Give-away winner & roses from my gardens

Good afternoon Folks ~ Here is is another Monday, the last Monday of February. Time is zipping right along.

The give-away contest for the book David  Austin’s ‘The English Rose’ has ended and the winner is # 1, who is Rebecca, of Thrifty Style at 68.  Congrats to you Rebecca.

Be watching for two more gardening books to be reviewed and given away in the next couple of weeks.

I’ve taken quite a few pictures of roses that have been in bloom the past couple of weeks. Their scents, along with the scents of jasmines and other flower scents have been filling the air around Plum Cottage.  My heart if filled with thanksgiving and joy for God’s goodness and His beautiful creation.

I really love roses. Many, many years ago, I told my dear husband that I’d rather have living flowers to grow and enjoy in my gardens than to receive dying bouquets. He went along with my idea and would occasionally pick small bouquets from our own flowers. Sweet, sweet, sweet memories.

Ok, here we go for some rose eye-candy.

‘Don Juan’ compliments of friends Nanci & John

‘International Herald Tribune’ from Rose Petals Nursery

‘Knock-out’ local nursery

Not sure what these next blooms are.  I’ve had the bush a long, long time and think it might be ‘Bon Silene’.

This one might be ‘Old Blush’. Have had this for many years also.

‘Carnation’ from Rose Petals Nursery.

‘Mm. Laurette Messimy’. Bought this many, many years ago.

‘Cemetery Rose’ traded with Connie of Hartwood Roses for one of my rose needleworked pieces.

‘Rose de Rescht’ from friends Deb & Charly.

‘Love’ compliments of friends Nanci & John.

‘Fragrant Cloud’ compliments of friends Nanci & John

‘Granada’ ~ I bought this rose soon after losing my dear husband. Bought it at Sam’s Club, spring 2013. Granada, Spain was one of our favorite places and we visited it 2-3 times while we lived in Spain when DH served his tour of duty for the US Navy. The roses in the Generalife gardens had ‘huge’ rose blooms and I’m happy to say this rose produced huge blooms for me this year.

The bud belies the size the flower will become.

Look at the size of this next to my hand. The colors are stunningly beautiful.

‘Winecup’ this color grabs my heart, from Rose Petals Nursery.

S-i-g-h, ~  I hope you enjoyed seeing these beauties. Some are large, some are small, all are wonderful. Some are old garden varietes while others are more modern.

Thank you for visiting and for all of your kind comments in previous posts. I appreciate them and your time in writing them.

Have a great week ~ FlowerLady ~ who will be spending more time in my gardens trying to bring some semblance of order out of this sub-tropical jungle. I’ll blog whenever.

It is hot and humid ~ 83 but feels like 106

 

Good morning Folks ~ It is a hot, muggy morning, right around 10:30 and just miserable out as you can see by the title of this post. We had some rain earlier, but now the sun is shining. I got a load of laundry in the machine, and hope to get it hung out and dried before afternoon thunderstorms roll in. I mowed yesterday afternoon around 4:30 and was soaked from sweating when finished.  At least there was cloud cover. I’ve more yard work to do but not today.

I took some pics on the 4th, and some this morning, the 8th.  I’ve moved potted roses over to my St. Francis garden, so that I can water them easier, and I love the new look.

Click on photos for a larger view.

Everything is growing like crazy, flowers and weeds, I’ll just show the flowers though not the weeds. Below is my front patio jungle with the main garden at the back of photo with the gazing ball.

Here is the ‘caravan’. My homemade arbor is being covered by moonflower vines and confederate jasmine vines.

A few weeks back I was having a hard time with closing the door to the caravan. Then one morning it came off the hinge.  I thought ‘what the heck now?’ I looked and the hinge pin had worked it’s way out somehow and disappeared. I found it under the step up into caravan, then had to wrangle holding the door while aligning the two parts of hinge, one on caravan and the other on the door.  Finally got it and now all is well again in that dept.  I added the mailbox which has heart cut outs on it, and the other iron piece on the left side, plus the little iron holder, that is holding a heart shaped rock. I’ve not done anymore in the inside, except to put ‘stuff’ in there, neatly in shelves and plastic drawer units.

Here is my favorite hibiscus.  The coloring is more mellow in this bloom than in blooms past, but it is still a beauty. This is ‘Hugs-n’-kisses’.

This is Tahitian Gardenia.  I just love these big wonderfully scented blooms.

This is the dwarf white orchid tree. These flowers have a nice delicate scent.

Bauhinia acuminata.

Here are some sky shots this morning. The first one is looking in a southwesterly direction.

Now this is looking south.  Stormy weather heading our way.

The next three are looking east.

Now here are some rose blooms.

‘Bon Silene’

I think this is ‘Heirloom’.

‘Knockout’ in red.

‘Maggie’ an old favorite with two blooms that I almost missed. I need to make cuttings of this rose as it is an ‘old garden rose’ and one of my favorites, and I’d hate to lose it.

This is an unknown wonderfully scented rose.

Unknown miniature.

This miniature rose is called ‘Picnic’.

This is an old-time favorite, ‘Prosperity’.

‘Louis Philippe’ known as the Florida Cracker Rose. I’ve had this rose for years and years, and it’s a cutting from my original which I had for many years.

 

Another unknown miniature.

And

‘that’s all folks’,

as Bugs Bunny used to say.

I hope you all are having a good week so far.

Count your blessings and ask God for strength to get you through rough times.

FlowerLady