Dear diary,

Today I went to the stone yard to pick up the last 10 or so cobbles I need to finish my garden path, but they were closed. Closed--the day before Christmas Eve! Can you imagine that, diary? I was so sad, all I could do was go home and clean up.

Then I remembered I had a rose bush to plant because I went by my nursery yesterday to buy two big pots for containerizing Asclepias speciosa, and I was quite surprised to see they'd already received their full shipment of roses. Roses! Caught totally off-guard, I bought a bareroot Climbing Joseph's Coat since I'd at least had that one in the back of my mind for awhile.

I told a friend I wanted to try grafting red, orange and yellow roses onto one rootstock so I could have a three-in-one rose going on in my small garden (like Fruit Loops), and she said, "Just buy Climbing Joseph's Coat." So that's what I did. Because let's face it diary, I don't know how to graft roses, and I have enough on my plate already. Grafting roses can wait until next year.

So I fixed up soil in a big pot for Climbing Joseph's Coat. I'm not going to let it climb tho'; I'll be pruning it into a bush because I know that rose can take it.

And I decided what to do with all that extra dirt I've been generating lately. I'm going to build another big raised bed for a spring/summer vegetable garden. I've been meaning to try potatoes; here's my chance. Next week, my nursery's scheduled to get fruit trees. Maybe I should get a fruit tree too? It would be nice to espalier a fruit tree where the Dahlia imperialis will soon be no more.

Okay, diary, I'll write more later. It's been a long morning and I want to take a nap before dinner.