Saturday, March 9, 2013

Moving Day

Having served as a United Methodist Minister for the past 22 years, I am more than aware of one reality that Methodist are often known for; our pastors move.  United Methodists follow an "apostolic", meaning "sent", form of pastoral assignment.  That is, we are sent to serve a congregation by a "General Superintendent" of the church otherwise known as the Bishop.  Regions of the country are divided into conferences of which we are members, and we are assigned or appointed within the conference - Oklahoma in my case.  For the past four years I have served the United Methodist Churches in Prague and Arlington.  I have enjoyed our time together very much.  It hasn't always been easy but it has been four very good years and we have seen many accomplishments during this time.  So as you have probably already figured out from my lead in, I am being appointed to serve a new church this year.  This will take place in early June, which (for relevance to this blog) is a prime time in rose season.

Previous times when I have moved, I have left rose gardens behind and I will be leaving many roses this year.  However, I am going to try to take several roses with me this year.  My plan is to trim and transfer a large number of my roses to our new home with a couple of month stop in my mother's garden.  I started with my "Rev Recommends" but could not limit myself to only those roses.  I hope in the next week to finish my list of roses to transfer and to trim them in preparation for the first of two moves, one in the spring and one in the summer.  I am always happy to leave rose bushes for new residents, but I don't want my hobby to become their burden, or for them to whack them down and mow them over.

I have some duplications, which will allow for taking one and leaving one, and I have some year old plants which will transplant easily.  I also have some that will not be hard to leave behind although that number is small.  Here are the ones I am certain I will take with me.  Take a look at the list of Roses I Grow and let me know which one you would take, leave, or come back and get a cutting to start a new bush next year.  I know it seems crazy to think about moving this many roses, but it seems harder to think about not growing them or replacing them with new orders.

          Making the Move - 29 So Far - Or Not Quite Half
Distant Drums
Prairie Star
Folksinger
Abraham Darby
Heritage
Jude The Obscure
St. Swithun
Tradescant
William Shakespeare 2000
Jeri Jennings
Penelope
Oklahoma
Winsome
Autumn Splendor
Lavender Crystal
Tattooed Lady
Twister
Red Cascade
Climbing Rainbow's End
Treasure Trail
Unconditional Love
Belinda's Dream
Braveheart
Siren's Keep
Pam's Choice
DayDream
Carlin's Rhythm
Linda Campbell
Moore's Striped Rugosa

5 comments:

  1. Hi, I don't comment very often but you seem to have a lot of experience with roses. My mother, recently, bought me a rose that appears to be growing on a "tree". No it isn't a grafting but the rose and the leaves look that of the rose, but it's not growing on a cane. It's growing on a tree. Her travel companion said "primrose" When attempting to look it up it looked like a brandywine crabapple. In any event, I was wondering if you had heard of such a thing?

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  2. Oh Rev, quite an undertaking! One of the downsides to the ministry must be the frequent moves and they are doubly tough on a gardener. Everything on that list is a treasure.

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  3. Janie, You have me stumped and you are right that grafted as what is called a "standard" rose was my first thought. The only other thought I have is that sometimes when roses have some years on them their canes can be as big as a small tree trunk. Here is an example of Mermaid when grown that big http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=21.166505 . That is my only other guess.

    Prof, you warned me that this would happen. I'll do my best but this is going to be a tough transition.

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  4. Thanks Rev...more research has told me this was out of neglect..I had dahlias that did this where the canes hardened...I have since planted them with compost, etc..but the main cane is still woody...any suggestions or leave as is?

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  5. Janie, If the plant is new to you, I would leave it as is, plant it in rich soil and see what happens to it this year. If it has gotten old and tired this might perk it up. Woody is not a problem as long as it is not dead or diseased. Years ago I had a plant of Queen Elizabeth that had a trunk with bark as big around as my arm with good growth and blooms on top. It would also send out new basel breaks from the bottom. If it doesn't pick up by early summer I would try an alfalfa tea. This always gets the juices flowing in a rose. Do you have a picture of the rose on your blog?

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