2015—Judy, Judy, Judy

I’ve heard that Cary Grant never uttered the words “Judy, Judy, Judy” in a movie…but the phrase is so…um…Cary Grant. This rose is called “Judy Garland” and when I took its picture, that phrase ran over and over in my head. The rose once belonged to my mother and my brother urged me to bring it home with me. Roses are spectacular in the Santa Rosa climate but I wasn’t sure it would do well moving suddenly from perfect rose growing weather to hot, hot, hot. To add insult to injury, when we arrived back in the valley heat, we discovered that the clay pot it was in had broken in the trailer and I was afraid it would not make it. It had been neglected for quite a few years and it was showing little sign of health; there were no buds or new green growth and the spring growth had already yellowed and was covered with black spot. After a couple of days, I repotted it in fresh soil in a larger pot and fertilized it. Even in drought conditions, the miniscule TLC I administered did the trick. It immediately began to sprout new, healthy leaves and buds. There are now several open and I was delighted to see this small rose making a comeback in my garden.

I took this shot with the macro lens set at ISO 400, f/9, 1/100. I took several shots and focus stacked the images to get more of the rose in focus.