If I had a single flower for every time I think about you,
I could walk forever in my garden.
I could walk forever in my garden.
~Attributed to Claudia Ghandi
I am dreaming of roses. Allegra's comment that making soup in akin to tending the garden resonated in my winter addled brain in a way that has me dreaming of roses.
I never have the time or energy to follow through on the grand schemes I plot during the long winter. I design gardens. I scour websites and page through catalogues. Then the reality of a less-than-cooperative man and my own inability to do the job myself interferes with my grand plans. Never mind I always find I do not have the time to maintain what I have.
So perhaps this will be an answer. Roses in pots. Sometimes the simplest is the hardest to realize when wrapped up in dreams. My dreaming may now take another turn. Perhaps a more achievable direction. Maybe once and for all I can put away the notion that I can have acres of perfectly manicured gardens and settle for my small plots accented with pots of roses as opposed to pots of annuals. And all it took is an ad for roses. Don't tell me I'm a slow study.
It's cold and snowing, I think a perfect day to walk through the garden in my mind and tend the soup in the pot. One I dream of, the other I can actually realize for lunch.
I am dreaming of roses.
10 comments:
It 's very frozen here today.
I appreciate your thoughts of roses.
Smell some roses for me...
Nothing like roses to add some color to this white landscape. I am dreaming of green leaves and thawed lakes :)
I like the idea too....especially since I know this isn't our permanent home...let me know how that goes this summer. It's semi-desert here, think I'd need large large pots.
What kind of soup is on for lunch today? I found a fab recipe for sweet and spicy carrot bisque in my Veg. Times mag. I'll let you know if it's good.
This may surprise you but we have a great deal of our roses growing inside big nursery pots. When we first moved here the place was a mess. The grounds were solid clay and water covered with a deep layer of moss that made funny squishy noises when you walked on it.
I have always had roses. My entire life has revolved about finding the elusive beauty with no name from who knows where that perhaps exists only in my imagination. So, until we could bring the grounds to useful, (lasagna beds did that, and Barry's and my back) we ordered big (24") pots from Leonards, a horticultural supplier.
And we planted roses. If you want to see the varieties then go to
http://tinyurl.com/4t96ab3
and check both the photos and the list of roses we grew. Many are gone now because mildew and blackspot thrive here in Portland and we do not spray. But, oh the ones that survived! inside their cozy big ugly pots.
It is perhaps one of the wisest things to grow roses in pots. You can move them around to find where they will do well and keep telling yourself: first year they sleep, second year they crawl and third year they leap. A truism if I ever heard one.
Now that I hijacked your comments I offer my services to help you in finding the ones that will survive in your end of the world, and Deb,
never plant a rose in anything less than a 24-inch pot. The roots make the plant and we have dug roses in our garden with roots as wide as a small tree. You can always buy nursery pots and paint them in whatever color with the new plastic paints.
Shame on me for taking all this space. I want some mushroom and lentil soup now :)
deb: it's been a very long winter. I can't help but think of roses.
Missy: if only I could.
D.S.: we dream of what we want most!
Deb: I really don't know why it never occurred to me. DUH! I made soup with turkey stock from my thanksgiving turkey, ground beef, black beans, celery, carrots, onion, garlic, cumin, brown rice, chipotle powder and kale. Whew! That sounds like a lot of stuff. It's good.
Allegra, you are a wealth of information and I always hope you will send some of it my way. I have checked out the link, but it will take me bit of time to work my way through all of those plants! I think it is the wisest thing for me to do, growing in pots. It is hard for me to maintain the beds I have without creating more work for myself. I appreciate your advice anytime you want to offer it.
Here in the south west corner of England we have been frozen solid for weeks. This morning I went outside in the twilight and found to my surprise that it was warm and drizzly. Think I may head to the garden centre and buy seeds today!
I am thinking of you and hoping you
are home, warm and safe. So many storms in our world these days! of the natural kind and of the men made kind...sigh.
Danielle: I'm glad it is better in your patch of ground. Cold, windy and snowy on mine.
Allegra: You are so right. It has been a season of storms. All we can do is to try weathering them, all of them. I'm so glad you are strong enough to wonder about me in this frozen place. We are frozen, but we know how to survive. big sigh
Roses in pots sound beautiful, but not sure if I could keep them alive.
I hope your winter ends soon and your snow melts in the mean time enjoy your soup.
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