Hopeful

Last Summer I planted a very young rooted cutting of Buff Beauty.  As most very young plants, it grew very little through the Summer and Fall as it set down roots and acclimated itself to its new home.  This Spring it is sending out hopeful new shoots. This Southeast facing location warms up quickly but is also shaded from the intense Oklahoma afternoon sun from early afternoon to evening.  As a group, Hybrid Musk roses seem better equipped to grow in partial shade than many other roses.

Early warm Spring days are the most hopeful in the garden.  They hold forward all the potential that lies ahead.  It is also a time when early growth walks the tight rope of potential setback from a late freeze.  In our setting I think once we get to April we are often safe from a freeze, but it isn’t until tax day that I begin to breathe easy.  I need some reason to feel better about the day.  So for now like my young plant of Buff Beauty I am hopeful.

Favorite Photo from Last Year




Buff Beauty, Hybrid Musk, bred 1939

  This is my favorite rose picture from last year.  While I am growing Buff Beauty at our current home (we moved in June of 2009), this is one I planted for my mother on Mother's Day 1994 and the photo was taken on Mother's Day 2010.  It was planted to grow over an arch which rotted out and was blown down in a wind storm in 2009.  You can make out where the arch was and see how Buff Beauty has held its shape even though it has shifted and dropped down some.  The bush lost about 1/3 of its size in the storm and the pillar was then added.  What is remarkable is the resilience of a rose bush to bounce back or to take a shape it might not by nature.  Without a pillar, arch or wall to grow against Buff Beauty tends to spread out over a larger area than it grows tall.  Yet with training and support it can grow to be a nice climber.  Maybe we can all learn something about resilience from Buff Beauty.