Happy Valentine’s Day to all

 

Hello Folks ~ The weather down here has been perfectly gorgeous today. I basically puttered. Put the stuffed steak rolls in the crockpot early, they are smelling really yummy right now.  I steamed some fresh asparagus and made a vinaigrette sauce for them. Will fix ‘instant’ Idaho mashed potatoes.  We’ll probably have coffee ice cream for a bit of dessert.

Yesterday we went to HD and I visited the garden dept. while DH was in the electrical dept.  At first I was just going to buy a couple of inexpensive things to add to my garden, then I spied  a nice selection of roses. Uh oh. They had some knock outs, I bent over and smelled several of them and was totally disappointed in their lack of scent, at least to me I didn’t notice any.  Then, I started getting a waft on the breezes of a heavy rose scent.  I walked around the selection and finally found them.  I ended up getting Fragrant Cloud. After we got home,  I picked the lone bud and brought it in and have been enjoying that heavenly scent all day.  I did a google search after I got home and saw that this particular rose might have a bit of BS. Oh bummer.  I’ll keep my eye on it, keep it in full sun, with plenty of air circulation. Lots of wonderful reports on how wonderful the scent is and how beautiful the blooms are. A few people even wrote (some from FL) that they don’t have much of a problem with it having bs, so I hope that is true. 

The first two pics of Fragrant Cloud are from yesterday, the last one is from this morning.

Chrysler Imperial

Next two, Cocktail

Bon Silene

Bon Silene

Borderer

Dainty Bess

Homere

Louis Philippe

George Tabor azalea, my first bloom for this season.

I woke up this morning to see this opened.  What a beauty.

That’s it for now. 

Thank you all for visiting.

FlowerLady

What a difference cooler weather makes!

 Good afternoon Folks ~ It’s been a busy two days for me. I look forward to going to work tomorrow to sit behind the desk and relax.

Yesterday morning I moved concrete blocks and other flotsum from beside the Gypsy shed. Then I mowed, trimmed some low branches from our neighbor’s property that were hanging in our driveway.  I trimmed and weeded some back by my potting area.  I couldn’t even get in there lately because of so much overgrowth. Plus that crazy pit bull behind us has intimidated me from staying away from my own space.  Yesterday he didn’t even come back there and froth like he usually does and that was a relief. That work all took about 4 1/2 hours. DH did caulking and other wood work on the shed so that I could paint today.

I got a crockpot of Navy beans, with onion, celery, garlic, thyme, marjoram and smoked chicken sausage going before I headed outside to paint this morning.  It sure is smelling really good right now.  I’m going to add some kale to the pot before long.

The north and east sides of the shed were painted this morning.  After lunch the south and west sides were painted.  Oh yea, I also painted the hinges and latch on the picket fence with the plum color.  I just love how this is turning out. I enjoy painting.  DH is thinking about how to finish off the bottom edge.  Plus he has the whole inside to finish off and a front door to make.

What a difference cooler weather makes. We can do so much more outside and don’t feel drained and sick, like our summer heat and humidity make us feel.

Here are the pictures.

I didn’t finish the top part because DH has some trimming up to do there that we forgot about. 

You can see the red rose in the above picture, it is Chrysler Imperial and that scent was wonderful as I was working back there. Here it is below almost reaching it’s end.

This vine is all through the hedge on the other side of this area and has been blooming steadily for months now.  The scent is so sweet and the blooms fabulous.

The next four pics are of the blooms from my rooted cutting of Homere.  I can hardly wait for this plant to get older and give me larger blooms.  These are a delight though even small as they are now.

These morning glories would take over the property if I let it.

That’s it for now.  It’s time to relax and unwind with a glass of Chardonnay before dinner.

Tonight is Survivor again, so it will be a popcorn-date night.

Enjoy the rest of your week and be thankful for your many blessings.

***

No two gardens are the same. 

No two days are the same in one garden. 

Hugh Johnson

Today's blooms

Good morning everyone. Hope you are all doing well. I'm sure many of you are really ready for spring to get here.

Our week or two of really cold weather burned plants so that leaves have fallen all over the place, but there are still blooms happening.

I've not been outside much with the cold weather, and now that it's nicer, I'm working at my job 4 days this week.

Being inside at home during the cold spell, I worked on a beaded embroidery piece. For those of you interested, the blog post can be found here

The first picture I can't remember the name of the plant, but the scent of this is sweetly wonderful. Can be a bit overwhelming if too many of these are in bloom at once though.

This I think is Old Blush.

This is Mother of Millions not quite blooming yet.
I'll take another picture when they buds are open.

This is Homere.

Blue sage

That's it for now.
I've got to start thinking about heading off to work.
Have a great day whatever you are doing.

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

What a difference ...

in the weather this time of year. It is still hot and humid but not nearly as bad as it was last month. I am thankful.

This is when our gardens start to come alive. Roses are full of new growth, buds, and blooms. Everything else looks great too. Not having the sun blazing down from directly overhead makes a huge difference.

The last few days I've weeded the main garden, mowed, trimmed and cleaned up. I've got some potted babies and others to plant either in the main garden or in larger pots. All the potted babies were grown from seed, popcorn cassia, desert cassia, Jerusalem thorn, Vitex, Dwarf white orchid tree, white powder puff tree, lance pod or lilac tree (which the snails have eaten all the leaves from).

Right now, the sky is clouding up, and of course, I washed a load of laundry this morning and was going to hang it up on the lines to dry. Doesn't that figure.

Below are some recent blooms and one garden helper laying down on the job.

Click on pictures to see larger view.

Below is a wonderful statue of St. Francis that I've had for many, many years. I love the way he has become covered in various colors of growth through the years. He stand maybe 3' tall and is on a pedestal.

This next picture is South African foxgloves.

Here is Pandora vine flowers.

This is Mexican Bush Sage.

Maggie

La Marne

Homere

Basil blooms.

An unknown hibiscus.

Last but not least, my garden helper, Tork.

Hope you all have a lovely Wednesday,

and a great rest of the week also.

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

Blooms of Yesterday

Good morning. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. It was another hot and humid day yesterday, but as I was out walking around, I spied some possible pictures, so came back inside for my camera. Click on pictures to see enlarged.

Duchesse de Brabant first two pictures.

Homere, next two pictures.

The rest of the pictures are of Maggie, some with ground orchids.

If the rose puzzled its mind over the question how it grew,

it would not have been the miracle that it is.

J.B. Yeats 1871-1957

Musings from FL zone 10