About four years ago, I went to Home Depot one late spring afternoon and fell in love with some hybrid tea roses that smelled absolutely beautiful! Money was a little tight at the time, so I very stubbornly resisted the temptation to buy them.
Just three or four days later, I was back at Home Depot and discovered with great joy that the roses were on sale for 50% off. I promptly bought two (at $10 each) which have ever since enjoyed our sunny deck during the warm weather months and the more temperate climate of our sun room during the winter.
They seem to bloom about four times per year and we festoon them with Christmas lights and colorful bulbs each year.
They also seem to come near death three or four times each year. I'm really a rather poor gardener and most of my indoor plants don't make it at all, so I'm always in amazement that they actually survive!
A month or two ago they served as an interesting illustration to one of our catechism discussions. You see, I had just plucked the dead dry leaves from it (which seemed to be the entire plant!), but I was surprised and delighted to discover while plucking these that there were many tiny new green shoots already hiding underneath!
This reminded me of the Catholic Church today that, even when things on the outside may appear to be at their worst, there are already many small, but powerful signs of life that will surely bloom in their own good time.
Anyway, we were able to move the roses back onto the deck a few days ago and are presently enjoying this lovely bloom!
3 comments:
One of the best and most fragrant rose bushes in my parents' garden was purchase, looking almost dead, at the end of summer, for 50 cents from either Home Depot or a similar store.
Roses are a lot hardier than most people realize. I like the photo.
Oops, that should have read purchased.
It's gorgeous! And I agree with Christine, roses are very hardy. I haven't a green thumb on either hand, but I've always been able to grow roses without trouble.
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