A Rose By Any Other Name...

Monday, the start of a new week.  I was determined to try to make some progress on Project Rosebush.  With the second weekend run under my belt, Monday was a deserved no-run day, leaving the morning, in theory, for gardening.  Of course, by the time I truly awoke, it was close to 8am.  Not so much time left before work for Project Rosebush.

But some progress is better than no progress, right?  So the pansies got transplanted out of the designated rosebush planter, over to the home of the not-so-thriving Endless Summer hydrangea planter.  With its few little leaves (eaten by something, I think - I am not sure what), it can probably afford to host some color on the fringes.

 

Newly transplanted pansies, in the planter with the Endless Summer.

Yesterday's transplanted dianthus - maybe with a few more days it will become established and right itself again.

 The old, now clearly dead (sniff, sniff - rather sad - it had come from the Mother Garden, and now the Mother Garden's mother plant is gone too) Baby's Blanket rosebush did not want to move and be updated.  It was quite stationary.  So I decided it was necessary to remove some of the soil - drag over the big orange bucket to hold the soil taken from above and around the Baby's Blanket's roots, maybe ease it out slowly.  But I ran out of time - had to get to work.

Happily, work was not too bad today.  So I managed to leave early - 7pm!!!  And got home with enough light to continue with Project Rosebush.

More soil removed.

Until finally, the carcass came loose.  Note almost-full big orange bucket.





The old, dead Baby's Blanket finally yielded.  It is actually quite tricky, yanking out a rosebush without getting pricked by thorns.  I discovered that the thorns will flick off if something metal is firmly rubbed down the side.  But at the end, I dug enough around the base, near the root, to grab hold of that, and pull.  And out she came.

Dead Baby's Blanket, resting, temporarily, in the planter where the tomatoes will be planted, and maybe some parsley.



The plan is to butcher the Baby's Blanket corpse, and add it to the soil - more organic matter, right?  And the branches should be some good, stiff matter, maybe to promote drainage or create some air spaces.  I am not really sure that is what the new rose will need, but that is what it will get.  So, I may go back to the de-thorning technique - because as I was digging out soil, there were some thorny cuttings from prior years' prunings left behind, and they were sharp.  Better for the thorns to be flicked off, added as tiny little fragments to perhaps break down over time, than to be added as part of maces to prick my fingers in the future.  I started to cut up some big roots in the soil too.  And I added some perlite to try to lighten the soil.

That was as far as I got.  Need to butcher the rosebush corpse, I think, in a manner that it can be added to the soil, before the new rosebush goes in.  Need to look into mini-chippers; I thought I saw an add for one, or something on "I Want That!"  May need more perlite.  Also have a bunch of compostables from Sissy - old plants and soil and the like - that can be mixed in.  Not sure if I can resolve all of that tomorrow morning to plant the new rosebush.  And tomorrow's supposed to be a run day...  Hmm, Project Rosebush may need to wait some days....