Grand Theft Roses

by Pa Rock

Man with a Shovel

I went on a rose-planting binge this very month four years ago and put out a total of eight rose bushes, seven of which are still alive and blooming.  They got off to a late start this year after my son, at my direction, mulched each plant with fresh mulch last fall, and by fresh I mean the mulch was from the branches of two trees that we had just had cut down on the property.  This spring there was a weather quirk that set back things that had already begun to green, and all of my beautiful roses soon appeared to have died.  It was the mulch or the weather, I wasn't sure which. 

But before long little shoots began pushing up through the mulch and new canes formed.  The old canes were dead, but I left them in place to act as supports for the new ones.  Two weeks ago the basically new rose bushes began blooming.

The two most beautiful roses on the property sit close to the end of the driveway next to the road.  One is a floribunda  called "Frida Kahlo," after the famed Mexican painter.  It has large blooms that are striped pink, yellow, and while, very festive and very reminiscent of the artist's work.  Frida produced her first blooms during the past week - always a show-stopper!

I can't remember the name of the other rose, but it was a moderately-priced yellow floribunda that does well.  It produces large buds and striking yellow blooms that begin as dark yellow and slowly fade toward white. This year that yellow rose bush was superb, covered with buds and blooms to the point that it looked like a biblical burning bush.  On Thursday morning I counted twelve open blooms and twelve buds about to open.

On Friday morning my beautiful yellow rose bush had two partial blooms that were faded to almost white - and nothing else.  Some Joe Bob, or maybe his criminal mother, from down the road had stopped during the night and trimmed the beautiful bush for me.  Sadly, they didn't mow my yard while they were here.

This is Memorial Day weekend, so perhaps the culprit was preparing to decorate a grave, though a spray of yellow roses seems a bit gaudy for a cemetery, at least to me.  But if that is the case, I hope the deceased and their family members enjoy them as much as I did.

But I like to imagine that my beautiful yellow roses were used for a more romantic purpose, perhaps as part of a proposal.  If that's why you took my roses, Joe Bob, I sincerely hope they led to success and that your sister said "Yes!"  May your marriage a long one, and may your children be as plentiful as the yellow buds and blooms that were in your proposal bouquet.  You deserve nothing less.

All the best - from your neighbor, Pa Rock!