Flashback

Moving the rosebush

Along the way, one of my neighbors, who was close to the prior owners, expressed concern and hope that any work we were going to do would not disturb the rosebush that she had given them some years before. And of course, wouldn’t you know it, the plans for the garage put it dead center over the rosebush which had grown to about five feet high. Now, wanting to keep the neighbors happy, and not wanting to get her upset with plans that were yet to be finalized, I asked would she perhaps like to have the rosebush? I even offered to move it for her.

I must be going to heaven.

She said yes, that would be nice. So she showed me an area by the corner of her house where it would get plenty of sun. I’m thinking, this should be easy.

The rosebush didn’t go without a fight. So much for easy. At one time it had been supported with one of those round tomato baskets and now years later the branches had grown all through it so it was one big tangle of wire, branches and thorns. So I had to hack saw the wire away while trying to dodge the thorns which were big and sharp. I wasn’t successful at all about missing the thorns and I’m sure the rosebush was happy with the amount of blood it was able to draw.

So once I was able to gently dig around it and pry the roots from their long standing home, I moved it over to the corner of her house where she asked me to put it. Now, I’m thinking, this part should be easy. An old garden, good soil, should be easy digging. My work was almost done. Wrong.

When I looked at the location that she had earlier pointed out, I failed to see the gnarly roots of a long gone hydrangea. Like an iceberg, most of the roots were underground. It had to be three feet around and God knows how deep in the ground. This is where she wanted the rose bush to go. I must be being punished for some long ago error in judgment I thought.

So I dug, and hacked, and dug and hacked some more. Finally, after over an hour I had the roots free and the hole ready. The rosebush was transplanted with a mix of soil that my neighbor created and well watered and I was a step closer to getting on the other side of those pearly gates.

A few weeks later I noticed that the bush was still green but it looked like it now had roses. Now not knowing my neighbor and thinking that it wouldn’t be blooming until next year, I thought, oh great, she wants it to bloom so badly she’s taped plastic roses to it. Oh boy. Really?

So I went and took a closer look and saw that it was actually blooming! Wow, cool I thought. Crisis with my new neighbor averted. Not only did I succeed at transplanting the rosebush that meant so much to her, it was now even blooming. I have no idea how I was able to move it and have it still live.

Maybe I do have a green thumb. Or just plain dumb luck.