THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER

Not our usual Rancho antiques, but reliable Knockouts, or Radrazz beauts.

Springtime at Rancho Roly Poly. The Bourbon Zephrine Drouhin in full cry. I should apologize for the quality of the photo. I take the snaps for print quality and then try to reduce them in size to fit the tiny page here and it often doesn’t work out well, like this one.

This is Upper Michigan not Central Texas. There’s no snow on the ground here at all. But it feels like the picture because it sure is cold. The elephant ears in the front yard at the Rancho are turning black, like rare reader Diller’s ladyfinger banana plants. He’s a farmer in the West Central Florida [...]

This was one of the first antique roses I planted at the rancho. To commemorate my Mississippi great great grandmother who had one in her dooryard. But I never took a decent shot of ours, and a neighbor’s use of too much herbicide, apparently, wiped it out last summer. Having to use this Australian site’s [...]

Something to brighten the day. The Bourbon antique Zephirine Drouhin at the rancho.

Mrs. Charm heard about these Radrazz beauties from a favorite local radio talker and planted two of them next to a couple of tall Mr. Lincoln hybrids in the back forty. The hybrids, oddly enough, have a scent, whereas the Knockouts, although also repeat bloomers, do not.
Still, with six fragrant antiques (Old Blush, Ducher, Louis [...]

The mosquitoes, however, are hanging on, even in the mid-day. I planted a new Bourbon, the Souvenir de Malmaison, shortly after noon today, and wound up with four mosquito bites for my trouble. Hey, it’s already October, and the nights are in the upper fifties. So where’s the fall we usually get around this time? [...]