The War of the Roses

No, not the Elizabethan drama or the movie with Michael Douglas... this is a real war going on between me and my dogs and my desire to plant one stupid rose bush in my back yard.

Let me explain.

We had a shed in our back yard where we store the lawn mower and flower pots and snow shovels. I thought it would be nice to plant roses on either side of the double doors to make the shed look prettier and bring some color to the yard. Last summer I purchased one yellow rose bush (full price) from Home Depot and another yellow rose bush (half price) from home depot. I planted the full price rose on the left of the doors and the half price rose on the right of the doors. It was late in the season when I did my planting, and I am not a very good or interested gardener, so one rose flourished and one rose died. I'll let you guess when one died... you betcha... the full price one.

Winter can and went and when spring came around the cheap rose in the right came back to life and had many blooms, while the one of the left proved itself to really be dead.

I went to Home Depot this year and purchased another full price yellow rose. I went to dig the dead one up only to discover that there was a hole, but no rose. It turns out that my dogs had been nice enough to remove it for me and eat it.

So I plant the rose (which I paid $12 for), watered it, fed it, and surrounded it with old pots as way to deter the dogs.

Two days later as I trek across the yard to water my newly planted baby I discover... you betcha... another hole. No rosebush in sight. I scoured the yard and was able to find for roots that had not been eaten, but everything else was long gone. Into the belly of the beasts if you will.

So I said, no more. I have spent $25 on roses that have died and been eaten, I'm not doing it again.

So yesterday I was in Eckerd picking up a prescription when I display of roses caught my eye. They all looked pretty healthy just in need of a little water. Then I saw the clearance sign and realized that they were $1.00 each!

So against my better judgment I bought the $1.00 rose. I will be planting it this weekend, surrounding it with a fence, and sprinkling it with cayenne pepper.

I don't think the dogs will be eating this one.