Thursday, September 20, 2012

Rosa 'Brother Cadfael'

Winter is not a pleasant season for me. As I get older (and older) I am attracted to heat and enjoy feeling hot. When it is hot, paradoxically it is when I feel the most active.

I have always been able to handle intense heat with aplomb. I remember that as a young Argentine Navy conscript it was up to an idiot admiral to inform us that it was no longer winter and that we could switch from the heavy dark blue woolens to the much lighter cotton whites. Temperatures in Buenos Aires can rise to the 30s in spring and the nearby Río de la Plata makes intensifies the effect with high humidity. My fellow sailors observed that I didn’t seem to sweat.

Our garden is a shady one now and by early afternoon I can feel the nip in the air. Some afternoons my Rosemary asks me to switch on the furnace. I do not object.

My English Roses are re-blooming and giving me one last show. But few, with their dense petal structure, are able to open up. There is simply not enough heat and sun. They ball up and look like ping-pong balls. But here are a couple of sweet smelling Rosa ‘Brother Cadfael’ informing me that perhaps there may be a few more sunny and warm days when Casi-Casi (Rosemary’s cat) and I can sit on the garden bench and soak up some heat. The last sunny area in the garden at about 5 is not coincidentally, near Brother Cadfael.