Today's ToDo List

Yesterday I cleaned out what remains of one climbing rose - the antique one that can grow like a weed if one allows it.  This one had a metal lattice that I remember putting there when Ecatarina kept pulling them up or cutting them back because she did not think I should let them grow.  Well,finally these roses graced the fence providing such joy each spring.  Whether or not to passers by I cannot say, but there is a strange phenomenon here.  Cosmos, columbine, holly hocks and these antique roses are not valued by many who are fiercely determined to get rid of them.  I have to actually fight to keep our helpers from cutting them back while allowing other plants that actually could be considered weeds to flourish!  Mallow, dandelions, mint and a few other plants that are considered possible medicinal plants grow and flourish here.  Stinging nettle (urzica) grows here and flourishes when allowed a place unhampered by the determination of those whose help does not cover the real problems that I mention, only those Eugeniu speaks of plus a few of their ideas of what should be. Also yesterday the weather was so perfect that I cleaned out the small space for my asparagus that I bought last year in Bethesda.  It has survived the mistreatment of my multiple errors and those of the one who removed my sticks marking their place so that a tractor could drive over them to do a very bad job of plowing up the field that is the place I want to put more raised beds so that I can manage to take care of the plants without an unknowing and uncommunicative person riding roughshod over what I have done with the limited energy that drives my limited activity.  I hope that Eugeniu will agree and that Costica will be willing to do what is needed to make them and to fill them with the proper soil;  maybe a good ratio between what is in the garden now and the compost that comes from the forest.

So now that I have had a healthy breakfast of my biscuits with apple butter made from the apples from our trees, I am ready to get to work on the other climbing rose that needs a lot of attention even though it is mostly gone. and taking out a few day lilies that are crowding out another rose bush.  The exciting thing is that the tulips are almost ready to bloom. The daffodils have bloomed as have the hyacinths and narcissus.  The margaritas are coming up and the violets have been spreading like they could take over the garden just as the English ivy and honeysuckle are doing.

So today's list includes cutting back what I can - it will take quite a while as last year I did not even try to stop it from taking over places where it should not be; would not help the front garden to look better!

Whew!  What a job there is left to do.  I managed to cut back and pull up a lot of runners from that vine that is more like a cannibal than a desirable vine to cover a fence. However the antique roses have a headstart on the ones that will come up from the multiple runners that I cannot pull up today because the body said to halt before you drop from exhaustion.  The pleasant part of this activity was having an occasional short chat with passers-by and the discovery of grape hyacinths along the sidewalk amid the daffodils of the walkway.