If I had a lick of sense…

I’d throw on some old clothes and go outside. Earlier in the week I put CJ and his new truck to use, pulling some old stumps out of the bit of garden where I have herbs and roses (oh don’t worry, I use no sprays or chemicals on the roses so the herbs are quite safe to cook with), which added quite a bit of frsh churned cleared room to the place. WHEE!

Then yesterday after Terry got home from work, I felt the need to perhaps go to the local plant place and aquire a few lovely things to plant there. Just a few, not enough to fill the spot because I’ma gonna wanta few more roses (3, perhaps) to put in, come February when it’s time for such. I got a hot pink monarda didyma (with bumblebee),

and an echinacea (love those!)

and 2 pots of thyme. Thyme doesn’t seem to do real well here, but I love to cook with it, so I am hoping to figure out a way to encourage it to do better.

I am thinking a climbing rose on the fence at the back of the garden bit would be nice…

St. Swithun climbing English rose

or this

A Shropshire Lad climbing English rose

Then there’s room for one more rose…but what color? I am not crazy about red roses. My favorites are in the peachy-yellow family but with the hot pink monarda and purple echinacea there’s probably sense in having a pink one instead of a yellow one.
Maybe this one:
This is an antique bourbon rose called “Louis Odier”

I really love to use the English and antique roses,because the flower form appeals to my old-lady sensibilities. Hybrid teas are nice, but not my thing. Plus they’re tooky. The old and English roses are hardy and require very little tending with sprays and such. I use a blend of baking soda and dish detergent in water, when they need it, and a good dollop of compost every spring and fall, and they all seem to like it just fine. Low maintenance and in exchange I get these peony-like blooms that will fragrance an entire room. You should be here in the spring when everything is blooming at once. O Yes!

And, thanks to CJ and the promise of work in exchange for my purchasing the tags for his truck, now I have more room for more roses, and that’s a very good thing.