Not long after we moved to our current house 37 years ago, Husband and I planted some roses. At that time, hybrid tea roses were advertised as only hardy as far north as Zone 4. We knew we were pushing it a little given how close we were to Zone 3, but we put in about four hybrid tea roses on the south side of the house.
We did all the things that you are supposed to do regarding tea roses, putting cones on them in the fall to protect them from the cold, pruning appropriately, etc. They flourished. One in particular was our favorite, named Taboo.
We loved its intense color. About 20 years ago we even stopped putting cones on in the fall, and yet those roses on the south side of the house returned year after year. Within the last 5 years, though, most of them seemed to age out and die, but Taboo kept going until last summer, when all there were in its spot were dead branches.
Imagine my delight this weekend when I encountered some new rose shoots just a few inches away from the dead Taboo stems while I was weeding the south flowerbed. They look healthy. I hope we can have one last Taboo blossom before we move. Hybrid tea roses are now advertised as only hardy through Zone 5, and I don’t know how we did it, but what a lovely surprise!
Any pleasant surprises for you this last month, gardening or otherwise? What have you succeeded doing even when the odds were againt you?
Trail Baboon 
i got the pleasant surprise of having my first social security payment show up. now they sent another letter saying only one of my requests for student loan consolidation was okd the other which was identical to the first needed tweeking. i tweeked it but they want payment on the unconsoladated loans as well as the ones that were consoladated and the ones rhat were consoladated . the idea is to get it down to 10% of my income . as it is its 110% of my income.
what have i succeeded at when odds are against my? whatever is next!
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The odds are against me being able to put my kayak up on the roof of my Toyota Corolla Cross today. I’m going kayaking with an old friend, and I’d like to use my own kayak so I have to put it up on the roof and strap it down. The Corolla Cross, if you aren’t familiar with it, is about the same size as a RAV4 used to be. Just a little high for me to push a 41-pound kayak up over my head and onto the roof. Then I have to strap it down. I used to be able to do this without so much trouble, but it’s getting harder for me each year. If I can’t get it up there, I’m going to cram it into the car, kitty-corner, all the way up to the windshield. It’s 9 feet long. I got it into my former Rav that way. I don’t think this car is any shorter than that one was. Wish me luck.
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Good luck!! When I purchased my first kayak 16 years ago I knew I wouldn’t be able to get it on the roof of my car by myself. I also did not have a good place to store it (small garage) so I purchased a hybrid inflatable. It had rigid metal stays in the bow and stern to give it some shape and stability. It wasn’t difficult to inflate and it only weighed about 30 lbs. A few years ago I replaced that model with a “sport” model – only weighs about 20 lbs. These kayaks are not fast nor meant for rough water but I only wanted something for tooling around on area lakes. I keep the folded kayak, 2 piece paddle, pump, and other gear in my trunk all summer. Last summer I got out 20 times. So far this summer, only 4 times – too much rain or wind. I will head out again tomorrow. BTW – the kayak company is Advanced Elements.
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Thanks! I was considering a Paddle North Karve 3.0. They’re expensive but I didn’t read any negative reviews. I’m sticking with my little 9’ Pelican for now.
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We’ll want a report later…
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I did it! I had to use a 3-step ladder but it went much better than I expected. Surprise!
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Have to read later, but I weeded the heck out of what’s going to be (yes, at this late date) the herb garden. Looked in vain for the former oregano plant, NOTHING in the garden, but I found two little shoots coming up outside the border where the patio cement starts! Better than none at all!
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For most of the day that YA and I were working on getting the stump out, I was thinking we were up against bad odds. Woot to us – although I don’t think I’ll change those odds again.
The big gardening surprise for me this year is the wild proliferation of my orange lilies. They are almost out of control, front yard and back. There are a handful near my fence along the driveway that are taller than I am!!
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Those lilies do that which is why they are used in tough landscaping areas–they grow everywhere. AKA Ditch Lillies.
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Are they tiger lilies?
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No, just orange daylilies. Unfortunately the tiger lilies that I had were around the front tree and got destroyed when the city came through and redid the street on the boulevard. I did hope that first spring that a few of them might still come back up, but they did not
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When I started thinking about adoption, I checked out every book I could get my hands on. One of the books had been written in the 50s and it had a short chapter on women adopting on their own. It said that if a woman hadn’t been married, she shouldn’t try to adopt as she wouldn’t have enough nurturing experience. Truly – I am not making this up. Seeing what a wonderful young woman my daughter is becoming, I guess I beat those odds too!!!
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Of course you did!
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OT. Blevins this Sunday.
July 13
2 p.m.
Occasional Caroline’s
Cannery Row (John Steinbeck)
&
The Florist’s Daughter (Patricia Hampl)
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Thanks for the reminder!
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I am waaaay late today. My lovely surprise this summer is the Bluebirds in our neighbor’s box across the street. Today the neighbor came over and told us that three of the four eggs hatched. The fourth egg just kind of disappeared. I am sitting out front on the patio, and one of the adults is sitting in our front garden, looking around. We also have a wren nest nearby in our yard. I am glad I removed the vegetable garden last fall and this spring. Without Lou to rebuild the fence and assist with some heavy work it would have been too much. The container garden on the deck is growing like crazy so I am enjoying the convenience of tht.
Now I am trying to decide if I should buy a riding lawnmower at the end of the season. This summer, because I was having my hip surgery I hired someone to mow. After 8 weeks I am experiencing much less pain, so the surprise is, I want to do a lot more. But do I want to take on the mowing?
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No.
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Would you expand That?
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I guess I was putting myself in Jacque’s shoes – if it was me, the answer to the question would be No. : )
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Heron Rises From The Dark, Summer Pond
So heavy
is the long-necked, long-bodied heron,
always it is a surprise
when her smoke-colored wings
open
and she turns
from the thick water,
from the black sticks
of the summer pond,
and slowly
rises into the air
and is gone.
Then, not for the first or the last time,
I take the deep breath
of happiness, and I think
how unlikely it is
that death is a hole in the ground,
how improbable
that ascension is not possible,
though everything seems so inert, so nailed
back into itself–
the muskrat and his lumpy lodge,
the turtle,
the fallen gate.
And especially it is wonderful
that the summers are long
and the ponds so dark and so many,
and therefore it isn’t a miracle
but the common thing,
this decision,
this trailing of the long legs in the water,
this opening up of the heavy body
into a new life: see how the sudden
gray-blue sheets of her wings
strive toward the wind; see how the clasp of nothing
takes her in.
– Mary Oliver
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Lovely
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