Rio Samba in bloom

I went home after having a little lunch, just to check on the fire and put on some more debris. As I looked around I saw that my new Rio Samba rose bush has a flower almost open and another one starting to open. This bush is my first foray into taking care of a rose in years. Several years ago I made rose beds for my (now) ex. I removed all the hard clay soil and made a mixture of soil to fill in. Then we planted several varieties. She had a brown thumb and pretty much all of them died. Except for the Rio Samba. That rose bush seemed to thrive on neglect. It didn't get regular water, food, or pesticides. It didn't have a problem with black spot or aphids. It was gorgeous! Then, my neighbor had some yokels cut down a tree and they let it drop right into the middle of my Rio Samba and killed it.

This spring, as I was walking around Lowe's I saw 1 (and only 1) Rio Samba, so I snapped it up and put it in the same spot as the old one. It has been in the ground a few weeks and appears to be taking off. Can't wait until it's full like the old one. I took a little time today to water it because it is a hot day, but I do not want to baby it.

Also, I decded that I would like to make a little more conscious effort to do something about the water hoses. I have hose reel carts, but they always seem to be in a spot that is not conducive to USING the hoses and reeling them back in when done. So, today I cut off a section of hose and put repair ends on it, then ran that under my deck. Now I have a hose end in a very convenient spot, and it won't be bothered by lawn mowing. The reel is attached to that short hose section, and I believe that from now on I will take the time to reel the hose in after each use. That takes care of the back yard. In the front it would be nice to have 2 places to hook up the hose reel. To do that right would require running a pipe under a sidewalk, so I'll put that off for awhile and do easier stuff.