Friday, May 28, 2010

I never promised you a rose garden

Well, husby never did promise me a rose garden, but we got one (albeit a small one) when we bought our new house the year before last.

But it was in a sad state of affairs, our little circle of roses. Only one of the bushes really flowered (surprisingly profusely, given it hadn't really been well looked after) and a couple were close to, if not already, dead.
Until a month or so ago, when my mum suggested we replace the past-it roses with nice new ones. It seemed like a good idea at the time. So off to the nursery we headed, and bought 5 nice new bushes, each a different variety and colour (red, white, yellow, pink and yellow/pink) (there's a gap still for one more rose variety, which the nursery didn't have at the time). We pulled out the old dead bushes (leaving the tallest one, that still flowered well) and dug out the grass from the circle. And put a sandstone edging around the circle, using old stones that had been lying around the house. And put down weedmat and bark mulch. And a few small gardenias to act as groundcover below the roses. It was hard digging, especially with the fading light and approaching cold.
Of course, when I say "we", I mean husby and my mum, who worked darn hard to do all this (that chair in the "before" picture was my perch, supervising the workers!) I think we did a pretty good job!

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

You know, I noticed this the other day, and nearly said something but then I thought maybe it was always like that and I should have noticed it before. It is beautiful, and I think your gap could be filled with a special Connor variety!

Bells said...

i'm glad you clarified who did the work! I was reading that thinking, hang on, weren't you about to give birth a month ago? and could not imagine you doing all that digging....

It's a lovely improvement. I think it'll be stunning in flower.

kgirlknits said...

a lovely little rose garden, it is too. and ha, even not having given birth I would have been supervising from the chair - all that digging could be detrimental to those knitting hands, lady!

Caffeine Girl said...

What a pretty little rose garden. Can't wait to see the rainbow in bloom!

MadMad said...

Very nice job! (I, too, was picturing you in full... pre-baby mode, digging away...) I could totally garden much more if I had a perch and dedicated workers like yours, though!

Lynne said...

Lovely. We also have a circular rose garden with a bird bath! The miniature roses are planted in a circular garden around a paved area which has a bench on one side and a bird bath in the centre. It is entered through an arch and down two steps (we have a sloping block). Heck, now I'll just have to take some pictures and show you (in spring when the roses look less like twigs). Stay tuned and, in the meantime, enjoy yours!

Alrischa said...

lol. I love it when the workers do up 'my' garden. Such a sense of accomplishment, and with clean fingernails, too ;)

roxie said...

Such a pretty rose garden! Such a LOT of work! I think those people love you.

Sarah said...

How lovely and what good timing on your part - love the director's chair

michele said...

oh those stones! heavy lifting. but it looks great.

roses - i want rose bushes in my life too! this is inspiring.

Leonie said...

It's looking good and it will look all the more wonderful in the Spring and Summer with the roses established and flowering. Job well done Husby and Rose Red's Mum!

Shazmina Bendi said...

hahahaha! Love that you take some credit for this project, I mean really supervision is a highly underrated part of a project! :) It looks like a lovely garden, I am sure you will all enjoy time out there in the Spring.

Donna Lee said...

One of my neighbors who always had beautiful roses said they thrived because of their "benign neglect". Basically, she left them alone and let them do their thing.

Your little circle is so peaceful looking.

Alwen said...

What's that quote about work, something like "I love work, I could watch it all day"?

I have a gardening book that tells you how to prepare a garden bed, and starts off "Skim off the turf". Ha. Would it was so easy.

Aussie Maria said...

Wonderful transformation. Bet you can't wait for spring now

Ann said...

Your rose garden looks great. I love roses.

Unknown said...

Your garden is lovely! It's so rewarding to make something of beauty with a bit of hard work! Why don't you send this picture in to my site, so others can be inspired?
send to http://www.allaboutrosegardening.com/Gardens.html

Geek Knitter said...

Ooooh, lovely!

Linda said...

How lovely. I wish you could see some of the roses round our area lately, they smell so gloriously rich and the colours are wonderful.