Rose Ruminations

After a bad night's sleep and a full morning of chores ahead of me before we head out for the weekend, I suspect that I won't be getting around to planting the other Day lily I bought this week, so I thought I'd post about a little rose bush that is a favourite of mine. It's called Romantic Ruffle (no doubt it has a fancy Latin name, but I swear it's not on the tag, which by miracle I still have!) and it's a deep pink with lighter tints on the ruffles, growing lighter as the bloom fades. I've transplanted this rose at least three times and every time it manages to bounce back.This year I had to move it because we added a deck to the house. As you can see by the photo, it barely hesitated in it's blooming. Unfazed, it just happily keeps going. The second time I transplanted it, I was amazed to see some lighter leaves being produced after awhile, on taller stalks than I was used to seeing (this is almost a dwarf plant, it never grows above about 18 inches high). Then, lo and behold, there were even different coloured flowers turning up and the lovely dark pink ones were disappearing. Luckily, my sister (my source for lots of gardening advice) was visiting around that time and she explained that the plant I had bought had been grafted onto a more hardy root so that it could do well in our climate and the transplanting must have stimulated its production. Now, as long as I keep a sharp eye out for those lighter leaves and stalks and nip them off right away, my favourite rose keeps on looking healthy and producing lovely blooms.