Gaga

I bet you think I'm going to talk about Lady Gaga!  Ha!  No, I don't know enough about her to write anything.  The gaga I'm talking about is the kind talked about on Seinfeld, as in "I'm gaga about her, Jerry", or "he's not gaga".  (I never watched Seinfeld when it was on years ago, but now I enjoy watching the re-runs.)

You will probably only understand this post if you are a gardener.  It's about fall weeds.  For some reason, weeds in the fall really don't bother me.  Spring weeds I detest.  I try to pull them as fast as I can (which is never fast enough).  But weeding in the fall just seems heartless.  Those poor little things, destined to freeze before spreading their seed.  So, I find joy even in the weeds - as long as I know the freeze is coming.

And the freezes have come, for the last two nights, and more expected.  But, before the freezes hit, I went outside to say goodbye to the weeds, and roses.  That's when I stumbled upon 'Safrano'.

Safrano has a reputation for being a heavy bloomer, a lovely rose, and all I've ever heard is raves.  Since mine is fairly young, I've been anxiously waiting to see what all the fuss was about.  She bloomed for me a time or two, but nothing spectacular, although I noticed her blooms were getting prettier as she aged.  Still, I wasn't gaga.

Then I saw these blooms:

And for some reason, in these final blooms of the year, I finally saw what I've been hearing about.  Beautiful form, delicate coloring, lovely foliage.  And stems described as "plum".  I couldn't take my eyes off these blooms.

I'm gaga for her, Jerry.

And now I have one more reason to look forward to spring.

Safrano is an old garden tea rose, grows in zone 7 through 9, is disease resistant, fragrant, and will get from 4 to 7 feet tall.  Might make you go gaga.