Woo!  It’s Friday!!!!

I’m not much in the mood for a long post, because it’s finally cooler outside and we’re just kicking back before settling in with a DVD —"Stranger Than Fiction".

Herr Meow’s tricycle — a new acquisition, since he fell in love with another child’s at the picnic the other day– is assembled.  I must say, I enjoy using tools.  I don’t know that I have a manly fascination with them, or that I would ever willfully decide to blow $500 on power tools over… yes, you guessed it: cute shoes, but I must say that it does feel good to be able to bend metal at will and coax things out of nuts, bolts, and sterile pieces of solid matter. 

Hm.  Re-read that sentence, remove the word "bolts", and giggle like a tween.  My gift to you.

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So anyway.  Here are a few snippets of things going on around the Meow-hold, for your sort-of viewing pleasure:

(I say sort-of-because I’m not sure I’m a very good garden photographer, but at least I’m recording stuff for posterity’s sake)

Here is one of the first blossoms of Mme. Zéphirine Drouhin, which
happens to be one of the climbers that Jackson & Perkins strong-armed
me into buying.  I really only wanted ONE climbing rose –because the planting space is really quite limited in our house, and because I know how much work climbing roses (or, for that matter ANY roses) can be. 

I had hoped to buy just one Mlle. Cécile Brünner so it could drape over the deck, but it was not to be so.  Instead, I had to get a three-pack, and when I planted them and two out of three of the roses did nothing, I called them to let them know so. 

Long story short?  The Zeph was not dead, as I was convinced it was, and neither was the Cécile, but now I have another Zeph, a Fragrant Cloud, and a Melody Parfumeé that isn’t doing crap, but is trying–besides the Sombreuil, which is kicking butt.  So much for just wanting ONE freakin’ rose.

And speaking of the Fragrant Cloud, it too has come around.  I’m starting to realize several things:  a) roses don’t really like having to grow in a container, and b) roses don’t really like DC all that much at first.  The fact that later they realize that it’s not half bad is kind of a rose afterthought.  But when they arrive, they do kind of seem to get pissed off ("you mean you literally UPROOTED me from the Pacific Northwest for THIS CRAP SOIL?!!?"). 

Oh.  The Fragrant Cloud! I must show you a picture!

Isn’t she cute?  I know… there are tiny burn marks around the edges of the petals, but honestly I am surprised that it decided to up and bloom during such a hot spell instead of lying down and giving up as I know I would have done were I a rose and it were my lot in life to sit outside all day under that hot sun.

Which, really, makes me grateful that I am not, in fact, a rose.

Finally, I come to the last specimen currently worth sharing from my garden: the little grape tomatoes currently being digested in my stomach as I type.

If I were to do this over again, I would have planted the little vine in a deeper pot and would have put more compost material in with the potting mix, but the yield –though small– has been of an excellent quality so far.  Do tomatoes keep producing through the summer?  Does anyone know? 

Well, I shall research.  In the meantime, feast your eyes upon my mildly artistic rendering of two of the little tomatoes, herewith:

I must say that there is a great sense of pride and accomplishment in being able to eat or somehow use things you’ve planted yourself.  Since the beginning of summer, I’ve enjoyed picking lemon verbena leaves for tisanes and to just add to cold water to give it that happy grassy lemony taste and scent.

I can only hope that the plants don’t die while we’re out West.  <insert sad emoticon>

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Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!
See you on Monday (or before, if the mood strikes)!

29 Jun This entry was published on June 29, 2007 at 9:01 pm and is filed under Photoblogging. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.