Making the Decision

I had almost decided to remove the blaze rose that was attracting so much attention.  (See Why can't I be satisfied?)  I was making a deal to swap roses with my daughter, Anita.  She had rescued my new dawn rose when we moved up north.  But I always liked it and wished I still had it.  Its pale pink flowers were beautiful while still being soft and restful.

I was going to wait till fall and then make the trade.  But then things changed.  It wasn't so much all the people, some total strangers that would stop to exclaim over the blaze roses, they had been doing that all along;
 
and it wasn't even the fact that other flowers in my garden began to compliment the blaze; I was convinced that the blaze was overpowering every other plant. It was something far more weighty.

 

I have always been the gardener in the family.  My husband had never taken an interest in any of my gardening activities, especially not my flower gardening.  But life is changing around our home.  Bruce spent most of last year near death. I didn't expect to have my husband back again, but through God's divine intervention and the restorative nutrients He placed in the lowly coconut,my husband is now well.

But things have changed.  Although I still do most of the gardening, Bruce is often outside with me.  And he has opinions.  Bruce likes the blaze rose bush. 

We often eat our meals on the deck and this is what he sees:

And so it stays. and I am now quite happy with that.

Back to my Color Scheme

 

Since my garden here is so tiny, and since I enjoy color harmonies, I had every intention of sticking to pinks and blues and purples throughout my garden, but bulb packages can lie.  The trouble is, I have a hard time being ruthless.  Another Blotanical gardener, Jack from Gardens at Waters East, compared it with a writer editing scrip.  As a writer I am well aquainted with the trauma of having to cut out paragraphs and even chapters just because they don't quite fit in.

That's what happened in my garden today.  Beautiful yellow and red striped tulips and even some plain yellow and some soft orange ones had to go. 

I couldn't quite bring myself to remove all the yellows though.  They do add a touch of sunshine to the overall scene.

 

I haven't tackled this part yet, so tell me, what would you do?