Garden: Yellow Rose

I have a photo of my yellow rose which we purchased at Home Depot the weekend of April 10. We planted it right away. Roses are supposed to be planted in the fall but we decided to go for it, since everything in our patio pots froze out this past winter. We were desperate for some color.

When it began to look like it would make it, I immediately thought of an experience with a weeping willow more than 40 years ago. A lady across the street had a gorgeous willow and my eldest did an oil painting of it. A few days later lightning struck it and it was split right down the middle. This was in the middle of summer in Oak Ridge, TN. Oak Ridge had notoriously bad soil for planting. They said that was why they put the munitions plants there. I decided to try to get a cutting to grow. My neighbors literally stood around in groups laughing at me for trying to plant the tree at the wrong time. One of them had a degree in horticulture and she maintained there was no way that tree would grow.

A couple of years later when the maintenance men from my apartment complex came to snake out my drains again, they told me their boss told them to snake those drains every week if need be but they were not to touch my willow. People used to slow down in their cars to look at my tree. It flourished for several years even though I broke all the rules. It was eventually removed along with my townhouse building to make room for a bank and parking lot.

Who wants to lay odds on my yellow rose?

By MartyD from Houston,Tx