Author Archives: Unwit
Frozen roses
November has been very warm until today, and the roses took advantage of the long Indian summer and fall to bloom and set hips. Last night we got some frost. I woke up to this. And this:
Pupate
He or she shed his last skin sometime yesterday. At first he was the same color with the same markings as he was when a gobbling caterpillar, and I could tell he had changed form only by his new shape … Continue reading
Metamorphosis 2
Right beneath the lavender ribbon I tied on the azalea to tell the painters not to trample it this spring, I saw this Eastern black swallowtail caterpillar, and I knew he was getting ready to pupate. His body language is … Continue reading
Metamorphosis
It’s October, and a mushroom I don’t recognize has unfurled its umbrella overnight. It’s the most delicate thing, semi transparent like a Luna month’s wing, and it looks like it would glow in the dark.
Peggy Martin, Peggy Martin, Peggy Martin
Stage right I’ve been trying to get the essence of Peggy Martin into a photograph. I’ve been trying to get the entire plant into one photograph. It’s not possible. I think this is hilarious. You want to feel smart? Like … Continue reading
Return Of the swamp rose
The swamp rose is back and better than ever. It’s about four feet by four feet now, covered with panicles of 2.5″ semi-double lavender -pink blossoms that the light shines through. And the fragrance scents the entire yard. It’s a … Continue reading
Hail to the Sicilian stonemasons!
I’m laughing my butt off reading Marie Manilla’s The Patron Saint of Ugly, about a character who is both Appalachian and Sicilian, like me. I do not know much about my forebears from that spiky island, but I know that … Continue reading
Rise ‘N’ Shine
According to https://www.chambleeroses.com/order.php?id=143 , this miniature was bred by Ralph Moore in 1977. It went on clearance at https://www.antiqueroseemporium.com/roses/2211/rise-n-shine , Bob got it for me for my birthday (mid-June), I stuck it in the ground, and then I left town for … Continue reading
And the garden looked at the gardener that it had made,
and it saw that she was good. She laughed and she cried at the birth and the death of a drop of dew. She filled with the singing the light made as the leaves breathed it in. From her porch … Continue reading
What rose gardeners do in winter
besides peruse rose catalogs: We get into houseplants. I do fine with outdoor plants that can pretty much fend for themselves, but houseplants are a whole different ball game, as my dad would say. I’m the Johnny Appleseed of … Continue reading
The Lazy Organic Rose Gardener 