7 October—St. Anthony’s and St. Michael’s holy-watercourses through Miserly Meadow finally dried up and the ground was dry enough yesterday to permit Prospero the Hustler to mow the whole field without fear of getting stuck in the mud and ultra-slippery hardpan that had precluded thorough or even serious mowing all through the exceptionally wet summer.

It was good to not worry about needing a tow out of the mud. And the sweet redolence of the fresh-mown bluegrass and other perennial grasses the horses used to munch was refreshing.

🏛️ 🏛️ 🏛️ 🏛️ 🏛️ 🏛️ 🏛️

On the subject of redolence, remember jail-bait 13-year-old Juliet Capulet’s observation to slightly older but still underage Romeo Montague, “That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet”? Well, forget about alleged underlying implications that keep English professors off the streets and just concentrate on the aromatic rose.

Because today we celebrate President Ronald Reagan’s signing in 1986 of the proclamation declaring the rose the national flower of the United States. Now, National Flower Day is traditionally observed on 21 March, the first day of spring, the emphasis there being on flower because that day celebrates all flowers. Today, on the other hand, is National Flower Day because 7 October 1986 celebrates the national flower of the United States. Got it? Just a matter of emphasis.

To confuse things further, Reagan actually signed Proclamation No. 5574 on 20 November. And this is it:

Americans have always loved the flowers with which God decorates our land. More often than any other flower, we hold the rose dear as the symbol of life and love and devotion, of beauty and eternity. For the love of man and woman, for the love of mankind and God, for the love of country, Americans who would speak the language of the heart do so with a rose.

We see proofs of this everywhere. The study of fossils reveals that the rose has existed in America for age upon age. We have always cultivated roses in our gardens. Our first President, George Washington, bred roses, and a variety he named after his mother is still grown today. The White House itself boasts a beautiful Rose Garden. We grow roses in all our fifty States. We find roses throughout our art, music, and literature. We decorate our celebrations and parades with roses. Most of all, we present roses to those we love, and we lavish them on our altars, our civil shrines, and the final resting places of our honored dead.

The American people have long held a special place in their hearts for roses. Let us continue to cherish them, to honor the love and devotion they represent, and to bestow them on all we we love just as God has bestowed them on us.

The Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 159, has designated the rose as the National Floral Emblem of the United States and authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation declaring this fact.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the rose as the National Floral Emblem of the United States of America.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twentieth day of November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and eleventh.

Ronald Reagan

So now, you ask, which particular rose is America’s national flower? Good question. Problem is, there are well over 30,000 varieties of cultivated roses and the proclamation leaves us guessing. Typical . . .