Gardening, Photographing and Coughing

Gardening is possible when one has a cough. You just need a little help. I had to get the Rose Support Team to help carry all the water. It's been 9 days since I got the flu and now I'm coughing my way out of it. Today, the Rose Support Team and I delivered 18+ gallons of fortified water to the roses around the property. All four bushes along the road out front have been stripped by deer. I never got to see the James Galway bloom, with all it's fat buds too. I never even got to see the buds of Queen of Denmark. That just plain stinks. At least Blush Noisette is hanging in there, with a flush of new buds and a couple blooms so far.

We watered all the potted plants on the deck. I potted the last three green pepper plants that were starting to die in the little plastic tray. And then, just to cheer them up in their new dirt, I gave them a couple cups of rainwater from a bucket on the deck. 15 minutes later, to my horror, I discovered that the bucket of rainwater was actually caustic, soapy scrub water left over from one of the kid's chores. GASP!

By the time I found out, one of the peppers was near passing out and leaning way over. Immediately I dumped tons of fresh water on the pot. And more. And more. And more in hopes of rinsing all the chemicals out of the dirt. It must have worked because by nightfall, the peppers were sticking straight up and looked to be 2" taller. I should have measured them before planting. Now if they can just live through the night...

This evening, we picked and ate our first tomato. That was right fine!

I had to sit and cough a spell so I played around with my photos. Make sure you click on the photo to see a larger version.

Cherry Blossoms. The harshness of this photo is fascinating. It's far different from the soft pink and white color version.



















Fire Rose. The extremely rare kind the slowly grows out of hot lava.
(Sssh, Pat Austin's in disquise.)


























The extremely photogenic Pat Austin poses again.


























Ah yes, Pat Austin stylin', Miami style. I used colors reminiscent of our bright days in Miami, coral pinks and seafoam greens. Alas, my stylin' rose would never pass inspection by Coral Gables' color police. My choice of Sherwin Williams Coming Up Roses and Aquarium colors aren't on their Coral Gable's approved color list. I once heard that only certain colors of flowers could be grown there too. Ghastly if it's true! I'd die of color starvation if I lived there.

























This is Rise n' Shine. I'm crazy over dew. Make sure you click on the photo to see the larger version.




















This last will be printed to frame if I don't paint it first.
Petal Puddles.