fourth bloom of the year

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For the last nearly two months the weather has alternated between bone-shiveringly cold to sunny and warm, back and forth in approximately three days of cold and about half that of warm... but it varies up to five days of cold and three days of warm. Three of my half wine barrel planters contain roses. I hate roses, but I dutifully and gingerly feed them compost and prune them anyway because ripping them out would be bloodier still, and the one is particularly beautiful anyway. Well. That sucker has two more buds on it that just emerged over the last couple days. This is the FOURTH time this year it has put out buds and if these manage to bloom I will be vexed in everything I thought I knew about the rhythms of the earth.

While attempting to tromp off my back discomfort yesterday I noticed that there are rose bushes in full bloom all over the place.

I used to keep a really large rose garden alive for friends who were gone most of the year, and I do NOT remember their roses ever behaving this way. I can say for certain that these roses have not bloomed more than twice in the four years I've owned them... until now....