weeding

We had a great day doing house stuff. First in the morning we took a truckload of junk out of the shed and to the city dump. It's going to take many more truckloads to empty the shed, but we made a good dent in it, making enough space that it will be easier next time to sort the junk as we go through it.

We had regular junk, metal scrap, and computer monitors, so we had to go to three different dumping areas. Then we drove away, totally forgetting to go back and get weighed again! We had to turn around and drive back! At the dump you have to pay a deposit, and when you go back with the empty truck they figure out your charge, and give you back the difference. We got half our deposit back, so good thing we remembered to go back.

After a quick lunch Georg went to the station for the world music show, and I weeded. A task which I have sorely neglected, along with the rest of the garden. (I confess that when it got really hot, I started ignoring the garden.) I spent a couple of hours at it, and got done most of the bank along the driveway, and the raised vegetable bed. In some places the weeds had grown so tall they obscured the plants. So, while weeding I was also rediscovering our garden plants. We lost a few plants to the drought this summer, but not nearly as many as I had feared. I was very pleased to see that the (expensive) Plants Delight plants from this spring all made it. A few things even seemed to like the heat and neglect.

After two hours of weeding I was wiped out. I am so out of shape! I spent the rest of the day on the couch, watching TV and knitting. And also researching roses. We've got a mystery rose by the house which has never bloomed in the 10 years we've lived here. It's too bad; the mystery rose is vigorous, 100% disease free and thrives on neglect. Still, a rose by any other name might smell as sweet, but a rose which never blooms is a waste of space. And so we've decided that it's finally time to dig it out and plant something else. Namely, another rose which will bloom.

I had thought to plant Awakening, a big climber with light pink flowers. I planted one down by the road this past spring, and it's doing great. Unfortunately, I was reading about it and saw that it's known for vicious thorns. We never get close to the one by the road, unless we went out there specifically to weed or water it. But the rose by the house will be right under the electric meter and breaker box. I can just see myself in a couple of years, trying to change a light fixture or something, slashing my arms up trying to get to the breaker box, and cursing the day I had the brilliant idea to plant such a thorny rose right there.

I posted this morning on the antique rose forum at Gardenweb.com, describing the location and my wish list in terms of size, color, lack of thorns, etc. Those folks are incredibly knowledgeable and helpful and I've gotten a bunch of suggestions already. Now I need to look them all up and decide which one to order.