Sun-dappled Petal Puddles

One of the most enchanting stages of a rose is after they've cast their petals. Yesterday three big Pat Austin roses nodded sweetly at my guests. Today, they dropped their petals so I have the most marvelous, sun-dappled petal puddle on the deck!

Like spatters of paint on canvas, the rose petals spill over my deck. Like the little sparkles sun makes on water, the rose petals on my deck catch my eye and make me stop and look.




For this reason alone, I am going to get at least two more roses for the deck next year. I just have to figure out which roses keep pretty petals after they've fallen. Fair Bianca petals don't keep their pristine whiteness after they drop so they're out. Scepter'd Isle petals don't stay pink long. I can't find anywhere on the internet that lists the durability or color of various rose petals after they've fallen. Surely I'm not the only one who is interested in growing roses just for the beauty of the petal puddles.

Pat Austin petals are amazing! Like pieces of a spring sunrise they have shades ranging from yellow to pale pink to a peachy orange. They keep their color over a couple days after they've fallen too so I'm definitely getting another Pat Austin for the deck next year.

Getting more roses will max out all available sunny spots on the deck. I carefully evaluated my deck sun needs. We must reserve space for a round table with four benches, three lawn chairs, two tomato plants, a beach towel-size tanning spot for me ...and a partridge in a pear tree.

In order to accommodate the new roses and the pear tree and still have room for guests, we're drawing up plans to make a lower level on the deck! Wow. How exciting! I can picture this, I really can! Well... we're not actually drawing up plans yet. But I'm making progress in persuading the Chief of the Rose Support Team that adding a lower deck to our To Do list isn't unreasonable. In fact, a lower deck is important enough to me that I've moved the Moat to the bottom of the list and the Hedge Maze got bumped several spots down.

A lower level deck will create a fabulous railing-free view of the back yard from the dining room. Plus, I'll have lots more room for plants. There won't be a lot of sun on the lower deck because it will extend under the maple tree but there will be plenty of room for partial-sun plants.


A lower deck will also give me more room on the sunny upper deck for roses. Then the petals will flutter down to the lower deck. That's the closest I'll get to recreating the extraordinary experience of sitting in a cherry tree in full bloom, with the soft petals fluttering around me. My mom had a cherry tree and I always climbed up in it during its full pink glory every spring. It's such an ethereal thing, having petals fluttering around, like a spring version of snow. No wonder so many people throng around Washington DC's Cherry Trees when they bloom every year. I saw those Cherry Trees in DC in bloom last year for the first time and can't wait to go back. Maybe next year.

The more gardening I do, the more I realize I'm trying to recreate experiences from long ago and far away. It's actually working. ...dreamy sigh...