A few years ago I was visiting a friend of mine here in Austin. She had a beautiful garden–several rosebushes with lots of colors. I’d always wanted a true red rose with a great smell. My grandmother used to grow them, and I helped her take care of them. I loved the big blooms, and I could stand there smelling them for hours while I watered. My friend had a bush that reminded me of grandma’s. She said she could produce a bush from a cutting.

A few months later, she brought me my rosebush. I couldn’t wait to get it in the ground. Then I waited and waited for it to bloom. When the blooms started, they were suspiciously…light. White really. Would they darken? Hmm. I certainly didn’t remember roses starting out so…white. And the thing was getting tall. Very tall, much like a climbing rosebush that grandma had, a rosebush that my father hated because he was constantly having to trim it…

The tips were sort of red. Well, pinkish really…

My friend was growing a starters for three people. I ended up with a white/pink climbing rosebush! *Groan* Almost like grandma, but the wrong memory! I have roses…that I am constantly pruning back to keep the driveway clear!

It didn’t end there either. I only became more determined to get a nice red rose. My friend had moved, leaving her bushes behind…so I had to look elsewhere…Check back for more in the next couple of weeks as more rosebushes bloom!

Rain Barrel Update When last we checked in, we had one full rain barrel. The overflow barrel had just a little runoff, but we noticed a problem. The full barrel had sunk into the ground by an inch or two because of the water weight. It was now below the barrel where the runoff was to go! Since the one barrel was still mostly empty, we lowered it slightly so that if it rains again, the runnoff will “run downhill” into the barrel. Each barrel is 70 gallons. I used about a quarter of that to water my veggies this morning. So each barrel is a good for three to four waterings (I’ll use more water the further it gets from rain days). Two-tenths of an inch filled the one barrel–a half inch should come darn close to filling them both!

Watering via gravity is more work. I can’t use my leaker hose effectively, not even the new nylon one that I bought. I’d hope the nylon one would leak more water, but it doesn’t leak fast enough. I’ll probably be able to use it to water the lawn. I can leave the nylon hose hooked up for several hours or overnight when I want to water the lawn and drain the last of the barrels.