>Over at coldclimategardening.com I came across a suggestion from another gardening blog to “write your garden’s mission statement”, and I quite like that as a concept. For now, though, I am utterly unable to do so, except perhaps that a vital part of it is to simply enjoy being in it, working in it and seeing others enjoy it. As is perhaps the case for most gardeners, really…
I went up to the summer house and the garden yesterday afternoon after dropping my husband off at the airport. When I got off the bus it was pouring down, so on the 5-minute walk to the house I got absolutely drenched, but what’s a bit of water, eh? I was there to relax and enjoy a cosy Sunday afternoon and evening, and that can be as well done in front of a fire as on the porch in the evening sun.
I did venture out in the garden to do a small bit of my to-do list; I cut some branches from the two small rosebushes and from the large rambling rose, and now I have officially started my very first attempt at plant propagation by cuttings! I’m terribly excited by this, of course, and fully expect to be sorely disappointed. (Which is why I’ve taken some 50 cuttings and plan to take more…)
This first batch of cuttings will be treated in the simplest way the internet has told me of; simply standing the cuttings in willow-water (steep pieces of willow-wood in water for a few days and then remove the wood) as willow apparently contains a natural growth hormone that will make the rooting more successful. What do I know; I just do what the internet tells me! (As my blog desription on coldclimategardening.com reads: “City-boy has just bought a summer house with a garden and is now trying to make sense of it all.“)
They are now taking up almost all of the work-space in the already tiny kitchen, but it’s the only place there was room for them. It’s a South-facing window, but as it’s a summer house there’s no heating on, so I’m guessing they will not get over-heated there.
Over the weekend I plan to take more cuttings (since the roses really need to be cut back to form bushes, rather than the straggling freaks they’ve been this summer), and that will give me a chance to try out a few of the other methods for rooting cuttings that I’ve read about. Obviously I need to see if rooting them in pots will provide better or worse results, but I also want to do some inside and some outside, and I might even get around to a garden centre to buy some of the commercial rooting hormone powder thingy that I’ve read about. Or I might not. I have a rather phlegmatic (yet enthusiastic) approach to these cuttings: Either they want to grow or they don’t want to grow. It’s no big deal, but at least I’m trying to give them a chance. Their choice!
Also, for our wedding we only asked for contributions towards our honeymoon, so my mother decided that the money my dad’s family wanted her to buy a bouquet of flowers for us with was better spent as a bank transfer to our account, but last night as I was on the phone with her, telling her about my lastest gardening exploits, she pointed out that since they originally wanted to give us flowers, perhaps that money should no go towards the honeymoon, but rather be spent on plants for the garden. I like that idea, actually; having a wedding present that lives and endures in the garden for – hopefully – many years. So whereas the rose bushes in the garden are both white tinged with pink, and the rambling one pure white, I might go out and buy two or three roses in other colours. Red is a must-have, of course, and I’ve always adored yellow roses, so there should be one of those as well.
(Did I mention I’m out with a terrible cold at the moment, hence the rambling nature of this entry and the time to write at such excruciating length?)
My husband loves roses, and I’m gaining a certain fondness for them, too, that will no doubt turn into a full-on love affair if any of these cuttings survive or even – fingers crossed – bloom. I’ve already decided where the rose bed should be; in front of the kitchen window where I discovered the poor, neglected white-with-pink-rims rose. It was hidden behind some very sturdy and aggressive perennials, so I need to dig those up and move them elsewhere. They’re pretty, but they’re strangling the rose. (Also, the rose has been planted literally inches from the wall, so it needs to be moved a bit out so it can get some air and grow in a more balanced way.)
Why should the rose bed be where I found that rose? Several compelling reasons, really, all of which combine to make it a must:
- There was a rose there already, so surely it has the right-of-way!
- It’s a South-facing wall, so they will get plenty of sun and be happy!
- It’s a South-facing wall, so it’s right next to the part of the lawn where we spend most time during summer, so we will get to enjoy them more there than anywhere else!
- It’s right outside the kitchen window, and one should always have something pretty to look at when doing the dishes!
This of course means that apart from doing all the cuttings and keeping fingers crossed they will grow, I need to dig out a rose bed right next to the house. Which means a lot of work, considering that the perennials there are VERY established and seem to have deep roots. And a lot of work that has to be done in one weekend, as we have previously-mentioned issues with water on the lawn and I really don’t want water directly up against the foundations of the house, thank-you-very-much!
I guess this long, rambling entry has gotten me a bit closer to my mission statement for the garden: I want to make it into a garden that my husband and I can enjoy separately and together! I can enjoy doing the work and seeing my work producing results, and he can enjoy the blooms and the peace of it all. And we can enjoy being there together, Far from the Madding Crowd. A haven for each of us and both of us. How I do it? Time will tell, but I will keep you posted…
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