The Rose Bush

This is what our rose bush used to look like.  It was massive and overgrown.  The monstrous thing took over massive space where it sat against the deck.  Garden trellis had to be put up to keep the bush from growing over the stairs.  It was massive.  From what I've heard, every year it overgrows.  The branches grow across the back deck and it gets completely out of control.  Clearly this bush is happy and healthy enough to really grow!

Today I needed to get out of the house for a while and get my mind off some of the stress that's been getting to me.  I pulled up some of the weeds around the mesquite tree.  We dug up a little of the ivy so we could relocate it.  Then we moved on to the butterfly garden.  It was clear that it needed some more serious help.  She got the weed whacker and I tried a different direction.  I went to deal with the rose bush.

There's still a good deal of work to be done, but the rose bush looks much better.  The concrete step off the lower deck is now cleared off.  I had to cut back at least a foot of bush and pull a whole bunch of grass that had grown on the layer of dirt that collected.  The rose bush seems to have composted it's own dead leaves beneath it.  I had to pull those back and the weeds.  I cut back the pieces underneath only to find tons of dead branches, dry and snapping in my hands.  The weeds seemed to be suffocating the lower growth, meaning the bush had to grow that much farther out in order to survive.  It was being smothered by weeds.  I had to pull them out as I went.  Maybe when I get it cut back enough that I can reach under it I can dig out all of the weeds.  I need to pull out all the dried dead sticks, leaves, and petals as well.  There's all these strangely growing branches that twist and turn back on themselves.

Hopefully the rose bush will start looking better soon.  Once it's got a little bit of love, it will be so much happier and healthier.  It will do some good to cut out all of the dead and get all those weeds out from suffocating it.  This is just the first significant step towards healthier land.  Now I just need to be motivated enough to finish the rose bush, tackle the butterfly garden, and clear out all the weeds around the mesquite tree and the old garden plot.  It's so much work, but that will be worth it in the end.