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Smelling the roses

I’ll admit it, I have not been kind to my garden this year. When the Webmaster and I moved into this house nearly three years ago, we inherited a yard and garden that had been allowed to get rather overgrown and unkempt. So I went to work and planted new roses in the backyard around the deck, pruned bushes, planted bulbs, went to war with dandelions, and studied up by reading Ed Hume.

And then… children came! And I no longer had the time to dedicate to the garden. The bulbs that were planted bloomed gloriously when the Munchkin was a handful of months old – they barely came up this last spring. We’ve hacked back the overgrown rhododendron bushes. My peony needs some serious help so that it will bloom next year. The hydrangea bush by the front door – the one thing I have maintained pretty well and spent these last few years pruning into a more manageable shape – is ready to go to sleep for the winter. And my roses need to be pruned back to prepare for winter.

I love my roses, though I only planted two of them myself. I’m not sure what the other ones are called (I have a white rose and a bright, flaming coral-colored one) but the two I planted are Melody Parfumee (a lavender, heavily scented rose) and Honey Bouquet (yellow with the most delicious scent). Honey Bouquet is my favorite of the bunch, but this year the bush has not produced roses until now. It tried earlier, but the budding branch got broken somehow and I had to wait. So, finally, I had a opening bud that I cut and brought inside to grace my kitchen.

It won’t last, but it is so beautiful and smells even better. It brings a little sanity into the house. When the Munchkin has emptied out the Tupperware drawer and is trying to reach things on the counter, the rose still stands as a little bit of elegance amidst the chaos. And when I have both kids yelling at me, I have taken a deep breath and sniffed at the rose.

It reassures me that even though I have dealt with vomit and poop and spit-up during the day, beauty and serenity still do exist and I can have a part in that. It can still be in my house. It came from my garden. I need more of that coming into this house.

I had the Webmaster buy two bags of bulbs at Costco tonight – one of tulips and one of daffodils. The crocuses did pretty well this last spring, so I will leave them be for now. Somehow, I am going to weed the front flower bed and get these bulbs planted. I want them to show up next spring to bring more beauty to the garden. And I’m thinking of making my New Year’s resolution to tend my garden better. I think it will be good for me to play in the dirt. After all, the Munchkin enjoys it. And stopping to smell a rose or two when they are blooming is a good thing for all of us to do.

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