It’s so nice to wake up in the morning to blue skies, warm temperatures, birds singing and roses blooming. That was our situation yesterday (Friday) morning. Our roses are doing very nicely and we find new blossoms each morning. The collage above shows the roses that bloomed for the first time Friday. If you are interested in the names you can enlarge the collage and see most of them.
Rio Samba Rose, Fairfield Glade. May 17, 2009.
Several times over the years I’ve been asked why I take the trouble to grow roses. Roses have a reputation for being difficult to grow. I’ll admit that they can take a lot of time, but I think they are definitely worth the effort.
I first started growing roses about 35 years ago, At that time I was teaching and found that coming home and getting my hands dirty was great therapy.
As I said, the rewards for growing roses are pretty wonderful. Take looking at roses, for instance. You’ll have to ignore the dirt splatters from the rains we had yesterday, but those three blossoms are from the same rose. Rio Samba starts out as a bright yellow bud with red highlights (lower right). As the bud opens, it shows more and more pink with yellow in the center (lower left). But as the blossom matures, the yellow turns to white (upper blossom). The mature blossom has coloration completely different from that of the bud.
I haven’t even mentioned fragrance. Today I brought in a rose for Betsy. It’s another new rose and is very fragrant. I’ll say more about that rose another time.
Sure roses can be work, but with displays like this you can understand why Betsy and I are always eager to check the roses when we get up in the morning.
Sonia Rose, Fairfield Glade. May 15, 2009.
Our yard has been keeping us busy since we got back home Sunday evening. It took me three days to mow the lawn. That was partly because the grass was so tall and partly because it was so wet in the low spots, especially in the front of the house. So I managed to get in quite a few walking miles behind the mower. I know the exercise is good for me, but I sometimes wish the lawn was a little flatter!
In addition to mowing I also kept busy weeding and spraying. But I’m happy to say that things now look pretty good in our yard. That’s good, because we’re going to have company later today.
But I have to admit that the yard work is definitely worth it. Yesterday we had a couple more roses bloom. The rose above is the first of our new roses to bloom — Sonia. It doesn’t have much a fragrance, but I like the color and form. It has a lot of buds, so we should have many blossoms to enjoy in the days ahead.
On a personal note, Betsy and I went Hendersonville yesterday to check up on my folks. I’m happy to say that they are both doing well and in good spirits. I’m continually amazed at how well they do in their home.
Floor Show Iris, Fairfield Glade. April 29, 2009.
It’s nice to get up in the morning here in the Glade. The sliding glass door to the deck from our dining room looks out on our long flower bed and gives us a perfect view of some of our iris.
Yesterday morning we were greeted by this iris, Floor Show. Although it has been in the garden for a couple of years this is the first year that it has bloomed. I would say that the wait was worth it.
Yesterday Betsy and I went to Hendersonville to check on my parents. I’m happy to say that they both seemed to be in good health and good spirits.
While we were at their house we noticed that all their tulips are gone and that they now have iris in bloom. Our tulips are definitely past their prime, but it will be a week or more before we have any iris.
We were fortunate enough to have several varieties of tulips bloom this year. The collage above shows some of the beauties we’ve enjoyed this spring. The collage above can be enlarged if you so desire.
One of the more interesting variety of tulips we have in our yard this year is Peppermint Stick Tulip. It’s quite small as far as tulips go, but we have been fascinated by it.
The three pictures in the collage above (which can be enlarged) were taken over a five day period. The top picture on the left shows the tulip before it starts to open. I’m guessing that this appearance is how the tulip got it’s name. The coloration does look somewhat like that of a peppermint stick. The picture on the bottom left shows the tulip as it begins to open.
The large picture on the right shows the open tulip. It’s quite different from whatI would expect looking at the first photo.
I hope you enjoyed this part of our flower bed.
Yesterday was a beautiful spring day here on the Plateau. After doing our weekly grocery shopping in the morning, both Betsy and I worked out in the yard during the afternoon.
It really is beginning to look and feel like Spring around the house. It was almost too warm for a long-sleeved shirt. The grass is now almost completely green (and needs mowing!), tulip buds are starting to show some color, and the roses are showing new growth.
But the stars of the yard yesterday were the daffodils. We have several different varieties in bloom. The collage above (which can be enlarged for better viewing) shows the daffodils we currently have in bloom.
Isn’t spring wonderful?
Daffodils in bloom under our dogwood tree. March 18, 2009.
We had another bright beautiful day on the Plateau, and we were rewarded with a small bed of daffodils in bloom. There is something especially enjoyable about seeing those bright yellow blossoms. They seem to promise that Spring has really arrived.
These daffodils are in one of the small beds we rebuilt last fall. We have more daffodils in other beds that haven’t bloomed yet, but that’s alright. We now have something to look forward to each morning when we go out to walk the lawn. In the background of the pictures you can see one of our rose beds. Unfortunately we’ll have to wait a couple of months before we see any blossoms in that bed.
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Before Betsy and I went to Arkansas I received this award from my friends Antigoni in Greece and Tarolino in Finland. I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate the thoughtfulness of both of them.
I’m supposed to nominate blogs that I love that haven’t received the award. But I’m still trying to get caught up from our time away from the computer and am not sure who received the award while we were gone. So, if you haven’t received this award and I’ve visited your blog this week, I pass it on to you because I love your blog.
The first blossom in our yard. March 7, 2009.
The past couple of days have been very pleasant up here on the Plateau. The weather has warmed and I was even able to work outside without a jacket yesterday. That’s good because I certainly have plenty to do in the yard after our fairly hard winter. In addition to general clean up, I also have some new roses that need to be planted. So I’ve been outside quite a bit over the past two days.
Yesterday, while working with the roses in the front of the house, I found the crocus shown in the picture above. It’s our very blossom of the year. Actually it looks a little forlorn and lonely. This is a crocus my father gave us when we first bought the house. It’s located up against the south side of the house, so it gets more sun than any other part of our yard. The little bed it’s in is a favorite tunneling route for our many chipmunks, so most of the bulbs that were originally planted there have long since disappeared.
But this little plant has bravely hung on. And in so doing it has given us our first promise of spring.
I was surprised to find the box in the picture above leaning against the front door Saturday afternoon. Betsy and I were busy working with our new computers and we didn’t even hear the mailman come to the front door.
I recognized the box as soon as I saw it — I didn’t even have to read the name. I’ve been a customer of Jackson & Perkins for many years, and I knew that we had just gotten a bare-root rose which we ordered for our garden this year. The reason I was surprised is that Jackson & Perkins does a good job of getting roses to the customer at the proper planting time. And quite frankly, I was expecting to be planting roses anytime soon!
Rose Spellbound, Fairfield Glade. June, 2006.
This rose, Spellbound, is a replacement for a plant we’ve had in our garden. The picture at the right shows Spellbound in 2006, the year we planted it. But two years of drought had reduced it to a single blossom on a weak stem last year. Since we like Spellbound when it’s healthy, we decided to try again with a new plant.
So I was delighted with this sign from Jackson & Perkins that spring is near. The only problem is that we got the rose Saturday afternoon and it snowed Saturday night! Oh, well, at least Betsy was happy.
Senior Moments 