A Visit From the Duchesse

Duchesse de Brabant

Mrs. B. R. Cant

Benjamin Britten

         A dear friend arrived this week--the Duchesse de Brabant.  She arrives whenever she deems the weather fit and lingers until frost.  She is the early bird arrival for the rest of her salon rose--the motley crew of roses which brighten the front of my house.  She, and her friend Mrs. B. R. Cant, are the grand dames of my rose collection--they were planted my first summer here at the farm.  According to Texas A&M, she was introduced in 1857, and President Theodore Roosevelt often wore her on his lapel.  Her friend, Mrs. B. R. Cant, was introduced in 1901 and memorializes the wife of a noted rosarian.  Other members of the salon include Benjamin Britten, Abraham Darby, William Shakespeare, Graham Thomas and Dorcas.  All were ordered from the fabulous Chamblee Roses in Tyler, Texas.  I have my eye on a Chihuly to fill in for Charles Darwin, who, ironically, failed to thrive.  Anyway, the roses have done well.  So have the Japanese beetles, but I'm hoping that milky spore takes care of them.

Keep your diamonds; a tractor is a girl's best friend!

It was just dry enough to mow on Saturday, and the Resident Dragon beat me to the tractor.  When he finished with that, he offered to help me move the piles of leaves I'd saved from my father-in-law's pecan orchard into the garden, a job I started late last fall (see This Winter, Picture Next Year's Garden).  Three trailers full later, the leaves were moved, although not spread as evenly as I would have liked.  I had wanted to turn the leaves into the garden plots with the tractor tiller, but, after sinking up to the rims before finally making it out, we found it to be too wet.

It was just as well since we'd both run out of steam with lots left to do and the Louisville-Kentucky game already at half-time.  A light supper of leftovers was all we had energy for.

Nearly forty years old and still running strong!

Palm Sunday was a busy day, and the children of our little congregation were so sweet as they processed with the palm fronds.  Lunch at a new restaurant in town left us with a late start in the yard, but we made the most of it, beginning with cutting in around the trees with a string trimmer (wielded by the RD) and my father-in-law's faithful John Deere Model 316 mower.

Speaking of the John Deere, I have a secret to share.  When we moved the leaves on Saturday, we just dumped them in the garden plot in piles, planning to spread them out "later."  As I circled my garden plot, mowing down the bitterweed, a lazy thought tickled my lazy brain:  why not use the mower to mulch and spread the leaves (mostly oak and pecan) in one fell swoop???  So I did it.  And it worked beautifully.  No rake necessary.  I'm branding my laziness as efficiency and moving on!  Yippee!

Aside from the leaves, there was another long-standing item on my garden to-do list and that was to mulch the roses with pine needles.  This serves two purposes:  acidify the soil for the roses, and inhibit other plants growing in the bed to minimize weeding.

This brings me to a confession.  I love growing things, but I hate, hate, hate weeding.  I hate hoeing.  I can't manage the string trimmer because of my shoulder --an old dodge-ball injury.  Seriously.  (Yes, you can stop laughing at that ridiculous image any time!)  I hate to ask the Resident Dragon to take time away from the things he likes to help me, so I mulch, mulch, mulch.  So, a dozen trips with the front-loader later, and the roses in front of the house are mulched!  Finally!  Only six months after I'd planned.  They don't seem to have minded and the Johnson grass has certainly enjoyed its freedom in the rose beds.  Hopefully, the grass has seen its last "hayday"!

A rabbit-eye blueberry
variety called Climax

The warm weather has charged up the yard.  The blueberries are blooming and some even have tiny berries on them!

A Triple Crown blackberry blossom

The blackberries are just coming into bloom, but growing so fast I have new canes to tie to the trellis every evening!  My friend and fellow alto Jean shared eleven cuttings from her Triple Crown blackberries which are in pots on the porch.

Egyptian Walking Onions

The Egyptian Walking Onions are about two inches tall.  I have hopes they'll "walk" by the end of the summer!

Sprouting garlic

The garlic is sprouting and will be ready to put in the ground soon.  In additional to the two varieties I've already mentioned, I found some hard neck garlic my cousin shared and it's about an inch tall now.

Blooming . . . just like me!

We've been running around, working in the yard, so busy that I had not noticed, until late yesterday that the iris are about to bloom.  They're from my aunt's collection, which was selected from my grandmother's collection.  My grandmother loved irises, and planted them as long as she could work in the yard for even a few minutes.  I moved them two years ago, and they have not bloomed for since.  But they will bloom this year.  I've felt so, I don't know, dormant these past two or three years.  Between losing my aunt and illness, I have not been as creative as I'd hoped.  But the irises have finally adjusted to their new home and are blooming this year.

So will I.  May you bloom, too, in whatever meadow you find yourself.

Wishing you a blessed Easter,

Nancy