good morning rose

Roses are like bratty children or self-involved friends who drive you crazy most of the time and then do one thing that’s so damn endearing that you can’t help but adore them.

A week ago, all the buds on my healthiest rose bush were suddenly covered in bugs — aphids, I think. I had a picture, but I seem to have accidentally deleted it in my ongoing struggle with Picasa. You’ll have to trust me that it was deeply disgusting.

I don’t like killing bugs, but it was either them or all my roses so I’ve been spraying with diluted Dr. Bronner’s soap and the rotten little squirmers have been slowly departing. Today I awoke to an almost perfect bloom, my first of the season. You can see the continuing fight against the aphids all around, but I finally feel like the hassle has been worthwhile.

and it smells amazing too!

6 thoughts on “good morning rose

  1. ugh, you are way nicer to bugs than me. My religion is supposed to be nice to all living creatues, but when it comes to bugs, that shit’s goin’ down. Beautiful victory rose!

  2. Hi Lehanna! That’s a fantastic idea. I think the aphids are all gone now but if they come back I’ll definitely do that.

  3. Most of the recipes I’ve seen use a very small amount of soap — like 1 TBSP to 1 gallon water. I was unscientific about it, though. I just squirted a little Dr. Bronner’s in a spray bottle and filled it up with water.

    I’ve read that garlic spray is also very effective. Here’s a little recipe for that:
    1) crush a few bulbs worth of garlic.
    2) Simmering them in 2-3 cups of water
    3) let it sit a few hours to cool, then strained the pulp out of it

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