so blue

You know that Ocean is not a place where I feel compelled to opine about political matters. (Not that I want to opine about political matters anywhere: wiser people have spoken wisely and I stand behind those women and men.) However, I have to say that I woke up, I remembered last night, I glanced at the headlines this morning and I smiled, big time. Millie got an extra belly rub and an enthusiastic let's go! And as we went down the stairs, I added -- puppy, we are ushering in a new era! She understood. (Walking down the stairs with her in the morning is, I admit it, always joyous. She has this way of mingling with my feet without tripping me up. Exuberant and happy -- that's her default setting in the mornings.)

The rains have finally let up, though we are in that November absence of color phase that always seems just a bit to dreary. It helps that this year, several roses are still putting out some blooms. Let me show you one of my favorites -- Carding Mill:

 

Breakfast. Millie waits for me, keeping an eye out on the outdoor activity. We both  listen to the news because for once, it's not depressing! When was the last time you heard me say that?!

 

 

 

Millie wants to know what we're up to next. Are we in, are we out, am I going somewhere?  Sweet girl, I have to brush out your coat from yesterday's play session. 

There. That's better. 

 

 

 

While she naps, I put another rose into the ground, and I also plant in containers the four roses that are not safe for this zone, but that can do fine overwintering in the garage in the coldest months. All good, all five are in. It isn't until after lunch that I realize that I've made a bunch of mistakes with my roses. But, that comes later. First, Millie and I meet up with Ed at Tati's cafe. My pup loves these familiar outings, probably because she knows she'll get a pup cup, but also because this is now known territory for her. 

("is my pup cup in production?") 

 

 Now that the weather isn't so great, I'm less excited about doing big outings with her. And the everyday stuff? Most places where I'm likely to go in my errand runs are either not dog friendly, or they're so boring that I want to run in and out quickly, while she is at doggie daycare. And so Millie has little exposure to new settings. I realize that this is not good. Even though she is past the stage when it really shapes her development, still, I do worry that her introduction to new people and new places has stalled.

(same old...) 

 

And after the coffee shop break, we do stay indoors. And another box comes and it has a rose and I unpack it and this is when my whole rose plan gets very very messy. I could say it sort of falls apart, but that would be perhaps overly dramatic. 

The thing is, although I have added roses and expanded the beds without a grand master plan, I do draw up a sketch of what goes where with each new addition, because it really cannot just be random. The roses are of varying heights and colors and growth habits, and they have to fit into the garden harmoniously. Climbers need trellises. Small shrubs can't hide behind massive branching bushes. And my favorites, and the ones with great fragrance -- these should be up front, not stuck against a wall of the house.  So every time I have purchased a plant, I have spent a long while figuring out how to integrate it into the entirety.

And then comes this package today from a new to me nursery. One with a good reputation, but each nursery or rose farm has a shipping style and size and I thought that the good reputation would mean that the rose would be at least in a gallon pot. It isn't. It's tiny! The size of a spoon, really. All my other roses have been at least a year old and many are three to four years old. This one? Cant be more than a few months. 

That's a problem. I can plant roses so long as a hard freeze is still at least a month away (our ground freezes typically in the last weeks of December). But I just do not believe this baby plant is ready for the big time. She is so fragile! And here's another thing -- I had planned for her a prime spot, right by the bird feeder. I dug a hole there that's probably two feet deep and almost as wide. Ha! Wasted effort! And I cant put in a rose into such a prominent place knowing that she'll likely not survive.

And so I work on redoing the plan for the roses yet to come: move Dee-Lish from the place by the AC fence, put her in the hole where the popcorn rose tree once lived  (she is in a pot now, ready to go into the garage) and where I had thought the Starlet Beauty Eva, with a nice obelisk, would reside. Eva will be going over to the bird feeder. I'd put Leonardo da Vinci there, but I think his bloom may be too traditional for a front row seat. And the Strawberry Macaron would be perfect, but she, too, is coming from a strange to me nursery, so I can't risk that. Dames de Chononceau will be (eventually) too tall, and Madame Anisette is too creamy -- I have to Eden creamy roses right behind. Too much cream is not good. Better to put this tiny Comtesse de Segur in the back, at least for now. In Dee-Lish's place.

 And this is when the mistakes just kept piling on. I considered potting her for the winter and sticking her in the garage, but then I read that if I pot her, it should be in a small pot, to be moved to a larger pot later in the game. Really? Does that go for all roses? It does. So much is using big pots initially a no-no, that I almost took my four ones from earlier in the day and switched them to smaller pots, but it struck me that since I wont be watering them much in the next four or five months, it probably doesn't matter that they're in their forever homes. 

It was getting very late and very dark by the time I sorted all this out.

In thinking about it later, I realized that like with perennials, you have to develop a feel for and an understanding of what you're doing. At the beginning, there are so many variables that you do not consider because you do not know that you should be thinking about them. Potting some roses was supposed to be the easy game. Sure, it took me forever to figure out the best soil for this (not one used for in-ground plantings, not one with any fertilizer in it, not one for indoor plants... and so on), and I went back and forth on whether to get burlap for the pots given the fact that my garage is not insulated, but after that -- easy peasy, no? No.

I realize that roses are not your thing (very few people grow them, even fewer like reading about someone else growing them!), but I'm writing about this anyway, because I think there's value in thinking about all that goes into learning something new. Pickle ball for Ed, roses for me: steep learning curve for both. And honestly, that's a good thing.

Now, let me put all this aside and think more about blue waves and such. Always nice to end on a sweet note of hope.

with so much love...