Planting Rose Bushes

A couple months ago, I read the book Sand in My Eyes by Christine Lemmon.  The main character in the book, Anna,  quits her job in New York City and moves her husband and children to Sanibel Island, Florida where she meets her older neighbor, Fedelina.  One day Fedelina shows up on Anna's doorstep with an armful of flowers.  Not just any flowers though, roses.  The book goes on to talk about Fedelina's rose garden and about her cutting roses from her garden everyday and putting them in vases in her house and also giving several to her new neighbor.  The book also talks about how taking care of roses can be so much like taking care of our own lives.  How not only do we have to take time to prune the rose bushes but also taking time to "prune" our own lives.

I got so caught up in the rose bushes and how wonderful they must be that I started dreaming of maybe having a rose garden of my own.  I checked some books out of our local library about roses and did a little research.  When I say I did a little research, I mean very little.  My idea of research is pretty much looking at the pictures and reading the caption underneath.

So when I was at Lowe's one afternoon and saw they had rose bushes for sale for $5 each, I knew it was meant to be.  I knew that was a sign that it was time for me to start my rose garden.  So I bought 3 bushes.

I got a white one called Pascali, a blue one called Blue Girl and a red one called Oklahoma.

If you are looking at my house, this would be the left side and we don't have much planted over there yet.  I had a calla lily that we planted a few years ago and my brother-in-law just helped me cut it completely back.  I hope it comes back this year.  I also have another bush that I planted that my son's 4th grade teacher gave me but I have no idea what it is called.

This area gets lots of afternoon sun so I thought it would be a great spot for the rose bushes.  Not to mention, we will be able to see them coming down the road to our house.

I started by clearing away the mulch.

I then placed the rose bushes on the spot where I wanted them to get my spacing right.  The plan was to plant them about 2 feet apart.

Thanks to all the rain we have been getting the Georgia clay was nice and soft.

I then dug a hole.  I hadn't taken the rose's from their packaging yet so I wasn't sure exactly how deep the hole needed to be.  I just tried to guess.

Once I got the roses out of their package, I realized that the roots were not that long inside all the packaging.  I mixed some potting soil with our dirt and then planted the rose-bush so the base is just above the soil.

The instructions said not to plant the base completely under the dirt.  That part apparently needs to be up out of the ground.  I then packed all the dirt around it and pushed it down really hard.

I continued in the same manner with the other 2.  The one on the far left is a little skimpy so hopefully it will grow ok.  I'm not usually one for having "green thumbs" so it will actually be a small miracle if they grow at all.  I'll have to send hubby out there to touch each one and rub my bad-plant-growing-luck off of them.

I then put all the mulch over them and wish for the best.

I had to get them in the ground because they were already starting to get new growth on them from being in the garage.  We've had very warm weather down here this month so I guess they thought it was Springtime already.

I'm so excited about the possibility of having my own rose garden.  I have visions of being able to clip roses from my bushes and having fresh roses in vases around my house this summer.  We'll see if that happens.

If you're looking for a good read to inspire you to plant your own rose garden then pick up Sand in My Eyes.

It's a great book.