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Where With All
Sep. 4th, 2016 08:12 pmThere is only one rose blooming in my back yard, but three feral cats napping. The cats are doing better than the roses this year. The first crop of roses this spring was abundant, but they have steadily declined since then. I believe the first crop had at least one third of all the roses the bushes have produced this year. The bushes are very old, of course, having been put in about thirty years ago, That's way beyond the normal life expectancy of a hybrid tea rose bush.
A couple of the bushes no longer produce hybrid roses but only the smaller, ancestral roses from the rootstock, but until a couple of years ago I could expect a few dozen good hybrid blooms every year. This year even the rootstock roses haven't been very numerous, and most of the hybrids that have bloomed have been undersized. I might be able to get a couple more years out of them if I put some sort of specialized rose fertilizer on them, but I don't like dealing with something that comes in a bottle labeled "rose food." It makes me think of Day of the Triffids, and I fear it might give me dreams of being devoured by rose bushes.
The spot where the roses grow, right outside the kitchen window and easily reached from the back door, would actually make a decent location for a herb garden. If the roses die maybe I'll do something along those lines with it. I'd have to put some sort of plinths with pots atop them, though, as the feral cats are accustomed to using the rose patch as a toilet. Maybe that's why the cats are doing better than the roses. However, I don't relish the thought of pee-flavored parsley.
Today was the first day since spring that I was able to leave the windows open all day. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to leave them open tonight. They were open all night last night, and the house got pretty chilly before morning. It is cooler in here this evening than it was yesterday evening, and tonight is expected to be as cold as last night, so I suspect I'll have to close the house up by midnight or so. The day still felt like summer, but the evening definitely has a touch of autumn in it. I'm sure summer has a some more warm days in store, and even a few more hot ones, but it won't be long before autumn fully takes hold. I'm eager for the first rain of the year, though that might belong delayed. At least it's going to be cool, soon, and for along time to come.
( Sunday Verse )
A couple of the bushes no longer produce hybrid roses but only the smaller, ancestral roses from the rootstock, but until a couple of years ago I could expect a few dozen good hybrid blooms every year. This year even the rootstock roses haven't been very numerous, and most of the hybrids that have bloomed have been undersized. I might be able to get a couple more years out of them if I put some sort of specialized rose fertilizer on them, but I don't like dealing with something that comes in a bottle labeled "rose food." It makes me think of Day of the Triffids, and I fear it might give me dreams of being devoured by rose bushes.
The spot where the roses grow, right outside the kitchen window and easily reached from the back door, would actually make a decent location for a herb garden. If the roses die maybe I'll do something along those lines with it. I'd have to put some sort of plinths with pots atop them, though, as the feral cats are accustomed to using the rose patch as a toilet. Maybe that's why the cats are doing better than the roses. However, I don't relish the thought of pee-flavored parsley.
Today was the first day since spring that I was able to leave the windows open all day. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to leave them open tonight. They were open all night last night, and the house got pretty chilly before morning. It is cooler in here this evening than it was yesterday evening, and tonight is expected to be as cold as last night, so I suspect I'll have to close the house up by midnight or so. The day still felt like summer, but the evening definitely has a touch of autumn in it. I'm sure summer has a some more warm days in store, and even a few more hot ones, but it won't be long before autumn fully takes hold. I'm eager for the first rain of the year, though that might belong delayed. At least it's going to be cool, soon, and for along time to come.
( Sunday Verse )
