Sunday, April 10, 2011

Death of a Rose Bush and Other Tiny Tales

kids size medium tshirt
now magnificent jewelry!
Oh my goodness, have the last 2 weeks been crazy!

I've had 2 band contests in 2 weeks, and even now that contest time is over, it seems like my "me time" still isn't clearing. I guess it's that time of year, and I did know what I was getting into when I chose this career.

I tried a new way of making my cool t-shirt necklace today with a $1 kids shirt from Hobby Lobby. Instead of cutting a bunch of singular rings like I did with my red necklace, I cut the shirt into t-shirt yarn, and then wrapped it around my bent knee, varying at what point on my leg I wrapped it so that I ended up with a variety of lengths.

These two experiments with the tree in the front yard look similar, but I like very different things 
about them. I like the focal point in the left, and I like how the blue of the sky pops through very 
subtly on the right picture. 


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My rose bush died.
I'm a really good gardner. I do everything exactly like my organic gurus tell me to. I amend the soil with a mixture of local compost and added garden soil. I use only the finest organic turkey poop :) fertilizer and products like Actinovate to stimulate healthy root growth. I break up the root clumps before I plant and always water the specimen about an hour before transplanting.

Being both careful and a cheapskate, I go through the same Central Texas Gardener approved process with every plant, and I usually have great success. When I bought my Olympiad rose bush during spring break, I followed the same protocol. It seemed happy; I saw some new growth in the form of tiny, red, baby leaflets over the course of a week or so.

As I've mentioned before, I regularly go through my gardens and inspect each plant, making mental documentation of growth, flowering, watering needs, dog holes... I then in turn respond to what I find in whatever way I believe will best help my plants to live a long, healthy, beautiful life. It was on our first crazy hot day a week or so ago that I first noticed it.

The base of my brand new rose bush was turning black. I've never seen anything like that before. Upon further inspection, I noticed that the tips of the branches that had been pruned while still in the greenhouse were also turning black. I scratched the discolored surface with my finger nail. The tissue was... squishy. I knew that probably wasn't a good sign.

The next day was even hotter. When I check on my rose bush what I found was shocking to say the least.

There was a puddle of wax at the base of the plant.
Wax.

I couldn't imagine where wax was coming from. As I looked at the branches, I could see some drip marks, just like you'd see on a candle. The plant had been coated in wax at some point. I can only imagine that this was done to prevent it from rotting during frequent, generic waterings in the greenhouse in which it was started or to prevent borers from burrowing into the tissue before it has a caring, attentive gardener tending to it at a permanent home.

Over the next several days, my poor rose bush from base to tip.... cooked... in the sun. I can't really find a better way to describe what has happening to it, and I had no luck on the internet trying to diagnosis its malady. The once green stems withered into a hard, black, crispy shadow of a plant. Each day a little more wax worked it's way down toward the mulch with which I had lovingly protected the soil. When I finally pulled the plant out of the ground last week it looked much like burned bacon.

Perhaps I'm way off base, but I have to assume that the precautions taken to protect this young rose bush when it was at a fragile point in its life added to its demise. I can't imagine that a wax coating hot enough to melt is positive for a tender, transplanted addition. The very barrier separating the young plant from all the potential evils of the yard smothered and baked it. My attempt at bringing new life into my gardens withered with the branches.

It's like the weed and feed we applied to our yard when we first moved in. It killed a lot of weeds. It pumped up our pathetic excuse for grass. But it also severely damaged the one tree in our yard. It's going on 3 years of gently coaxing it back to health.

Interesting how one form of life imitates another.



And I lost the receipt from the nameless big box home store, so I couldn't even get my money back! However, the NEW pink rose bush I got from my favorite organic garden store is doing well - no wax so far!

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