A New View

 For one reason or another, Mark has been away from home at a very inopportune time each year.  Why, may you ask, is it such an inopportune time?  Well, it is right at this time of year when all of the roses are in bloom.  He worked so hard building the fences around the Rose/Herb Garden only to be away at the very time the roses and jasmine were in their full glory.  He could only revel in their beauty by pictures that I would send to him.  Never could he smell the sweet scent that would waft in through the open windows. Never could he be able to sit and enjoy his morning coffee in the comfy chairs while viewing the blooms still adorned with the morning dew.  Never...well, you get the idea.  He just missed the best part of spring..until THIS year!  He was out on another trip and arrived just in the nick of time!  We are expecting hard rains for the next few days and I am sorely afraid that the garden will take a beating.  I am so elated that he was able to enjoy at least one mug of coffee with me as we were surrounded by the beauty!

  It does, indeed, seem to be a grand year for roses!  I have never seen the bushes be so full of blooms and the jasmine has literally taken over the fence and arbor!  I marvel each time I walk through the garden or even stand at the window.  The climbing roses are arched fully to the ground while the jasmine has just about taken over the dead Black Gum tree.  (If the Red-bellied Woodpeckers don't take flight soon, they might just have to fight their way out of the hole to their nest!)

  All of this makes for a wonderful way to awake in the morning and an equally relaxing way to wind down in the evening.  Being surrounded by all of this beauty and delightful aromas makes the hard work all worth while.  One of my friends said that she thought we should find a way of "bottling this entire garden"!  I agree!  It is all too fleeting.  There is only a short few weeks that Mother Nature graces us with these blooms.  The rest of the summer pales in comparison.  I really need to work on that.  I must find some "hot-weather", highly-scented plants with gorgeous, showy blooms!  Any ideas?

"Twin" Roses!

For the past few days, all I can think about is the roses that are blooming in the yard.  Between those and the Jasmine, the place smells divine!  The fences on the west and south side of the garden are covered with Jasmine, Wisteria and a beautiful little rose that I simply adore! My grandmothers' roses are on the east side of the arbor and are doing a great job of covering the fence quite well.  The rose on the west fence is one that was given to me by two little ladies that used to live down the street from the Little Bayou House.  Although their names were Vera a Eura, hardly anyone called them that.  Twin!  These ladies were identical twins and everyone just called them "Twin".  The story that Ms. Vera told me at one time years ago was that their daddy could not tell them apart so he just called them both by the same name or nickname in this case.  "Twin" work well as both would come when one was called!  Anyway, these little ladies gave me a start of the climbing Seven Sisters Rose!  I was elated as I did not have any such rose!  Mark built me a little fence around the (then) goldfish pond.  The roses did well.  They grew wonderfully and bloomed the very first year!  Well, I like to share my flowers!  I rooted numerous of the Seven Sisters Roses and gave them to folks.  The rose is simple to propagate by cuttings stuck in a jar of water.  I gave rose bushes to most everyone I knew..they were just that simple to root!  Then along came Hurricane Katrina and along with almost everything else, my rose bushes were washed away to parts unknown! Well, I thought, I will have to find another start!  To my surprise, most everyone that had received a rooted plant reciprocated!  I had so many fine cuttings of the Seven Sisters Rose!!  That inspired me to get busy and reclaim our place!  "Warn't no hurricane gonna get the best of my yard!"  (Actually, Katrina did get the best of the yard but I was ready to replant!)

The Seven Sisters Rose was one of the first to be planted.  Once again, Mark built me a fence for my rose canes!  Within the first year, the roses had already covered the fence and were well on their way of taking over the entire area!  I do not mind at all!  Now, every time I see the pale pink clusters, I immediately think of my dear old friends who have long since left this world.  Both Twins would be tickled pink to know that their roses had done so well.  So...here is to Twin..two ladies that deserve to be recognized for all of the kindnesses they bestowed on the rest of the world.  These were two of the kindest people I have ever met!  Twin...and Twin!

Grandmother's Rose...the sequel!

Yesterday, I wrote about a lovely pink rose called the "New Dawn".  I had received a cutting of this years ago.  It was from a large bush that Granddaddy planted way back in the day.  The blooms were prolific and with each spring came the announcement that "Grandmother's Rose" was blooming.  Keep in mind that this grandmother hardly ever did yardwork!  She was a very dainty, little lady who arranged flowers..not planted them.

Today, I will talk of a different rose..and a different grandmother.  This rose grows with wild abandon on the same fence that the more cultured rose calls home.  Unlike the New Dawn with its single stemmed blooms, this rose is a cluster rose.  It is definitely a dark, "rosy" pink and stands out against the pale pink of the aforementioned New Dawn.  This is one of the unnamed roses in my garden.  It was given to me by my Uncle Jim. He told me that it was one of his mom's favorite.  That would make this another Grandmother Rose!  The New Dawn was from my maternal grandmother..the unnamed rose was from my paternal grandmother.  The canes from these two rose bushes intertwine with each other as they attempt to overtake the entire fence row.  The two colors compliment each other nicely!  The blooms of the New Dawn are much larger than that of this unnamed rose but I love them both!  The size matters not!

While the "New Dawn" Grandmother did little to ensure the growth of the New Dawn rose bush, the other bush was tended by a hardworking lady!  Although she did a remarkable job caring for her seven children and husband, she still found time to work the gardens as well.  She loved her flowers!  I did not have the good fortune to ever meet this grandmother as she died before I was born but through her flowers, I can almost "feel" that I know her.

Now, I am in the process of rooting some cuttings of both of these rose bushes.  These cuttings will be shared with my siblings and cousins.  It is sort of nice to raise heirloom plants..especially those that have family ties.  I find it curious that both grandmother's loved flowers as much as they did considering their different lifestyles.  Maybe..just maybe.. both knew the magic of flowers!

Loving my Gardens!

Every day, I take several hikes around the garden.  Sometimes, it is to see what chores need to be done, sometimes, I walk to ponder some problem but most of the time, I just amble about looking at what is growing there!  My gardens make me happy when I see them flourishing!  This year, however, things look a mite bleak.  With the warm weather, I had planted early.  Things were starting to pop up everywhere and I thought for sure that the plants were going to thrive.  Then during the first week of April...grasshoppers!  Millions of the baby Eastern Lubber grasshoppers hatched out and devoured my entire garden in a matter of hours!  The beautiful squash plants were gone!  The bean plants eaten!  Even the potato plants were damaged!  The vegetable garden does not look so nice after this attack!

Still, today, as I wandered the pathways, I found beauty.  I decided to stick to the path through the flower gardens!  The Day Lilies are trying their best to put out new blooms.  The same grasshoppers had eaten all of the first attempts but now...blooms!  One of my favorites is a pale yellow Day Lily that my sweet daughter-in-law, Joanna, gave to me!  I am so happy to see this has survived the buggy onslaught!

Just a bit further down the path, the Deutzia Scabra is covered with fluffy white blooms!  The softly sweet aroma made me hesitate a bit near this bush.  As I stood looking at the feathery white fronds, I thought of the farm.  Mom and Pop had the original of this bush..mine is a cutting from theirs.  I thought of how many of my plants originated in other gardens.  This makes each that much more special...memories are tied to these plants!

My walk took me on the little wood bridge over what used to be Puddlepond.  My dear little pond had met its demise through a hapless accident with a pitchfork and a cottonmouth moccasin. Since the plastic liner had acquired several unfixable holes, I turned this pond into the new herb garden!  It is working out well and the plants are  actually quite happy as the holey liner holds just enough moisture!  The herbs all look healthy so I am guessing that grasshoppers do not eat herbs!

On the fence, the Confederate Jasmine is in its last stages but the Gloriosa Lilies are beginning to take up the slack.  The red lilies contrast quite nicely against the white jasmine.  These both are hand-me-down plants..the jasmine from my Grandparents and the Gloriosa Lilies from Mom and Pop.

I continued my stroll until just before dark.  Both dogs, Ezzy and Sunny, decided it was time to go inside for their supper so that ended my garden escape.  Well, almost..with the windows open, I can still smell the sweet scent of the jasmine and roses one the Bay breeze!   Oh, how I love my gardens!!!

Flowers in my cup? Or Rosehip Tea!

The roses did rather well this year until they were discouraged from blooming by the lack of rain. Still in early Spring, the arbors were covered with the most beautiful array of blossoms ranging from the clustered "Seven Sisters" to the huge blooms of the antique rose "New Dawn". There are probably at least ten different types of rose bushes lining the fences of the rose garden and then there are quite a few shrub roses in front of these. Today, though, they are not blooming and it is most likely as much my fault as it is the drought's. I was lenient about deadheading the old blooms. As bad as this sounds, there was a bit of method in my madness as I actually wanted the roses to go to seed. I wanted rosehips! I am in hopes of getting enough to add to a batch of herbal teas that I am experimenting with creating. I noticed that most of the purchased herbal teas have rosehips and Hibiscus flowers. (Yes..I am game to eating a few flowers! Or in this case, drinking a few!) Oh..and did you know that most Hibiscus flowers will make a tea that tastes a bit like cranberries? The blooms will make a sweeter tea than the leaves but both can be used! The whole interest in making my own herbal teas came about merely because I found that there were so many "fillers" added to the purchased brands. I read the ingredients and those that are listed are simply things in the garden! Voila! Tea in the making merely by taking a hike around the yard!

Back to the rosehips, though! When weeding the gardens, I noticed masses of the plumpest rosehips growing on several of the vines. Two in particular had more than the others and both are antique roses. This causes me to believe that the newer roses are cultivated varieties or "cultivars". These will not grow true to the seed if you try to propagate in that way. It would be far better to root stock or graft if you want to replicate one of these. My rosehips are on the "New Dawn" climbing rose and the "Yellow Elegance" shrub rose. Both of these roses were "hand-me-down" plants that I inherited as gifts. One came from my grandfather's place.."New Dawn" was one of my first loves in the floral world. Granddad had a large trellis on the west side of his house with this beautiful palest of pink rose vine. At first glance, one would assume the bloom was actually white but on closer inspection a slight blush of pink can be seen. The "Yellow Elegance" was a gift from an elderly man and lady that used to live down the road a bit. After Hurricane Katrina, they were moving since their house was demolished. The rose bushes were battered and had been under salt water but they still offered them to me. I was not sure that they would even live and I surely had no gardens ready for planting but I accepted the offer. The bushes were temporarily bedded in the only thing handy..a wheelbarrow! Now, years later, the "Yellow Elegance" has a place of honor in the rose garden and is flourishing!

Needless to say, I am elated with my crop of rosehips! I will have to wait until late Fall or early Winter to harvest them. Hopefully, no bird or critter will take a liking to rosehips for supper between now and the time they are ripe! The hips will be cleaned, dried and pulverized to blend with different flowers, leaves and spices! A few will be saved for planting just to see if a new rose can be grown from seed. If any sprout..I might need an addition to the garden!