84-Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, June 17, 2000
On Being a
Farm Wife
(and other
hazards)
Joyce Bupp
What goes with June more
than roses?
Other than brides, gradua
tions, and strawberries. And,
roses compliment all those, too.
For years, I attempted to grow
picture-pretty roses. While I
never spent a fortune on them,
they still account for consider
able time investment over the
years of purchases, plantings,
and thwarted results. Over the
past many years, I’ve planted
and planted them in the lower,
sunsplashed section of the lawn
border, where the soil is rich and
is the last to dry out, even in
drought conditions. Containers
of “rose care” additives have
come and gone, leaving us with
some of the healthiest looking
dead rose stumps around in that
area of flower bed, where roses
just ought to thrive.
Most of the garden-backbone
perennials and bushes do fine in
our garden. Iris have thrived and
reproduced until several large
clumps are almost demanding
separation. Not a major chal
lenge, since iris will grow just
about anywhere they’re not
standing in water. Except for
those water-loving types which
thrive with damp feet, like the
dainty white Siberians, which I
had in the border for years, slow
ly diminishing in numbers, until
I moved them to the edge of the
first pond. Bursting with vigor,
they rival similar relatives in yel
low and sky blue for showiness.
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Daylilies likewise thrive here.
Of course, a daylily, especially
the old-fashioned single orange
types, make an effort to bloom
even if dug up, tossed in a corner
and ignored for awhile. Peony
bushes return each year, hostas
have nearly taken over several
shady areas, and one section of
border has grown into a thick
tangle of blooming shrubs much
loved by the-mockingbirds. Espe
cially as a launch spot for attacks
on the blueberry bushes nearby.
But roses? Frankly, I’d just
about given up on’em.
Except for two old reliables.
One is a bright pink hybrid tea,
which faithfully returns year
after year, blooming off and on
all summer long with almost no
care. The other is also a bright
pink, a plant which turned out to
be a climber in a non-climbing
location, sends out huge, thick
arcing stems bearing almost-le
thal thorns, fairly “bug” resistant
and yielding enough lovely flow
ers each year to keep tweaking
my interest in these fussy things.
But, between the two, in about
a 25-foot stretch, is no-man’s
rose land. Just days ago, I un
earthed and moved the faltering
remnants of a fading clump of
thorny-stems, offering one last
shot to a faltering survivor. Hav
ing finally come to grips with the
fact that there is an always-wet
drain field under that area, I
have given it over completely to
annuals and bulbs. Two dozen
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dahlias are already thumbing
their blooming noses at the per
snickety rose remnants.
“To heck with roses,” I had fi
nally decided after seasons of re
peated frustration.
So, when The Farmer lugged
home some $2 leftover roses last
year along with a supply of hard
ware and miscellaneous repair
stuff, I wondered if I should
bother. Then my eyes focused on
a neglected section of potential
around our old spring house, the
lush weed growth testimony to
rich, well-drained soil. A likely
place for roses, I figured, ignor
ing the plant-no-more-roses vow
I had made. These potted or
phan-plants begged for a little
Tender Loving Care.
Turned out these were not hy
brid teas, but smaller bloomed
floribundas which promise to be
more durable and less persnicke
ty. Sure enough, they survived
the summer drought, warm-and
cold extremes of winter, spring’s
wide-ranging weather, and are
poking up blooms and new
growth.
Offering added encourage
ment is the pink-blooming climb
er, which has literally covered it’s
vigorous octopus-growth of jaggy
stems with dozens of fat blooms,
probably almost as many as the
last five years combined. Maybe I
CAN grow roses after all.
We shall see. Because I re
turned home from a couple-day
meeting to discover on my way
to the bam this morning an as
sortment of potted, left-over but
lush rose bushes parked on the
basement porch. Along with a
four-foot-tall rose “tree.” And I
know where to put them so that
they have a fightin’ chance.
Wait “til I tell him that rose
tree will need to be tucked into a
trench next fall so its graft sur
vives winter’s zero temperatures.
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Brianna Smith holds flowers from the cutting gardens
at The Greensmith, owned by her mother Deb Smith. The
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ers to stroll through annual flowers, foliage, and herbs to
pick their own bouquets or place custom orders. In addi
tion, The Greensmith grows annual bedding plants, per
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container gardens and sell unique “blooming antiques”
chairs, pails, watering cans, teapots all overflowing
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day is planned for all women of nearby.
the “agricultural persuasion”, Tickets are $l2 for the day.
held at the Leola Family Restau- Send reservation to treasurer Es
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The program for the day will Hills Drive, Gap, Pa. 17527 or
include speaker Nancy Wiker call her at (717) 442-4961.
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