,  no storms at all.  Now, please, it can stop!

A too long Catch-Up Post

Well, it is catch-up time again.

I am having a hard time trying to keep up with everything and am failing........

GARDENING
 
We finally got 1/2 inch of rain last night and might get a shower or  two more.  It was appreciated.  I had just planted some very late spinach and turnip seeds.   The newly set strawberries and potatoes will be happy.

I can pick lettuce for  lunch today.....it is small but needs thinning.  I have the bunching onions from my Oklahoma friend Ilene so wilted lettuce will be on the menu.

I have yet to plant the warm  weather crops:  corn,  pole beans, sweet potatoes and squash. 

My pepper seeds failed miserably after almost a month two little  red cheese peppers came up.  We were out doing MIL errands yesterday so I bought some very high-priced plants, 3  different varieties of peppers and Greek oregano.  I didn't see any sage plants so will  have to chase that one down.  It really kills me to pay those prices for plants I can grow at home!

I have been cleaning flowers beds and the cheat grass is so thick everywhere that you have to just look directly at what is in front of you and do it.....if you look around and see the 18 inch tall grass everywhere you would be tempted to throw in the towel.  

Humming Bird Bed. 
We hung the feeder out the 23rd and saw our first tiny male hummer the very next day.  We can't hang it on the porch (now screened in) now so it is outside the kitchen window hanging in the peach tree.  I didn't get a picture of him but did catch the first female visitor yesterday.

Look closely; she is well camouflaged.  Max  had to point her out to me.  I thought I just had a picture of the feeder.



Side note:  I dropped my little Canon Powershot on the floor several days ago and the lens wouldn't come out.  I tried it several days and then we picked out a slightly better Canon PowerShot.  Just after ordering I thought that I should just toss the old camera and just for kicks turned it on before dropping it in the trash can.  I  worked perfectly!  It will become Max's dedicated farm picture taking camera now.  That is not a bad thing. 

Back to the HB bed,   I finally got it cleaned and it took several hours.  It made me very happy to be done with it.

I have finally decided to buy mulch for the bed.....I have held out hating to spend money for mulch but if that is what it takes for me  to keep  some of my flower beds, I will do it.  My Sis has been mulching for years (she has a very citified country property)We garden totally differently.  I have naturalized cottage-style beds and she has mulched beds with spaces between all plants.  Not  my style but hers are quite beautiful and easier for her to manage with her eye  sight as bad as it is.

This is taken from the south side of the bed looking north (the debris is still laying on the grass).



This is taken from the north side looking southeasterly:


This is the east end of the bed.  I will be filling in the bare center with zinnias and cosmos and whatever else I can find,



New Blooms

Tradescantia in west end near bird bath in HB bed


I have lots of self-seeded Dame's Rocket (hesperis matronalis) scattered over the yard.  This clump is on the garden fence border, another candidate for lots of mulch.


I have mostly white now, but I spied (amongst the cheat grass)a very dark purple one out in the front ditch.  I may try to save seeds.

This clematis Nelly Moser.  This is one I cut back way too far two years ago and she still hasn't reached her proper height.


This is a China rose which shouldn't be doing well in my zone.  I have had it for twenty years or  so.  It has its own micro-climate on the south side of the well house and the west side of the outbuildings, well protected from cold winds.




A few iris are blooming,





The weigela opened up overnight,



This next picture will show you exactly the kind of  gardener I am.  This is where I  tossed the  dead poppy plants after shaking out all the seeds (I thought).

I have very few within beds so I now have a dedicated bed right in the middle of the grass.  Be fun to see it in full bloom.


Random pictures

I looked out the kitchen window and was surprised.  Max had seen her a few days ago on the west side of the yard.

A Beautiful Sunday Morning in the Ozarks

 


I could see the pink through the kitchen curtains and tried to capture it.  It is times like these I wish our power lines were all underground.

Yesterday was another perfect day and I managed to work outside over two hours.  I planted three different kinds of lettuce and trimmed 6 or 7 clematis and the Annabelle hydrangea.  Now I need to pick up all that debris.

Max just came in and told me it is getting windy so I may not do much outside today.  The wind is supposed to be bringing heavy rains, fingers are crossed.

My little garden plum tree is loaded with buds and I am afraid it is going to get caught by a hard freeze again.



There are just some things we cannot control.......

I have some chain -saw pruning to do.  I will use the smaller electric saw.  Maybe I can get Max to follow along and pick up the litter using the mower and the garden cart.

I definitely need to start some egg plant seeds today.  I wasn't going to do any this year but have seen some interesting recipes for eggplant.......I now have three different varieties to try.  These will go under the lights on the back porch, but first will  sit on top of the lights for bottom warmth.

One of the Korean boxwood's near the back porch (aka the patio area) are just beginning to bud and I can smell them!  If Seedscatterer hadn't mentioned her boxwoods with scent  I would never have tried to chase down that fragrance!  Thank you Jean.

OK, now for the fun stuff.  I am loving  the Cuisinart ice cream maker and have to fight myself not to use it too often.  Then I tell myself it is a good way to use extra milk, cream and eggs........

This is the machine.  The only negative is storage....of course it went on the shelving unit along with a gazillion other things.

This is stage one, foamy ( I think this is foamier because I went heavy on the cream rather than the Milnot which I will not do again for caloric reasons and that is what we are used to).

and the finished product:  from start to finish just around 30 minutes,



I use a recipe that my Sis has worked on but I modify it by using Milnot in place of the cream element (except for yesterday.  the cream certainly did not hurt the flavor).  Her recipe overfills my unit so I have to cut back the amounts a little.  I need to work that out to an exact thing and then write it down for posterity.

Happy Sunday!