Spring has sprung! (Weekend Coffee Share #33)
Good morning, happy Friday, and welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer! It’s 59F and sunny right now, so let’s chat in the garden.
Garden pictures
Spring is in full swing out there, so I snapped a few pics before the inevitable hot weather wilts everything. The garden is a work in progress–and looks like it. This area was entirely covered in gravel when we bought the house in fall 2020. As you can see, we’re still constructing and planting, but at least it contains some green things:
Some of those green things are actually blooming. The rose covered in flowers is Camille Pissarro. I’ve showed him off on this blog before, but of course I’m going to do it again:
That rose just keeps blooming–even when it’s 114 outside. It stopped blooming for maybe 2 months in the dead of winter. Otherwise, it just keeps pumping out those gorgeous striped flowers. And it smells heavenly too.
Long-Suffering Husband and I collect striped roses, and we’ve added about 5 new ones this year. Most of the newbies aren’t blooming yet, but here’s George Burns with his first bloom:
We have a few roses without stripes too (I hope the Striped Rose Gang doesn’t bully them when I’m not looking. Why yes, as a matter of fact, I do personify my plants.) The only one of the non-stripeys blooming right now is Lady Banks. We bought her in Tombstone from the Rose Tree Museum (home of the world’s largest rose tree–she’s a cutting from that plant).
Sorry for the bad picture quality. She’s still small, and my arthritic knees don’t like it when I bend too low to take pictures.
Here are a few pictures of her mom, a/k/a the world’s largest rose tree:
Gonna need a bigger yard…
We do have a few things in our yard besides roses, and some of those are edible–or soon will be:
Memes are coming soon, but this one seems to fit well here:
Ouch.
Flagstaff trip
I mentioned in last week’s coffee share that I was headed to Flagstaff for a personal writing class. The trip was great, with perfect weather (a rarity any time of year in Flagstaff) and an interesting class. I got to see some of my writing buddies for the first time in a long while, and I made some progress on a couple of personal writing projects. Oh, and take a short hike in Buffalo Park on a perfect spring day:
And because it’s me, I have to take pictures of weird stuff:
Yes, that’s a tampon (unused, thankfully) in a tree. Why did someone hang a tampon in a tree? Hell if I know. Humans are weird.
Flagstaff is one of those places where you can find beauty anywhere–including the Cracker Barrel parking lot:
OK, that’s enough of my humdrum life. It’s spring here in Satan’s Anus, so how about some…
Spring Memes!
OK, they’re mostly garden memes, but whatever.
Easter is coming…
This is Arizona. Camo Egg should be carrying an AR-15.
This next meme perfectly encapsulates spring in Flagstaff (which is why I still can’t believe the weather was so lovely during our visit):
I have a confession to make. I have a… problem. It’s kind of personal and probably not really appropriate to discuss in polite company, but… I’m addicted to plants.
Every single one of those things is true of me.
Every. Single. One.
And I’ve done several of them in this post.
True story: My husband once bought me a truckload of compost for our anniversary.
I was thrilled.
That was me every year in Portland, SoCal, and Flagstaff. I still have an entire crisper drawer in the fridge full of seeds.
Another true story: When we lived in Portland (where I had a greenhouse to grow all the stuff that grows outside here in Satan’s Anus), we rented a van to help a friend move to Northern California. After we dropped her stuff off in Stockton, we stopped at a nursery in Sacramento.
Me. With an empty van. At a nursery.
You can see where this is going.
My husband wandered off somewhere, probably to avoid being bored to tears while I communed with every. single. plant. in the entire nursery. When he wandered back, I was standing by the van, my shopping done. He opened the back doors of the van to get something–and found himself looking at an orchard.
I’d filled the entire van with citrus trees.
He still teases me about that.
I also rescue plants from the discount rack, from garage sales, and even from trash piles at the curb.
Then I end up with too many plants to keep track of, so I need these:
“Cheaper than therapy.” Ain’t that the truth. I once told my husband I garden so I don’t kill people.
I mentioned earlier that I personify my plants. That’s because they have personalities:
I got shanked last week. Roses are assholes.
And speaking of assholes:
I have a cactus that needs repotting. Every weekend, I look at it, look at the pot I bought for it, attempt to calculate how many pairs of gloves I’ll need to wear to avoid exsanguination… and find something safer to do.
Cactuses are pricks.
And on that note, time for me to sign off. What’s growing in your garden?
28 Comments
Susanne
I love these memes!! I can relate to all that have anything to do with bringing home plants or photographing plants or posting about plants on social media! Your garden looks good and how lovely to see a tomato plant in bloom already.
Janet Alcorn
Thanks! Here’s to crazy plant ladies!
Gary A Wilson
ohhhhhh my! Janet – this is dangerously funny stuff.
But – I loved that giant rose tree. Why doesn’t every home in Tucson have one? Surly Tombstone doesn’t have some sort of copyright. . . .
Lacking the multiple centuries needed to grow such a masterpiece, I’d be stretching 70% shade cloth overhead above the backyard to make it possible to walk there long enough to not be turned into solar generated fertilizer. You could tell the cactus’ to just buck up or you’ll start watering them daily.
Janet Alcorn
I like the idea of every home in Tucson having a rose tree–it would make a great shade structure!
I don’t argue with the cactuses, though I have been known to say hello to them and even pet the saguaros in our front yard between their rows of spines. I live in terror of tripping on something out there and falling face-first into a cactus. It’s just a matter of time.
Janis @ RetirementallyChallenged.com
So much fun stuff here. We don’t have roses, but I do have regular conversations with our succulents, citrus trees, lizards, and blueberry bushes. I want two of those “Mojitos in Training” tags – one for my lime tree and one for my mint. And, after my recent brewing of limoncello, I guess I need a “Limoncello in Training” tag for my lemon tree. That rose tree is fabulous… is that in your back yard?
Janet Alcorn
I like the limoncello in training! I need one of those for our lemon tree.
As for the rose tree, no, definitely not in my backyard. It’s at the Rose Tree Museum in Tombstone. I have one of its many, many clones. They’re all over this area, because gardeners like me go to the museum and come back with a rooted cutting.
Natalie
Beautiful roses and fun memes! The onion plant flower looks like white allium. That huge rose tree is amazing. Thank you for linking up with #weekendcoffeeshare.
Janet Alcorn
Onion flowers are interesting. They aren’t as pretty as their ornamental allium relatives, but they’re still cool – and I love how my green onions reseed so readily.
Melis
Oh goodness…I know first hand of the pain involved in removing gravel and bringing *life* back into the soil. Your yard looks like it’s off to a lovely start!
That rose tree is insane! I just…wow!
And yes, humans are, indeed, so.very.weird 😉 But I guess life would be boring if we were all the same, no?
Janet Alcorn
Bringing life back–yes. It’s nice to see green out there instead of gravel or bare dirt. We’re getting there.
Yep, life would be boring if we were all the same. Human weirdness is endlessly fascinating.
rawsonjl
Your rose blooms are just beautiful! I have never seen striped roses before. I envy plant people as I just do not seem to have what it takes to keep plants– though that might slowly be changing as I have a few houseplants I’ve managed to keep alive for a couple of years now.
Janet Alcorn
I’ve killed more plants than I can count. Unfortunately, that’s how to learn–try, fail, try again with more information… etc. Congrats on keeping houseplants alive! They’re usually harder than outdoor plants.
Elizabeth Seckman
This seals it. I love you. I love my plants and flowers. Where do I begin? With the heirloom plants given to me by my mom and grandma? The tree I rescued from a Rhode Island parking lot crack? The swamp rose growing in the path of a nature walk at the beach? All of my plants have a story and I love them. My drawback? I’m not very good at gardening. I don’t kill them, but I don’t always know how to make them thrive. I’m like a 14 year old mom with a big heart and great intentions trying to raise a toddler.
I have one rose that is all greenery, but no blooms. What am I doing wrong?
Thank you for the wonderfully fun blog. I look forward to your posts. The memes. The flowers. What’s not to love?
Janet Alcorn
Aww… thank you 🙂 You are my people! A lot of my plants have a story too, and I’ll bore guests silly walking them through the garden and blathering on about how I found this plant in a trash pile and grew that one from a cutting my now-dead friend gave me, and on and on.
I know of 2 common reasons roses don’t bloom: not enough sun (they need 6 hours+ per day) and, if the rose is grafted, the grafted part died. When that happens, the rootstock grows, and some rootstocks don’t seem to bloom much. There are also some old roses that only bloom once/year.
Elizabeth Seckman
Sun could be the problem. It’s behind a privacy fence. I can’t talk down the fence, but what if I cut out a window…
I dug the plant up from my neighbor’s yard. When we first bought our house, our neighbor, Millie, had roses all around her patio. She loved them and they were beautiful. When she passed away, the next neighbor to move in just about killed them all. Though the new next neighbor was a wonderful lady, it broke my heart to see Millie’s roses die a slow and painful death. And the new neighbor fancied herself a gardener, so I didn’t want to insult her by telling her I needed to remove one of the last remaining roses from her care. Instead, went over in the middle of the night and dug one up. Let’s call it a rescue rose.
Maybe stolen roses have no blooms? LOL.
Writing Sparkle
Your white roses make me think of Alice in Wonderland. Your mom’s “world larges rose tree” continued my thoughts of Alice. Thanks for the virtual coffee Janet.
Janet Alcorn
The world’s largest rose tree is in a museum in Tombstone (check it out if you ever go to Tombstone–it’s amazing). They sell rooted cuttings there, and of course I had to buy one.
Thanks for stopping by!
leannelc
Hi Janet – your flower photos were gorgeous and it’s nice to see you slowly changing that gravelled area into something natural and pretty – it’ll be such a lovely spot to sit in when it’s all finished. Glad your Flagstaff visit went well too.
Inspiring Max
Clever post. I loved how all the different stoies flowed.
Janet Alcorn
Thanks! That seems to happen sort of naturally, probably because my demented brain makes connections between random things.
Scribble and Scran
Love these. Whenever we go to the garden centre I need to take out a small mortgage! The trolly always comes to the till full!
Janet Alcorn
Yup! Sometimes I think I should just have my paycheck sent directly to my favorite nursery. Would save time.
joylenebutler
LOL. My husband and I like gardening together too. The memes are hysterical. Thanks for the laughs, Janet.
Janet Alcorn
Always a pleasure 🙂 Thanks for the kind words!
kirstin
Glad you had great time at the writing class…can’t wait to see your plants in bloom. Those striped roses are gorgeous, and that rose tree is HUGE! Wow. Love all the plant memes. I’m going to share a few with my niece.
Janet Alcorn
Yeah, the rose tree is enormous. It’s basically the entire backyard of an old home in Tombstone.
Julie
I had a coworker who originally he ordered something for his garden and in arrived a big bag of birdseeds. He gave me some to feed the birds in my yard. It was fun for a while until the squirrel started robbing nuts and seeds from the feeder.
Janet Alcorn
Squirrels love to pillage bird feeders! Used to drive my mom crazy, but watching a squirrel hang upside-down on a chain to raid the feeder is wonderful entertainment.