Last weekend was mothers day, and when Holly and Jeff arrived for a visit they brought me a beautiful potted Mister Lincoln rose! lovely. I cant tell you how much I love roses, but i haven't had a great deal of success with any in the spots where I have put them before. I know now that is because they were in places that were either too windy, or too shady. I have spent the past 4 days since the weekend thinking about where to plant this new rose... then I remembered.... Two years ago my friend Mary came for a visit and we went for a walk around the garden sussing out the best spot for roses to thrive in my garden. At that time, we determined that the only really good spot (that gets good sun and protected from the wind) was an extension of the current perrennial bed out by the picket fence. I meant to create a rose bed there last year, but somehow I just never got around to it!
Then my friend Sylvia told me about how to use newspapers to suffocate the grass, adding layers of mulch, manure and soil to fertilize and create a good base for a new bed.You can read about the method here. ...Perfect! I have a big pile of manure brought from a visit to a friends farm 2 weeks ago, and heaps of mulch leftover from the fallen tree branches from the last storm. So I set to work this morning just as the rain began...perfect weather for planting. Two hours later...here is my new rose bed! Thrive on Mister Lincoln...thrive on! I love painting roses.
