Long-ago rose

Today was a perfect spring day, and it's time to buckle down and weed the flower beds. Don't get me wrong, it's actually something I enjoy doing. Digging my hands in the warm ground, searching out every piece of weed and root, smoothing the soil, and spreading mulch. Weeding is automatic, which frees my mind to think about other things, like making vacation plans. When I worked for a living, I'd think about an upcoming project. A lot of my technical writing projects were scripted in my garden: figuring out what documents and manuals were needed, laying out the content, and deciding what languages to translate into.

These days my thoughts run to completely different things, like where I'll walk tomorrow, or what tote bag to make next, or how to texturize a photograph. (And truth be told, what to cook for dinner, and whether to change sheets today or tomorrow. Earth shaking decisions, to be sure.) It doesn't matter... whatever the project, it benefits from a little "garden thinking."

The border of hollyhocks got weeded today, all the way to the peony that anchors the corner. My black hollyhock is already 6 inches above ground; maybe this year (its third at the farm), it will actually bloom. I'm looking forward to seeing the color in person, not just on the plant stake.

Just as I reached the peony, my fingers found this tag from a long-ago Jackson Perkins rose, a Floribunda called Eureka. I remember the rose, and remember picking it out at the nursery a decade ago. Eureka was the AARS award winner in 2003, and I loved the color. But I don't remember planting it in this spot. I'm pretty sure it was at the other end of the border, 20 feet away. It amuses me to think of how the tag traveled all this way. Maybe a vole helped it along, pushing it through his tunnel. Or maybe I helped it along, moving it as part of a shovelful of dirt. I'll never know.

Tomorrow, I'll weed the other side of this "L" shaped border, from the forget-me-nots to the lilacs. It's my biggest border, with the most plants. This one will take a few days.