In 1989, Dave and I fell in love with a ramshackle old house on 3 overgrown acres. Six layers of newspapers nailed on the walls (yes nailed!), were pulled off to reveal hand hewn boards. Vines of all sorts were finally battled to a standstill and we began to find many decades of heirloom shrubs. The elderly lady who had last lived in the house was crippled and never went out much. Her passion was her shrubs. The neighbors told us “anytime Ollie had a dollar, she bought another plant”.  The spring was a true delight of discoveries.  Our neighbors told us to watch for the blue rose to bloom~~

I was so delighted when the blue rose first made her appearance. As we got to know the neighbors, we got used to hearing “oh, the blue rose. I have one from a cutting Ollie gave me.”  I carried on the tradition and gave divisions to friends for 50 miles around and brought a division to our new place. This morning the first blue rose of the year opened. I love thinking that my friends and Ollie’s friends are enjoying their blue roses.  The proper name for the blue rose is Veilchenblau and you can read a little about it at http://www.antiqueroseemporium.com/rose-1009.html There’s a picture there showing the clusters and the different shades when the rose is in full bloom.  My readings mention that it was often used as a rootstock for grafted roses. I think our area blue rose is probably the result of a grafted rose dying back to the rootstock. The blue rose was developed in 1909. Happy 100th Birthday!!

I am not a flower gardener. I forget to water, I forget to weed (well, I remember to weed – I just don’t do it), and snakes hide in the flower gardens. Dave killed a 2 foot copperhead last weekend. But roses are tall and I can weed eat under them.

This is my “ditch rose” (probably a rugosa). It was growing wild in a ditch. I figured I wouldn’t be able to kill it and I haven’t!

Cheap unmarked Walmart rose – blooms all summer, never gets any weird rose diseases. An unexpected treasure.

White Koster – tiny 1 1/2″ blooms. Every so often one will have a bright red petal.

Besides roses, I love Irises – especially the simple, elegant shape of this one.

CAN WE GO NOW?

I’M BORED AND I’M TIRED OF LOOKING AT FLOWERS. I WANT TO GO PLAY BALL~~