Sometimes, stopping to smell the roses, or just slowing down, is easier said than done. Especially, if you live in a big city like Atlanta, where you are expected to hurry up – and wait, because you are probably stuck on I-285, with 1000 other people and 3 lanes blocked. Ha! Or, is that, “UGH!”?
Anyway, city life, with its corporate jobs, multiple deadlines, endless projects, and useless meetings, doesn’t tend to lend itself to taking it slow. Yet, as humans, we need to do just that. We can’t be expected to run 100 miles an hour all the time. Sometimes, we need to take time and spend it with loved ones, walk around the block and talk to the neighbors, or piddle in the yard and, you guessed it, smell the roses.
Speaking of roses, we have some quite lovely Knockout Roses in our yard. By the end of fall last year, the two growing closest to our house were out of control. They were HUGE! The roses near the fence, though, not so much. Those were pretty, but not near as big and full. The ones next to the house always had tons of blooms, whereas the others had SOME blooms.
The White Rose
Then, there is the white rose bush. Also located along the fence, we have a single, white rose bush. It struggles to produce, but when it does, it tends to have the most fragrant aroma!
At the beginning of the year, our maintenance person trimmed all the bushes way back, telling me not to worry, they will grow back and produce beautiful blooms. He was right. In fact, the ones near the house, they must be growing in super soil, are almost a big as they were in the fall. And their blooms? Oh man! Beautiful! But the others are doing quite well, too. Lots of growth. Beautiful blooms. Including our white one.
We are elated with how they look. The roses, along with our Tea Olive and other plants we got from Fiddleheads Garden Center, are really helping our house look like a home. And every time we pull into the driveway, we are reminded to “stop and smell the roses.”
