Last Rose in the Garden

Last Rose

Last Rose @2013 Bo Mackison

“You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” –A.A. Milne

Today is a day of endings and a day of beginnings. It seems the above quote is the one I need to keep in my mind today, as a reminder that even when doing what is difficult, facing problems head on is the solution, and doing the necessary work with kindness and love and compassion.

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Bo Mackison is photographer, book-maker, collector of stories, naturalist, curator and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Today I am also a daughter-in-law helping my mother-in-law make a change none of us are ever quite ready for.

Last Summer Rose in Allen Centennial Garden

Last Summer Rose © 2010 Bo Mackison

I’ve been making almost daily trips to the gardens this summer.

Over the past five months, there have always been roses to greet me when I entered the Allen Centennial Gardens. They bloomed early this year, the first rose buds opening in the early days of May. And now, as we approach the last days of September, most of the roses have bloomed.

All, except for this one last pink rose, sheltered near the garden trellis. It was just beginning to open when I was there a few days ago. I do believe it will be my last rose of this summer.

Yellow Rose

Yellow Rose from Boerner Botanical Gardens in Milwaukee Wisconsin

Yellow Rose © 2010 Bo Mackison

And I’ll send a little humor to you on this Saturday morning, the start of a beautiful weekend. I found this quote while looking for a few words about roses, and just couldn’t pass it by. Especially considering the source…I think she was a wise, inspirational woman, but obviously she was a comedian, too!

I once had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: no good in a bed, but fine up against a wall. ~~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Softly Seen, A Heart in Shadow

Rose at Boehrner Botanical Gardens in Milwaukee Wisconsin

Softly Seen, A Heart in Shadow © 2010 Bo Mackison

I don’t photograph roses very often. Maybe because I’ve had entire years of gardening consumed with frustrating rose care. In out first home — a zillion and a half years ago and before children — I thought it would be lovely to plant some of the roses my grandfather had grown. I frequently gardened with him during my childhood, but I must have missed the parts of rose care that were the hard work.

I remember the good scents part. He would call, “Hey, Bo. Take a sniff of this yeller one. What do ya think? Ain’t she a grand one!”

I remember being allowed to carefully cut long stemmed roses with very sharp cutters. I brought them to my grandmother on the special days her Garden Club ladies visited our home. She would arrange them in exquisite bouquets of welcome for the admiring rose lovers.

I don’t, however, remember the clumpy, thick white clouds of rose dust or the aphids and black spot the rose dust was supposed to eradicate. And I certainly didn’t remember winter care. My grandfather’s roses grew in Zone 7. I planted my roses in Zone 4 which meant they required pruning and mulching and wrapping and covering. And even then, there was always winter kill that took a part of each plant.

I struggled with those roses the 7 years we lived in our first home, and when we moved I swore I would have no more roses.

So I have a rather tenuous relationship with roses. I love them; I hate them.

But then we were visiting Milwaukee today and stopped at the Boerner Botanical Gardens. While we were there, I decided to take a walk through their rose gardens. (The last time I walked those rose garden paths, I held the hand of our oldest child, while Sherpa pushed our middle child, a tiny infant, in a stroller.)

I took a few photographs before the mosquitoes won and I had to retreat to the safety of the car. I didn’t record the name of this rose. I was too busy slapping at biting insects and wondering what useful purpose mosquitoes have on this earth.

But I like this rose — its soft curves, the shadows playing with the lights, and the rose’s heart. A hidden heart.

Gemini, A Rose

Pink Rose

Gemini Rose © 2010 Bo Mackison

The rose gardens are in full bloom in July. I love the delicate coloring and shading on this Gemini® Tea Rose.

Photographed at the Chicago Botanic Gardens on the Fourth of July.