First, the rose bed before trimming, then after.
Here is how they looked last summer.
The cows had to come up to the fence to check out the activity and beg for grain.
The birch tree nearby has nice bark this winter.
This area is an interesting mix of old and new, of fertile cropland and rocky wasteland. This rocky sinkhole is just up the road about 3/4 mile.
Most of the open land in this county is either grassland for pasture & hay, or is wheat, corn, & soybeans; sometimes some cotton. Virtually all the farming is no-till; spray, plant and harvest. I must say I really miss seeing the soil turned and worked.
The winter wheat and soybeans are usually double cropped, followed by corn the next year and then back to wheat and beans.
Here is a nice winter wheat field which will be harvested in June and soybeans planted immediately after, and a bean field ready for corn in April.
Just up the road a few hundred yards, you cross this scenic bridge and creek.
This county was once home to a few hundred dairies, but only a handful remain. This was quite a showplace dairy a few decades ago.
We have always enjoyed that old buildings are rarely demolished here; they are usually allowed to remain as a reminder of the history of the area. Sometimes they are kept up and still used while others sink and crumble slowly away.
Remember, all this is within 3 miles of home. Quite remarkable, I think.
Your roses are (were) :) beautiful! Can hardly wait to see flowers blooming again this spring, although I won't be anxious for all the extras work to get the flower beds ready. It's been in the teens and twenties all week here, but is to be above freezing by Monday. Yay!
ReplyDeleteYes, I can hardly wait for Spring, too. It just hit me this evening that the days are noticeably longer already. Yay to that!
DeleteOh, I loved the tour of the old barns. That is one thing TN does have plenty of. I just wish we'd do better at keeping them from falling down. I didn't know that the Knock Outs should be pruned back that drastically. I usually beg my husband not to prune them at all as the directions that came with them said they don't need it. He doesn't listen to me since he owned a garden center for years but I always think he's wrong. I wonder, even if you want them to get large, do you still prune them back as much as you do? Mine are in a bed across the creek from my window and I'd like them to be more bush-like. They are also near a crab apple so I don't think they get as much light as they should but can't do anything about that as I like them together. It was a beautiful day to garden.
ReplyDeleteI've always cut them way back and they get quite large the next year anyway. I'm not sure how big they would get if they were not cut back. They are bloomin' machines!
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