Twigs from my garden

Standing among row upon row of blooming roses, I can see in the distance past the large flowerbed toward an expansive stretch of farm fields and woods. Behind me is the house of Urban and Alma Long who live in Hardin County. To one side of me stand a large barn and outbuildings, evidence of a very busy farming operation in earlier years. This beautiful June afternoon, I feel the hot sun beating down on my head, but the sun does not seem to be bothering the other women in the garden.

Close by, I can hear the soft voices of Long and two other women as they walk through the roses. The women are following along with Long who is taking rose cuttings for grandchildren and children of members of the Hardin County Homemakers. One child is still a baby; she will receive "Little Sizzler." "I try to choose roses that match the child in some way. I like to give masculine-sounding varieties to the boys," Long explains. She gives each child three cuttings in complementary colors. Her hope is to teach them how to grow and care for roses - perhaps eventually entering a county fair.

"Were you a teacher?" I ask Long. "Yes, for 31 years - does it show?" she answers. A chemistry and advanced biology teacher with Upper Scioto Valley schools, Long's past vocation, as well as her lifetime love of roses, is apparent.

Long has been growing roses herself since her own interest was piqued in 1951, the same year she married, when she was given seven rose bushes by an avid rose grower who served as her mentor. The rose cuttings she will hand out this year will number about 500, each one bearing a bloom and carefully marked as to variety.

Last month Long broke her arm, but her handicap has not stopped her current project - distributing roses to every interested child or adult. Her mission began last winter when she visited or called gardening groups throughout Hardin County telling them what she was intending to do. "You should have seen my phone bill!" she said, laughing.

"When I got fibromyalgia several years back, I had to cut way back on my hand pruning," she explains. "Urban pruned them all at one time with a weed whacker and we've done it that way ever since." She only waters her cuttings now, not all 500 roses. One year, she says, she nearly ran the cistern dry trying to keep her roses watered. By adding rich doses of cow manure to the soil to help hold in moisture, her roses don't appear to be suffering from lack of care.

A slight breeze rustles and scatters several papers that Long has inserted into folders to be given to each child. She is still teaching. Only at this stage of her life, she is teaching what each child needs to know in order to grow successful roses.

Oops!

In last week's column, lemon balm was included as a mint. Lemon balm is formally Melissa officinalis, while mints belong to the Mentha family. However, there is a lemon mint among the more than two dozen aromatic mint varieties.

Event

From 12:15 to 12:45 p.m. Tuesday, enjoy your lunch and a respite in the gazebo of the Children's Garden in the 600 block of West Market Street, Lima, behind the Allen County Museum. Master gardener Jenny Webb will talk about "Drip Irrigation." The Brown Bag Series throughout summer is free and open to the public; bring your own lawn chair.

Master Gardener Tip of the Week

Rose midges are tiny mosquito-like flies that may swarm in a rose bed in late spring or early summer. Instead of an emerging green flower bud, you will see a shriveled brown bud. Spider mites are prevalent in hot dry weather and may be seen by tapping a rose leaf upside down over a sheet of white paper. Like rose midges, they are microscopic in size. A serious infestation will cause serious or total defoliation of a rose plant. Both reproduce very rapidly and will be difficult to control unless treated.