Alkali and Alibis

My shrub roses, whose glory normally peaks in June, look scroungy this year. A month ago, two hard frosts sent the poor things scurrying back into dormancy. Many haven't even begun to bloom. 

Have you noticed that when something goes awry in our flower or vegetable beds, we gardeners have more excuses than trowels and hoses? Instead of admitting our ignorance, laziness, or blunders, we quickly cite weather conditions, insects, disease, seed or bedding plant quality, soil types, and my personal go-to, mineral-heavy well water. (Hey, maybe that's why I'm the only one on the planet that can't grow daisies!) 

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"Take the hardest thing in your life--the place of difficulty, outward and inward, and expect God to triumph gloriously in that very spot. Just there He can bring your soul into blossom." ~Lilias Trotter, as quoted by L.B. Cowman, Streams in the Desert