Roses and some lessons from them....


I've had some time to spend looking around my yard, both front and back, and realized that I've been completely ignoring....everything.

Yes, I do have gardeners and they do a great job...but I'd rather work on my roses and trim and prune them, and then I can only blame myself if they don't do what I'd like them to do.

One late afternoon this week I went out and cut off the dead roses and there were a lot of them. Then I cut off the suckers (they take up space and don't actually grow any roses).

Next, I cleared out the center of each rose bush and rose tree. This gives them sunlight to keep producing roses.

And the way I'm supposed to prune them is to find an outward-facing bud, so the rose bush/tree rather looks like a bowl. And I'm supposed cut below  "the first 5-leaflet stem". It takes some time...and I'm no expert.

The good news is they keep blooming.








I am blessed...and these roses remind me of that fact.

Live richly, marilyn

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's a "Wear -Your -Worst -Christmas- Sweater" party...

Image
A TRUE CHRISTMAS STORY...



T'was several days before Christmas when the invitation came. Come to a party all looking the same (kind of).

The assignment was easy...just look at your folks and wear a Christmas sweater of which people made jokes.

The 20-somethings searched and searched all around.  Christmas sweaters were in demand.  None could be found.

Couldn't borrow mom's she wore her seasonal covering a lot.  She even forced dad to wear the Santa sweatshirt she'd bought.

The Goodwill and Salvation Army Stores might have something they could wear with pride.  But alas all were gone.  They nearly broke down and cried.

To the festive department stores they reluctantly turned hoping whatever they found there would not leave them financially burned. 

They looked for Christmas-themed sweater treasures high and low, on shelves, on floors, this was amazingly slow.

Suddenly much to their delighted surprise, wedged between shirts something ugly caught their eyes.

Why yes!  This might be…
Read more

Rerun: A splice of life...or two.

Image
I was attending a class today, but I was the only student that showed up. I knew the (woman) instructor and so we started talking about the real estate program that she would teach. I wanted to be sure I was taking advantage of most of the program's functions. She asked me how I got into real estate. And I told her. 
That discussion lead me to this...a re-run of my initial introduction to flying. 

Splice: to join two ropes by intertwining the strands.

"Marilyn, I have something for you.  My dad wanted you to have it.  See you back at the house." This was from Bud Murphy's son, Rich.

Hmmm.  Wonder what that could be.

There are two men who have framed my life.  The first was my late husband, Carl.  The second was Bud Murphy.  The first inadvertently introduced me to the second.  And now they are both gone.  Carl, in 2002, and Bud in 2011.

Within a year of getting married, Carl decided that we must be extravagant with the $40 per month he got from a five and a half year st…
Read more

Facelift....

Image
I've taken the leap...getting the exterior of this old lady (not me), it's my house which was erected in 1898, painted.

With the rains this past winter, the house had peeling paint, had paint bubbles, and some dry rot (not sure yet how much yet).









The painters started on Tuesday.

They are super-organized: ladders stacked, drop cloths folded, paint cans organized, and they brought a microwave so they can heat up their lunch...which is homemade. They leave their tools exactly the same each day. The project manager has come by to be sure all is well.

They've spent 2 full days sanding the east side of the building and they're not done yet. This old gal (not me) is getting a facelift. They'll be working their way around the building... the last phase is the front.

While I don't speak Spanish, the music is good, but with the sanders sanding, the tunes are off.

So far, they said the house has really good wood (I'm assuming it's redwood).

I'm keeping the col…
Read more