The last of the Roses

The last blooms are on the rose bushes now. Summer is coming to an end and soon I will have to say goodbye to my beautiful roses. This beauty is the rose I planted in commemoration of my Mother. She loved yellow roses. I always bought her a bouquet for her anniversary at the end of September. It is only one day before my own anniversary.

It is not truly a yellow rose, more like apricot, but I couldn't find a yellow that was scented. I refuse to plant a rose that has no scent. This rose has a delicate soft scent.

I have been thinking of my Mother a lot lately. She loved the fall. I miss her. She lived right down the street from me in a little house that she and my father built by hand. I haven't been able to go down there since right after she died. It is at the very end of the road. The time went by so fast.

We used to stay up all night talking together when I would walk down there to visit. She was interested in everything going on in the world. We would have discussions about politics, philosophy, books, history, life.

She would call me up at least once a week and say, 'Hey, K (my nickname), let's go to the tulip festival', or whatever was going on around here. We would pile in my old station wagon and go shopping, antiquing, to craft fairs, to art galleries. In the summer when the kids were home, we would all go to the lake and have picnics. Hubby and my Dad would come to the lake after work and we would cook burgers or hot dogs.

Sometimes she could be so silly and we would laugh until we cried.

I miss that.

The rose was planted in honor of all that she meant to me.

This girly rose is planted along side the steps from my deck. I can't describe to you the heavenly scent she has. Every time I go by her, I have to put my whole face up to her and take deep breaths. She is so sweet. Something has taken a little nibble from her petal, but otherwise she is a very healthy rose that blooms all summer.

This pale ruffly beauty is a surprise this year. I thought she was gone for good. I planted her years ago in a neglected garden over run by morning glory. I hadn't watered her all summer. And then she bloomed, showing off her gorgeous pink ruffles. It has inspired me to reclaim that neglected garden and I will be working on that this fall.

This one is my Rugosa Rose. She is completely care free and I admit I neglect her. But I purposely planted her in an area that I wouldn't need to water much. I have a well, and in the summer, it can get pretty low if we haven't had a lot of rain. I have to be selective in what I water. But she doesn't mind, and has actually spread into a hedge. She is very tall and extremely thorny. The deer used to eat her, though and I would never get blooms.

But now I have him. We haven't had deer since. He can run faster than the deer and he has turned from a timid house dog (when we first found him) to White Fang, dog of the North! Lol! I do truly appreciate him! And so do my roses!

I have one last rose to show you. She is growing among my herbs right below my deck. It gets full sunshine all day, and she has bloomed her little heart out all summer long with big sprays of highly scented fuchsia flowers. Any little breeze brings her scent wafting up to us as we sit on the deck. We have very much enjoyed her.

But now the light is not so bright and the nights are getting very cool.

The first leaves are turning and starting to fall.

But like my Mother and her Mother before her, we love the Fall. It is the time of year when you can slow down. The apples are ripe and that means apple pie, apple crisp, apple cobbler. There are fresh squashes, blackberries, pears. Halloween is just around the corner with all of the wonderful decorations and costumes. And who can forget about the wonderful fall leaves! So, even though I have to say goodbye to my beautiful roses, there are lovely days ahead. My little apple tree is full of almost ripe apples. I have a wonderful apple pie recipe to share with you as soon as I pick them. Mmmm! I can smell it baking now! Can you?