The Roses

When we moved into our house, almost three years ago, we planted a rose bush. It is a climbing rose bush. It is beautiful....so beautiful, I can't bear to cut it back. Brayden and I spent some time pruning off the dead buds today. We literally cut off hundreds of dead blooms. (I have dried up rose petals scattered about the general vicinity to prove it!) So, I went in search of what the rose bush looked like when we first planted it.

Yes, that's it...nestled along the single piece of lattice. Seriously. You can hardly see it.

Before we left for vacation, the rose bush was in full bloom. I snapped a picture of it. Behold, the out of control rose bush now....

Of course, all those beautiful blooms are history, and I spent a considerable amount of time out in the heat trying to removed the unsightly dead parts. There were so many buds, I would have sworn they were sprouting, dying, and drying up right before my eyes. There is still work to be done, but it will have to be later...or possibly on a day when it is not 90 degrees.