Promising a Rose Garden

For gardeners that first flush of bloom and color is of paramount importance.  For rosarians the first flush in the rose garden is ecstasy.  The First Flush varies from year to year in magnitude; some years better than others.

There was a time when I could experience this in my own garden with numerous hybrid tea roses of brilliant color and pungent fragrance.  Due to lack of sun, I can now grow only Knockouts and a few antique roses, and while these are beautiful, they cannot compare to the first flush of the tea roses that occurs around the second or third week of May in our area.  And so I must seek this elsewhere.

Last year was a special year in that on the 17th of May I had surgery to remove cancer from my breast.  I knew I was facing a bit of a recuperation and then radiation so the First Flush took on even more importance to me.  So during Memorial Weekend we headed down to Brookside Gardens, a public garden in Montgomery County that features a beautiful rose garden.

We could smell the roses even before we could see them.  I approached the garden and there it was:  one of the most magnificent flushes I'd ever seen! 

I headed to a bench in the middle of the garden when someone yelled,  "YOU CAN'T GO IN THERE!   WE'RE HAVING A PRIVATE EVENT"!  Sure enough folks were inside the garden milling about.  We have been there before during events, even sharing the gardens with an occasional bride, but had never before been blocked from the garden -- especially on a holiday weekend -- and rudely at that.  After being taken aback, I replied I'd only take some pictures of the roses from a respectful distance and we would leave.  

As we walked the path to leave the gardens a garden volunteer kept yelling at us that we couldn't go in, they had to rent out the gardens to earn money, but if we wanted to wait two hours we could go inside.  We didn't.  And needless to say, we won't be going back.

Saturday's Garden Visit

Last Saturday afternoon at Brookside Gardens was lovely.  The temperature registered 86° and  the gardens were not crowded.  We were a little disappointed, but certainly not surprised that the flowers looked a little worse for the wear; the roses tired and hardly blooming.  Actually, I found this heartening as comparatively, ours look pretty good.  I've mentioned in other posts that this seems to be the year for butterflies.  We saw many at the gardens -- all outside of the special butterfly exhibit they now feature.

Butterflies enjoy the Joe Pye Weed

Purple Basil and Rice

Vegetables, Herbs, and Flowers

Watermelon and Swiss Chard

Zen water feature in the rose garden

Reaping What One Sows

Did I mention that husb did not lose a filling?  No, it turned out that he only had a sharp surface that our wonderful dentist smoothed.  Problem solved.

Youngest daughter has left the Madeira School's equestrian program to manage a wonderful barn in Virginia horse country.  Middle daughter is out on the Chesapeake Bay fishing, and son and DIL are camping in the Outer Banks.  While things are good right now, I've gotten used to waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The weather has changed a little; it's still warm but we're not wilting under the brutal temps of the past two weeks.  This afternoon we'll head down to Brookside Gardens and stop in at Comet Pizza/Ping Pong and maybe the Politics and Prose bookstore if it's still open.  This morning, with garden hose and Windex bottle that attaches to the nozzle in hand, I'll do our front windows and screens.  This to me is fun.  Maybe I should get out more.

The gardens seem to be a little happier with the cooler temps and it's beginning to sound like late summer as I note crickets have now joined in the cacophony of the cicadas.  The air is rife with butterflies; I've never seen so many.  I've been sowing cosmos and threadleaf zinnia seeds for late harvests.  I like this idea, and will plan to do more late season seeding next year.  I'm about to pull all the snapdragons that returned from last year (amazingly after all that snow!) as they're getting really ratty and sow snapdragon seeds that will bloom this fall and maybe next spring, too.

Just Like Frogs

Many vertebrate and invertebrate animals estivate to escape their environments.  And just like frogs,  we have burrowed down:  have drawn our blinds, closed the shutters, and turned off most lights.  We have a variety of beach umbrellas (purchased on our many trips to CVSs while on beach vacations -- I told him they'd come in handy some day!!) positioned around the patio near all the potted plants.  Even with frequent watering and shading, there's a whole lot of wilting going on.  (Did you know that when nighttime temperatures stay above 80, fruit (like tomatoes) won't flower?  I didn't know that -- heard it on WTOP the other day.)  I also noticed that while our roses are blooming,  the flowers are substantially smaller and lighter in color than they're supposed to be.  (E.g., the pink hybrid teas are almost white.)

Our plans to go to Brookside Gardens  and then to The Comet (as seen on Drive-ins, Diners, and Dives) have been shelved for next week as the temps with heat indeces should be around 107° or higher.  We did go out this morning, wearing white, smeared in sunscreen, and sporting hats, to a local farmer's market and got some Japanese eggplant, white and yellow peaches, a few peppers, and short ribs.  While we were at the market, someone spotted a balde eagle circling overhead.  I had goose bumps (and in this weather that ain't no easy feat!).  What a diverse and healthy ecosystem we're blessed with in this community!  Four large, man-made lakes, Runningbrook Creek,  the Little Patuxent River, and acres and acres of protected open space have attracted a variety of wildlife, wading birds (like blue herons and egrets), and raptors --  now including eagles!  The small crowd of us stood looking skyward  for about five minutes -- too amazed to take a photo.  I'll be checking out the skies for days to come!