Roses

I always said I wouldn't grow roses because they are too much trouble, and even though the flowers are undeniably beautiful, the bushes themselves are not. (I also said I would never grow vegetables...but that's a story for another day)

But, finally, I decided to just grow a few roses because it seemed any serious gardener should at least try. So,about half a dozen years ago, I ordered the Pickering Roses catalogue and ordered 4: 2 climbers and 2 shrub roses. One climber died on me a few winters ago, but the other, the Duke of York ( a white rose that is supposedly the white rose of the War of the Roses fame - Lancaster vs. York , remember?) is doing very well. It started blooming about a week ago and is quite lovely and very vigorous. It is blooming about 2 weeks early, but everything has done that this spring.

The other rose that has flourished is the shrub rose Prairie Princess. The flowers are very like those of a hybrid tea and are a gorgeous medium pink. And this spring, it is blooming like it has never bloomed before. When I look out my kitchen window, I am treated to the sight of dozens of roses in bloom. Maybe it's because we had a milder winter, or maybe I gave it an extra dose of compost last fall. And because it's blooming extra early, I don't think the insects that usually attack it are around yet. It usually blooms for about 3 weeks starting in mid June, then rests for a while and blooms again less prolifically in the later part of the summer. It's in that second blooming period that I have to fight those Japanese beetles. I pick them off, wearing gardening gloves, and drop them in a pail of soapy water. But you have to be fast when you grab them, because they are flying insects. It will be interesting to see what happens with the roses later this summer.