Some of the roses in my cottage garden are in bloom now. All of them that are in bloom are scented so the air smells so sweet as I walk through the garden and stop to smell the roses.
I have fourteen rose bushes not counting the wild rose I that popped up and I let grow in a corner of the garden. Yesterday was our 50th wedding anniversary. We don't really ever officially celebrate anniversaries or birthdays or other occasions. In our early days we never really had a lot of money to spend on ourselves. A few months ago we saw some roses on sale at Jackson Perkins and so together we browsed the online catalog, read reviews and picked out three roses we liked. I planted them when they arrived, have been watering them every day and they are starting to leaf out. I think that was our 50th anniversary celebration and gift to each other. It just didn't happen on an official date. Now throughout the next years as I walk through the cottage garden I'll think of hubby and all our years together when I see the roses in bloom. Oh, and now I have seventeen rose bushes in my cottage garden not counting the wild rose that popped up and I let grow in a corner of the garden. The roses? Sweet Intoxication, Show Your Stripes and Lagerfield.
I am thankful I have a lot of roses in bloom this year. In past years the rabbits and deer have demolished the canes. Whey they would like to eat thorny bits is beyond me. But I have tried a lot of different things to deter critters so maybe things are finally paying off.
I'm starting to see a few Japanese Beetles but I pick them off and throw them into soapy water so here's hoping there will not be hordes of them. I go out with a small bucket of soapy water this time of year when I deadhead roses.
I used to have several different varities of Clematis but now only have a couple. Not sure what happened to the others. Things just disappear some years.
This variety is Jackmanii and it's almost like a weed but it does know it's boundaries.
Martagon or Turk's Cap Lilies. It's difficult to get a good pic of them because they grow in dappled shade. They are lightly scented. (I do love flowers with fragrance).
I have some in pink and in burgundy.
Speaking of scents...I have planted different varieties of Dianthus (carnations, pinks, sweet williams) close to pathways so they give off a scent as I walk past and brush against them. I've started all from seed over the years.
And finally there is nothing here in bloom yet but I wanted to show my Sunflower House. I used to grow Sunflower Houses now and then back when the kids and grandkids were younger. This is a cement slab near my cottage and cutting gardens. Around the edges I have planted Sunflowers and in between I planted Moonflowers and Christmas Lima Beans that should climb the Sunflowers. and grow over the tops to form roof and fill in the sides of the Sunflower House. A piece of carpeting in front marks the space for the door way and is also covering an old groundhog hole. I need to sweep off the slab that will be the interior of the Sunflower House and pick up my sticks I use as garden stakes. I left a couple of logs to sit on. I'm so excited because I've tried to grow a Sunflower House just for old time's sake the last three years and something has come along and eaten my Sunflowers before they have even gotten to this stage.
The Sunflowers.
Stay tuned to see if there will be a Sunflower House this year!
The III in the cement was made by my youngest son, John III. I can't believe he will be 39 on July 4. We moved to this house when he was 4 years old.
8 comments:
Such lovely roses and flowerings in your gardens--Good luck with the sunflower house--I have some sunflower seeds coming in the mail and will try them behind my front yard's big rock this year..hoping for a nice show...
Hugs, Julierose
Your sunflower house sounds interesting. I hope it works this year.
Love the sunflower house! What a wonderful treat for your kids way back when. I am always shocked at how old mine are, too.
ceci
Happy Anniversary. Not many couples reach that momentous occasion. I love all the roses and those lilies are spectacular. I gave up on lilies when the red lily beetles invaded. I don't have lilies any more but the beetles still appear. Good luck with the sunflower house. Everytime I tried to grow sunflowers, some critter(s) ate them as soon as they started growing. Rabbits, squirrels, woodchucks, deer, who knows?
We are suffering from hazardous air quality due to smoke from wildfires in Quebec (and a stalled low pressure system that's directing the smoke our way). No end in sight and no rain either.
Pat
Gorgeous! Thank you for the garden tour.
My peony was beginning to look grand. Then last night we got a brutal thunder/lightening/rain/wind storm that leveled it :-( so sad. Not a single photo. I haven't checked yet to see if there are more buds as I've just returned from a few weeks of visiting friends.
Happy Wednesday :-)
My roses are just going to open. I like the David Austin shrub roses and Heritage roses, I have been buying them one a year for the past couple of years. I had to fence with green chicken wire to protect from rabbits eating the canes. Some of then struggling with leaf/bloom issues this year. Japanese beetles not yet here. Hard with the wildfire smoke clogging up the sun and my lungs to be outside. Love the sunflower house. Lost the battle with the red lily beetles, used to have great Asiatic lilies right now.
I absolutely love reading about your garden and about your quilts and am in awe of how productive you are with both. I am no gardener, I am sad to say (my mother, who was, would be ashamed of me) but I love to quilt and have smilingly adopted several of your ways of dealing with things (sending things off to 'the parts department', or to 'some assembly required')
Thank you for all the pleasure reading your posts brings me all the way across the ocean here in the UK
Love the flower scents. I remember once we were touring a botanical garden and i saw the most gorgeous magnolia tree full of huge flowers. I ran over, cupped one in my hands and took the longest, full face sniff I could. I then realized it was not sweet smelling perfume but a smell close to dirty bum! It was absolutely disgusting! Lol. I'm now very cautious about ramming my nose into flowers unless I know what to expect. :)
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