Posts Tagged ‘Glade’

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A New Day

May 21, 2009
Rose New Day, Fairfield Glade. May 20, 2009.

Rose New Day, Fairfield Glade. May 20, 2009.

Wednesday was an absolutely beautiful day up here on the Plateau — the sky was blue and the sun was shining.  It was almost too warm in the afternoon to work in the yard, but that didn’t stop me.  I thoroughly enjoy working in the yard even if that includes mowing, which I finished up early in the afternoon.

The most enjoyable chore I had to do was plant our last new rose.  I had to replace one that we lost during the winter.  So now our rose garden is complete — we have 48 rose bushes.  That’s about all that we can handle without getting a larger yard!

The picture above is another of new roses this year — New Day.  It is slightly fragrant as well as being very pretty.  I have more trouble with yellow roses than any other color — they seem to be a favorite of just about every bug that likes to chew of rose bushes!  However, we’re hoping that I can keep this one healthy.

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Posted in Frustration | 19 Comments »

My World # 32

May 19, 2009

RoseCollage090518

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, Louise and Fishing Guy.  Last week there were 100 people sharing their worlds.  To see more of our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

This week my world contains roses!  When we got home from the beach last week we found our first rose in bloom.  Over the course of the week it was joined by five others.  The collage above shows the six roses we have in bloom today.

The nice thing is that we have several more rose bushes with many buds on them.  So hopefully we’ll have many more of these beauties in the days ahead.

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Posted in My World | 17 Comments »

Stop and Smell (and See) the Roses

May 18, 2009
Rio Samba Rose, Fairfield Glade. May 17, 2009.

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.

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Posted in Garden | 12 Comments »

Our First New Rose

May 16, 2009
Sonia Rose, Fairfield Glade. May 15, 2009.

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.

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Posted in Garden | 12 Comments »

My World # 31

May 12, 2009
Rio Samba Rose, Fairfield Glade. May 11, 2009.

Rio Samba Rose, Fairfield Glade. May 11, 2009.

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, Louise and Fishing Guy.  Last week there were 115 people sharing their worlds.  To see more of our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

Today my world has roses in bloom.  Betsy and I got back from our beach vacation late Sunday afternoon to find the rose above, Rio Samba, in bloom.  That gave us quite a surprise, as we weren’t expecting any of the roses to be blooming yet.  Needless to say, we’re not complaining!

We had a very nice time at the beach.  We were a little concerned when we got there because the weather forecast was calling for rain almost every day we would be there.  But fortunately they were quite wrong and we only had rain during two nights.  The weather was almost as good as the seafood we enjoyed every day!

Evidently the rain that was forecast for the beach came to Tennessee instead.  Our rain gauge showed that we got over six inches of rain while we were gone.  The grass is growing so much that it needs to be mowed and the weeds are growing like, well, weeds.  But at least we have a rose in bloom.

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Posted in My World | 19 Comments »

What Morning Brings

April 30, 2009
Floor Show Iris, Fairfield Glade. April 29, 2009.

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.

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Posted in Garden | 14 Comments »

My World # 29

April 28, 2009
Honey Glazed Iris, Fairfield Glade. April 27, 2009.

Honey Glazed Iris, Fairfield Glade. April 27, 2009.

This is my post for the My World meme.  Last week there were over 120 people sharing their worlds.  To see more of our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

My world became much prettier yesterday, thanks to the beauty in the picture above.  This iris — Honey Glazed — is the first iris to bloom in our yard this year.

Last week when we went to my parent’s house near Nashville we admired the iris they had blooming and we it would be at least a week before ours started blooming.  I’m glad to say that we didn’t have to wait quite that long.

We’re now looking forward to other iris to follow this one.

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Posted in My World | 25 Comments »

Tulips We’ve Enjoyed

April 25, 2009

tulips

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.

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Posted in Garden | 17 Comments »

Peppermint Stick Tulip

April 13, 2009

pepperminttulipcollage

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.

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Posted in Garden | 22 Comments »

My World # 26

April 6, 2009
Our front yard. April 2, 2009.

Our front yard. April 2, 2009.

This is my post for the My World meme.  Last week there were over 120 people sharing their worlds.  To see more of our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

Right now my world is pretty topsy-tervy.  Earlier this week we were enjoying nice warm weather.  Betsy and I sat out on the deck swing in shirt sleeves to do our daily devotions.  The picture above shows our big rose bed four short days ago.  As you can see the roses are showing lots of new growth.  And isn’t the grass nice and green?

Our front yard, April 6, 2009.

Our front yard, April 6, 2009.

Well, the grass is still green as I write this, but the rose bed has changed as you can see in the picture at the right.  We’re under a freeze warning for the next two nights.  Betsy and I worked this afternoon bringing in the container plants, but what to do about the roses?  We finally decided to cover them as you can see.  It’s supposed to be cloudy with snow tomorrow, but if it’s sunny in the morning we’ll uncover the roses and then cover them again in the late afternoon.

Would you believe that I’m ready for Spring to arrive and STAY in my world?

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Posted in My World | 19 Comments »

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