Category Archives: Antique roses

“Roses, Late Summer”

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If I had another life I would want to spend it all on some unstinting happiness.

I would be a fox, or a tree full of waving branches. I wouldn’t mind being a rose in a field full of roses.

Fear has not yet occurred to them, nor ambition. Reason they have not yet thought of. Neither do they ask how long they must be roses, and then what. Or any other foolish question.

-Mary Oliver, excerpted from “Roses, Late Summer”

 

 

I admire Mary Oliver’s poetry.  These lines, as do so many of hers, tug at my heart with an “oh, yes.”

I read between her lines that for me are describing the desire to be rid of the prickling, thorny, uncomfortable, and sometimes unnecessary things on which we spend ourselves. Oliver chooses a fox, a rose, and a tree – all created by God and lovely, although we are never told those things were created in God’s image.  Only man, with all his questions and fears, is said to be made like Him and for being with Him, not just His creation.  Only we have reason and relationship.  I revel in this life in relationship with my Creator and the family He has given me. I know who answers my foolish questions and calms my fears. I am practicing happiness as I celebrate this moment.  I think Mary Oliver likes what lies between her lines when I read them.

Greening in the Rain

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Right now we have a large dove population in our back yard. I know this because when I walk outside, I often startle a pair or two on the walkways or fence. I love finding their nests. This one is on the top of arches where a climbing antique rose grows. I can stand underneath it, which is where this photo was taken.

Greening in the Rain

Peaceful garden, greening in the rain
Roses blooming, shattering, scattering confetti on the flagstone
Hyacinth thrusting up a sweet purple bouquet
Doves building twig nests in twining vines.

Roses blooming, shattering, scattering confetti?
Shaken by startled darting wings –
Doves, building twig nests in twining vines
Petaled path inviting passage.

Shaken by startled darting wings,
I am stilled as I see their nest,
Petaled path inviting passage
Peaceful garden, greening in the rain.

Growing

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“When gardeners garden, it is not just plants that grow, but the gardeners themselves”. ~ Ken Druse

Texas Gulf Coast Winters are frequently mild, but so far this year has been strangely so. After the summer’s dreadful prolonged heat and drought, we welcomed Fall and cooler temperatures.  After earlier than usual temperature dips into slightly below freezing, we have had only a couple of freeze warnings and unusually warm days which are tricking the garden into thinking Spring.  The Peggy Martin roses on our arbor are throwing out new growth and bursting into a riot of color. Undoubtedly we will have some nips when temperatures drop again.

How can I learn and grow from tending this garden? 

I will remember that my circumstance is not always what it seems.

I will avoid jumping to conclusions based on unfinished results.

I will practice patience even when I want to demand “now.”

I will remember my Gardener knows the forecast.

 

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Welcome Back

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Last week, when straightening the house before bringing my husband home from a hospital stay, I brought the first few roses to open since early December inside to brighten the table by his chair.  A rosemary sprig completed the little bowl of multi-colored blooms…all from the same bush.  These roses, named Mutabulis, are different colors at various points in their budding and blossoming, darkening with age, instead of fading.  Single petals open soft yellow, changing through peachy coral  to  rich pink and finally dusky crimson.  Flowers of all these colors will often be on display at the same time, looking as if a host of varigated butterflies has settled on the bush.   C. S. Lewis said  “What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are.”  I can stand on all four sides of this huge rose bush and see a different color rose each time.  I know this is due to this old rose’s roots as well as by what they are nourished.  I believe I am hearing that the sort of person I am is due to the same things.

When I picked the flowers for Joe, they were the first and only to open.  Today, only 2 weeks later, our three rose bushes in the corner of the back yard are putting on quite a show.