Report From PIA – October 17
I got an email today from friend and rosarian Oz Osborn. He was thanking me for promoting today’s Lower Cape Rose Society meeting on GardenLine, which I was delighted to do. He closed this note by saying, “It’s all about the roses, OZ”
This sign off got me thinking. Rose nuts, God love them, aside, can we really say that it’s all about what’s blooming?
In the garden we do love our flowers. But gardeners are increasingly paying attention to foliage. I couldn’t do without my ‘Tiger Eye’ cut-leaf sumac, and I love Spiraea thunbergii ‘Ogon’ for the leaf color and texture, not the flowers.
I’ll admit that most people like their plants to bloom, and this is more important to them than the foliage. How many times do I hear people ask for a shrub or perennial that “blooms all summer”? Constantly.
In our lives we go for the flowers as well. We accept the day to day, tolerate the difficulties and cope as best we can with tragedy, but the great times, the colorful, joyous, heartfelt blossoming is what we’re hoping for. Am I right?
As much as I believe this to be true, I also see the wisdom of not just enduring life’s obstacles, but viewing them as a necessary part of the whole experience.
It’s all about the roses, the foliage, the thorns, and the ability to balance and embrace it all.
I admit it: without the roses this landscape would just be a sea of green.
These roses are beautiful - anyone know what rose this is?
