Groundhogs, Roses, and Oklahoma!

 

by Pa Rock

Farmer in Spring

I have always had a few ground hogs here at The Roost, and while they are usually underground in their burrows, occasionally I will see one out sunning himself on a warm afternoon.  This past Sunday, however, I encountered three of the large rodents at the same time making their way across the yard.  The groundhog coterie may be getting out of hand!

One thing I have recently learned about groundhogs is that they have no natural fear of guineas - or vice versa.  I watched in amazement on Sunday and a guinea walked past a groundhog, close enough that they almost touched each other, and neither on showed any sign of alarm.  Live and let live, I suppose.

So now I have three guineas and three groundhogs.  To celebrate, I went out for a drive through town yesterday and came home with three new rose bushes - and not just any old rose bushes, but really, really nice ones, healthy, blooming, and in big pots.  Two are already in the ground, and the third will be planted this afternoon after I carefully determine the best location.

One of the roses that I have already planted is a floribunda (many flowered) plant called the Frida Kahlo, obviously in honor of the famed Mexican artist, with beautiful red blossoms with white stripes.  Frida is out by the road at the end of the driveway, a place that receives full sun and where my envious neighbors will see her every time they drive by.  She is in a spot that was formerly occupied by a fig bush that never did well in that location - but it is a spot that is better suited for roses.   I dug up the fig and expanded to hole to accommodate Frida.  

I have grown roses for years and have worked my way through all of the standard mistakes.  These roses will benefit from my hard earned knowledge.  The holes where they are (or will be) planted are at least eighteen-inches deep and eighteen inches in diameter.  I put about an inch-and-a-half of small river rocks at the bottom of each hole for drainage and then add a couple of inches of composted cow manure.  Then I set the rose in and get it level and facing the way that I think it looks best, and then pour composted cow manure in around the ball of soil that is covering the roots.  I top all of that off with still more composted cow manure, pack it in, add some more, and then cover the whole area with a thick coating of new black mulch.   Then I give each plant a full gallon of water, slowly, and leave it completely alone for about a week to get used to its new home.

The second rose that I put in the ground yesterday was a grandiflora (large flowered) called "Fun in the Sun."  It is in the front yard not very far from my typing window - in a spot that receives full sun all day from about 9:00 a.m. onward.  Funny has large yellowish blooms that are tinged in salmon and orange - and he is spectacular!

The third rose that I bought yesterday, and the one still stuck in its pot, is a floribunda (many flowered) lavender beauty named "Arctic Blue."   I am carefully observing the yard today looking for a nice spot that will catch full sun most of the day.  I will make a decision by late this afternoon and begin digging.  Arctic Blue will probably wind up someplace in my front yard.

When I was in Kansas City a few weeks ago I bought a couple of less expensive "Knockout" red roses at Costco - and those are at home next to a double flower basket hanger in the backyard.  Those red roses only receive direct sun for a few hours each morning, but they have bloomed like crazy for the past month.

I bought the three roses yesterday at a very nice fruit stand that has operated in West Plains for many years.  The three plants, plus a large watermelon, along with tax, ran me exactly what a year's tuition was at Southwest Missouri State College (now Missouri State University) during my freshman year in the fall and spring of 1966-67!  (I blame Trump and Josh Hawley for this runaway inflation!)

This afternoon I will be planting some sweet potatoes in a flower bed out front (never grown sweet potatoes before), and tomorrow I am headed to the Kansas City area where Tim and Olive and I have front row seats for the Starlight Theatre's performance of the modernized "Oklahoma!"  (Expect me to have a lot to say about people screwing around with Rogers and Hammerstein's best musical collaboration - but there is an outside chance that I might like it.  We'll see!)

Enjoy your day - dig a hole and plant something!