Thursday, May 15, 2008

So Much For Quitting My Rose Addiction

I thought at the very least I could take a year off from acquiring any more roses. I need to take better care of some of the ones I already have. I need to win a few wars with the weeds. I need to improve the soil. I need to work on the inside of my house!

But Saturday afternoon I opened up a thread on the Rose Forum about a Chamblee's order. And I read the stellar comments about Chamblee's. And I read someone's request for their website. So I gave her a link. And then I went to the website myself. And I saw all those wonderful Buck roses. And I remembered that last year I wanted to get more Bucks. And I thought about things like age and arthritis, and how it would be smart to put more roses in while I am still able to dig big holes (at least I hope I can still dig them), and how I want to plant as much as possible now so I can enjoy them sooner rather than later. And I thought about the fact that the next day was Mother's Day.

So I bought myself a Mother's Day gift: Quietness, Earth Song, and Aunt Honey.

Chamblee's prices were good, but the shipping cost more than the roses. That wasn't the case, however, with the Home Depot Website Sale, which I heard about on Tuesday. A selection of roses were half-price with FREE shipping! I ask you, how could I possibly resist??

I ordered two yellow roses: Sunsprite, a very fragrant floribunda everyone RAVES about, even gardeners in northern zones, and Strike It Rich, a new (2007) grandiflora, also very fragrant. This one grows tall and looks super vigorous. Whether it will look that way in my garden is anybody's guess, but at that price I'm more than willing to give it a shot.

I figure I deserve them because I've been a good mother. Most of the time. I think. At least my intentions were the best.

6 comments:

Ruth Hull Chatlien said...

I'm LMBO over here. I'm in the same dilemma. Many of my roses are toast AND rose rosette disease has just started to invade. But I've been planning to hit Chamblees sometime soon too.

And shame on you for reminding me of my earlier interest in Quietness. :)

crystal said...

Are the roses full grown when you buy them? I'll be waiting for photos :)

Susan said...

No, they're definitly not full-grown. Patience, Crystal . . . :-)

Ruth, you must hang out at the Rose Forum sometimes, yes? I have a humorous piece posted there. It will probably make its way here eventually, but if you feel like reading it now, here it is.

Sorry to hear about the Rose Rosette! Wicked stuff, I hear.

Ruth Hull Chatlien said...

Susan, yes, I've been known to hang out at the rose forum. I do it a lot less than I used to. But I read your story. It's so on target. I've though of writing a piece like that myself, but just never could make it work. Good job.

Susan said...

Thanks, Ruth! I had fun with it.

Anonymous said...

This reminds me of the time I ordered Bonica scrub roses from Wayside gardens without telling my husband. He always told me he was the official hole digger around here, he didn't mind, for me to just ask. I had waited for a week to find the right time to tell hubs I had ordered 27 scrub roses to border the back of our property. I had fixed his favorite lunch so I could break the news gently. I was just about to come to the subject of roses when there came a tap, tap on the door and hubs got up to answer. My secret was out. My bare root roses arrived before I got a chance to break my news. I dug more than half the holes. He never offered to be the official hole digger anymore. He calls me now to help with hole digging now. Geeez....