First Planting

Ok, I found out that manure by black cows is no different than manure by any other color cows. Black cow manure is actually Black KOW brand. duh. That stuff sure looks rich. We dumped 3 bags of Black Kow composted manure, 3 bags of Top Soil, and a 3.5 cf bag of Peat Moss into a mound. Then the three boys and I stirred and stirred. We attempted our own version of a STOMP routine. 4 people, 3 rakes and a hoe. Slap, pull, slap, pull, stomp two steps to your right; slap, pull, slap, pull, stomp two steps to your right; repeat. Round and round the pile we went and mixed longer than was necessary. I don't think the neighbors have heard of Stomp so our extraordinary show was wasted. Too bad. If we were working on a hardwood floor, I'm sure we'd hear a real beat with a couple rake-collision clangs thrown in.

The first three roses went out front. I'm wondering if we put them too close to the road now. Oh well. I had no idea there was such a thing as "road easement". I mean really, who owns my mailbox which sits right next to the road? Who owns the little circle of flowers around my mailbox? Who is going to own the two rose bushes I plant right behind my mailbox? And when the roses climb up my mailbox, inching ever closer to the road, who will own the blooms? Very perturbing. Hmmph.

So we planted them anyway. I found out that the Queen of Denmark is "once flowering". The boys asked "Forever? You mean is just flowers once and then that's it for a hundred years?" Nope, it comes back once a year. Rats. Oh well, once is better than nothing. I also found out that I like the Queen of Sweden that I didn't get way better than the Queen of Denmark that I did get. Too late now, the queen is buried. And she's flanked by repeat bloomers James Galway and Septre'd Isle. I put the shorter Septre'd Isle in front of the other two. Hopefully, no one will notice that by July, 33% of the roses in that corner of the yard ran out of steam and only have leaves left. James Galway and Septre'd Isle will just have to put forth more effort to make up for the absent Queen.

We also planted three climbers. Zepherine Drouhin went on the northwest corner of the house, because the catalog says this one does well on a north wall. So now I'm wondering if the North Wall of a house in England gets the same, um, ambience as a north wall in North Carolina.

Blush Noisette was planted on the southwest corner of the deck. I hope it gets enough sun there. We'll have to put some kind of trellis up for the two roses to climb.

And lastly, New Dawn went in at the foot of the deck stairs. I'm really excited about New Dawn. I'll train it to climb the deck stair rail. I'm also optimistic that it's close enough to the deck that I can actually spit on those despicable deer from the deck if they dare get too close.

It was dark by the time we got to New Dawn. So my husband whipped out his handy dandy TWO MILLION MEGA WATT spotlight. I was jarred out of my peaceful, primal experience shoveling dirt when that blinding beam hit my shovel. I'm sure even the ants two feet under got disoriented. "What time of day is it?" squeaks one ant. "I'm not sure," says another. "Just go to the light, head toward the light," they intone.

Six in the ground, nine more to go.