Sheri Ann and Gardening Homework

The miniature Sheri Ann rose from Spring Hill Nursery bloomed today. How pretty it is! It's small and sprightly, with a faint fruit punch fragrance.

I planted the nine miniature roses from the Spring Hill collection in three pots but killed four. Because they aren't marked, I have no idea which is which until they all bloom. I'm really hoping that the miniature Orange Honey, Toy Clown and Green Ice roses from that collection make it. Alas, I won't know until everything blooms to find out who's missing.

The rose that bloomed is much prettier than the photo in the catalog. Usually it's the other way around, with the catalog making you drool. I had to hold the Sheri Ann between my fingers to steady it because the wind was blowing briskly when I took this shot.

Here is a photo of the latest additions to my ever-lengthening Gardening Homework list. Ooo, I just love getting boxes in the mail that have airholes and say "Perishable" on the side! Yes! This Wayside Gardens order is comprised solely of "deer-resistant" plants: 3 Munstead Lavenders, 5 Garden Phlox, and 2 Bicolor Butterfly Bushes. I had a non-gardening friend visiting so she helped me open the box.

"What's this?" she asked in amazement as she pulled a leafy plant out of the sea of packing peanuts. Judging from her expression, I think she was expecting something fun, like new clothing or books. Instead, she looked like someone opening a box of laundry and half-eaten spaghetti. Shocked and baffled. I could see her struggling to match my enthusiasm over this shipment of strange, weedy-looking plants, especially after she looked at the invoice.

I showed my friend the pictures in the catalog and told her about each of the plants. "Well, that plant doesn't look anything like the catalog!" she exclaimed after comparing items. I guess there are folks even more beginner than me so I explained how catalogs send out baby plants but feature the plant in full bloom.

I ended up talking my non-gardening friend into buying a tomato plant next time we go to the farmer's market and convinced her she can have fresh tomatoes all summer. This gardening stuff can be contagious and my friend is catching it. Yay!

The copper tags that came free with the order are really nice. They're way heavier and classier than they look in the catalog, and infinitely better than the tacky store tags currently on some of my plants. I had removed some of the David Austin rose tags during planting and it took a couple months to figure out which roses were which. I had to wait until they were sufficiently grown so I could identify them by the leaves and thorns. Copper tags would have prevented the plant identification problem.

We tried out the Rose Pharm soap on a couple roses. It arrested the aphid march, much to my relief but was easy to overspray. We have to be more careful next time we treat the roses. The best part is it's 100% pure and smells nice and pepperminty, much better on a fragrant rose than some of the noxious bug sprays out there. The peppermint smell quickly dissipates so it doesn't interfere with the rose fragrance.

sigh. I think my mom was right - I'm biting off more than I can chew. The stone wall around the patio isn't done yet which means we can't put in the raised bed next to it. Which means the new plants from Wayside are going to be homeless for a little longer. I hope to get them potted this weekend because I don't want to lose them. I've already killed four minature roses and a lavender so far this year. Every day I look out my kitchen window at the struggling Graham Thomas and Jude the Obscure. That scene provides all the Plant Abuse Guilt I need to last a whole summer.

Oh, the best part of the day was this --> cutting and giving away 4 Fair Bianca blooms from the bushes in the front yard to a neighbor from down the street. Mmm, that fragrance just has to be shared.