Last of the Summer Roses

Pictured above: A gorgeous reddish-orange minature rose, one of probably 10 planted in my beds. The color in this image doesn't do justice to the real thing.

A swift and sweeping cold blast blew into town on Friday. A light rain wet everything down and everyone went in search of coats and scarves. When I got home I had the joy of wrestling my scarecrow decorations and decorative flags into the garage before they flew across into the next block. It was so cold that I lit up the fireplace for its winter inauguration and the cats and I enjoyed a toasty night while the wind groused outside. Looking out Saturday morning I discovered frost on the ground and roof tops and the bird bath frozen solid. Luckily the winter weather didn't come down too far because two hours away in Amarillo they had received a few inches of snow.

Winter is my least favorite time of year. For months I get to look mournfully out the window and wish I could work in my garden. Now, in the past, I have been crazy and planted in the snow. But that was in a small side bed that was protected from the winds by a tall fence. Here in my current home it's just a wind tunnel with little wind break.

Sunday turned out to be a nice day. A little chilly but otherwise nice. Most of the plants are dying down or have died down to the ground. The mums are over halfway through with their fall show. However, here and there, a few of the roses have put out a last blossom or two, revived by the cooled weather.

The rose below is some unlabeled rose that I really don't remember how I ended up with. Probably some bareroot rose I bought at Walmart or Home Depot. This rose is very vigorous and, unfortunately, very thorny. I refer to it as "the Octopus." I planted it in the corner adjacent to a neighbor's yard whose dogs have had a habit of breaking into my yard [with one who sometimes tries to come over by standing on the dog house]. Its blossoms are beautiful but I'll probably have to dig it up next spring and move it to a different spot so that I and the lawncare folks don't loose a limb or two. Whatever the name of this plant, it was made to be a security plant that would prevent anyone or thing from going by without getting snagged.

The knockout roses are also putting on a flush of flowers. The pink one, shown below, has been a compact grower so far and the flowers are nice but are not near the performer that the red variety is. The two red Knockout bushes have doubled in a year and their color glows in the back far corner.