Jury Duty

I'm on jury duty this week and can't come home and figure out anything to write. So here's a rosebush I'm really proud of. I think this one came from my Great-Aunt Mardie's yard in Morrow, Louisiana. Or my grandmother's yard in New Iberia, Louisiana. They traded plants so much no one would ever know. They aren't good cutting roses, but they are like small cabbage roses and have a real rose smell.

East Dallas Art Gardens

Here's some roses in an East Dallas garden I really love. MINE!

I don't know if my grandmother, mother, aunts or great aunts gave them to me and they all traded flowers so much they wouldn't know either. These are old roses. I don't know their name. They bloom all at once in clumps and then they're gone for a while continuing on like that all through the blooming season. The best part is they smell like a rose. No, the best part is they make me smile every time I look at them and remember the wonderful ladies who enjoyed them in their yards. The garden fairies who watch over me and the roses are those ladies looking down on me. They keep me safe while I weld.

I kept the roses in pots forever worried if I messed with them they would die. Nope. Now one year after planting them, they've exploded and sort of take care of themselves. Same with the Japanese Maple Barb gave me. Kept in a pot, then transferred to a larger pot. Only a month ago had the nerve to plant it. Hopefully, my garden fairies will help it explode with happiness, too.

Aren't "given" plants the best?

East Dallas Art Gardens

I have to brag, the rose and Japanese Maple are in my yard.  This is the Bobbi/Lola rose.  When they went to the rose emporium they brought it back for me.  When it blooms it takes my breath away.  The Japanese maple is the one Barb grew from SEED in her yard.  How impressive is that?  I kept the maple in the living room in the front window for months after she gave it to me.  I was going to put it in a pretty pot and leave it in the house, but decided to put it in a clay pot close to where I weld.  I check on it several times a day and it's fine outside.  Someday, I'll be able to plant it in the yard.  Like the roses from my Mother's, Grandmother's, Aunt Evelyn and Aunt Rita's gardens these two plants given to me by friends make me smile every day.  May you have "given" plants who do the same for you.