Kentucky Derby… and another garden update

This is the first perfect bloom on my Kentucky Derby rose bush.  I’ve always loved the incredibly large blooms of this rose.  We enjoy picking both buds and full blooms from this bush.  This might be the perfect red rose.  And, as an added bonus, the fragrance is lovely, too!

Garden Update:

Added — 3 Mr Stripey (Yaay!  I found my favorites!) And, they’re already thriving!

The 4 new fig trees — They’ve all grown about 3 inches!  Amazing!  (My well-established brown turkey fig has grown about 5-6 inches already this year.)

And, we planted 3 varieties of marigold and one huge planter box of chamomile.

Everything is thriving.  (It’s a miracle!)  Radishes are growing like weeds.  Both sweet and hot peppers plants are huge.  Too many peppers to count are growing.  Tomato and cherry tomato plants are looking great.  The first blueberries are getting big!!  The blackberry bush has sent off three or four new GIANT-SIZED sprouts.  And, the main bush is COVERED in blackberries.  My artichokes look great.  My lavender is beautiful (this year).  And, everything else is growing as expected.  This is shaping up to be a very successful year.

The two rhubarbs are healthy… but, they seem to be missing a few stalks.  Rabbits, maybe?  I know we have a family of rabbits and a few solitary visitors every day.  I guess they’re not happy gorging on the bird seed I see them devouring non-stop.  Pesky rabbits!  They’re lucky they’re so cute.

Sadly, it wouldn’t be my garden if I didn’t have at least one fatality.  One poor rosemary has shuffled off to the great garden in the sky.  I have no idea what happened to the poor thing.  One day it was fine… the next day… it had shriveled and died.  It received the same water and sun that it’s identical twin is still receiving.  (The healthy twin is currently thriving.)  It’s a mystery!