When Rosebushes Attack

So--a few years ago I had a little run-in with a pine tree that ended with a late night trip to the emergency room. I poked my eye and scratched it--my does that hurt. I couldn't open either eye. You think I would have learned my lesson, but this past week I did it again. I was pruning back a big unruly rose bush and I let a branch go SPRONG and smack me in the eye. This time I was intelligent and went to the ophthalmologist immediately to get an antibiotic and numbing drops.

June 2010 in the Garden

I seem to take the same garden pics over and over again - but they're so beautiful!!! Here are some shots from early June and late June:

The Lady Fountain - Early June

The Herbalist English Rose - Early June - This is by far the most this rose has ever bloomed.

The Clematis Arch and Bench - Early June

The Lawn Path, North - Early June

The Maple Tree - Early June (If you look at the ground, you can see the rejected branches from where I just limbed up the maple by about three feet.)

The Pond - Early June

The Dogwood that Ate the Bench - Early June

Pink Peace Rose with Picasso Petunia - Early June

Ballerina and Rosy Friends - Early June

Ballerina and Rosy Frieds - Late June

The Spot Where Nothing Grows - Early June - While everything else is approaching jungle proportions, this little area insists on underwhelming.

The Flamingo - Early June

The Lawn Path, South - Early June

The Lawn Path and Flamingo, South - Late June

Betty Boop Rose - Early June

Buds, Buds, Everywhere!

We have had a very unusual, cold, wet spring. As a result, all of my plants have been getting a slow start. I have many rose bushes just full of buds, sitting there, waiting to open. It is making me so impatient! The following bush is the English Rose, Pretty Jessica, just waiting to wow me with hundreds of flowers:

I have had some peonies start to open. Here is a hot pink beauty for you:

The biggest ladybug to visit my garden yet:

My baptisia finally in bloom after three years!

This is my monster antique rose, Reine des Violettes (Queen of the Purples). Just so you have an idea of how big she is, this is an eight foot pillar wrapped with Reine's long limber canes. When she finally blooms, she is going to be spectacular!

Relaxing After a Long Day

Today was the green waste pickup day in the neighborhood. So, Mark, Ben, Caleb, and I worked very hard to get about 10 wheelbarrows full of yard junk to the curb so our elder's quorum could haul them away. I don't know what I'll do if they ever stop having Spring Cleanup Day. Anyway, everything is looking green and beautiful outside. My lawn is looking about a million times better right now then it did last year, so I am feeling hopeful.