warm thoughts on a cold day

I realized today that Mark won't be home on Valentine's Day. I was not happy. Over the course of five weeks, he will have been gone a total of four. Believe it or not, I actually prefer to have him here! :) It was so cold this weekend that we didn't even go out for an early celebration. Maybe we'll do something fun next weekend. In the meantime, I said no to roses. I LOVE roses - but I much prefer them in the summer gardens. This time of year I'm yearning for tulips and daffodils. A nice little winter get-away to a beach somewhere would be very welcome also!

One of my favorite Valentine recollections is of one several years ago. Mark left work early and met me at a theater complex to see the 4pm showing of Chocolate. It was so fun - so out of the norm - to go to a weekday matinee. I loved it.

Mark caught Kobie and Tess this week on a warmer day - the bright sun had them squinting, but we were all enjoying the relative warmth.

I am in love with the European Peasant Bread from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. It has a little rye flour and a little whole wheat flour, and the taste is wonderful - kind of a nutty flavor I think. I've also made focaccia from the olive oil dough. I think I'll probably have to try all of the doughs in the book - what a hardship! LOL

November blooms

Are you tired of my flowers yet? I think their days are numbered. We have had several mornings where the thermometer read in the 20's. However, last Friday I went out in a small flurry of snowflakes and took the first two photos below. The rest were taken today. I have to enjoy them while I can!!

lovely weekend

We are in the midst of a lovely autumn weekend. Our city does a clean-up every spring and fall that allows residents to get rid of the junk. Today was the fall clean-up. Mark cleaned out some stuff in the garage and put it out by the curb yesterday. This morning some guy came by and took over half of it. One person's junk is another person's treasure!!

One of our neighbors who has given me leaves in past years knocked on the door last night asking if I needed more this year. NO!!!! I'M DONE! Yeah, that's what my brain was screaming at me, but this morning I headed over there and brought home 13 bags of oak leaves. I'm pathetic.

We have had a stack of logs on the side of the driveway since last summer when we trimmed up a maple tree. This afternoon we rented a splitter, split all the logs, and hauled them back to the firewood pile. I still have to actually add them to the pile, but the hardest part of the job is done at least. And the driveway looks much nicer.

It's supposed to be near 60 tomorrow - key word "supposed to be" - so I'm thinking I'll take the opportunity to put hooks in the porch to hang Christmas lights this year. On one of our drive-arounds last year, I picked up some cool ideas for lights, and I can't wait to try them out. The lights won't be turned on until after Thanksgiving, but it is way nicer to put them up when it's 60 than when it's 30!!

If it does hit 60, I want to get down to the Arb for a walk - I haven't been there for awhile, and I think it would do my gardener's soul some good. Maybe I'll even remember my camera - although I think most of our leaves have fallen. I picked Mark up at the airport yesterday and was surprised to see quite a few trees that still have leaves near there. Mark is hoping to get in a motorcycle ride if it's warm tomorrow. Gosh, we seem to have a lot riding on tomorrow's temperature! :)

A few things are still blooming in the gardens. I emptied out the last of my containers today - very sad since they're still blooming. I left this one with the geraniums - I'll pull them after we have a hard frost. The first two photos are "Hawkeye Belle" - this rose is peach to lt pink in the summer - but now with cooler temps it's a little deeper color - very pretty. The next photo is my green leafed snakeroot. These have a ton of bloom stalks - but just started to bloom. If we'd had an earlier frost, they wouldn't have bloomed this year. And the bellflowers are blooming again. I really wish things could just keep blooming away until next April when the tulips start in again!!

more autumn roses

What a lovely day we had today. The boat is out and winterized and tucked under a tarp for the winter. A big job that Mark is happy to have out of the way. Now, on to the dock!! :)

Wanted to show you more of my roses still in bloom. I love that this little show is lasting. This is Knockout - I planted it in a half-barrel container this summer and then moved it to the garden about a month ago. It seems to be very happy in its new home.

These two photos are of J.F.Quadra - my climber on the rainbow trellis. I talked to my neighbor a couple weeks ago and asked if he would mind if I painted the cement block wall on our side. He said no problem - so maybe the flowers in this garden will have a happier background next year.

This very floppy bloom is Gertrude Jekyll. She'll be going underground soon. This is a zone 5 David Austin rose - and I've found that it does better if I bury it for the winter. A lot of work, but well worth it. I wish you could smell this rose - it is simply wonderful.

And Nearly Wild. I have 3 of these roses and all three are covered in blooms right now. Very pretty.

fall blooms - pt two

Thanks for the nice comments about my fall blooms! We have not had a frost here yet. And it doesn't look like we're expecting one in the next week, so I'll get to enjoy these lovelies for awhile longer. The roses always put on a great show in the fall - the colors seem more intense, the fragrance is stronger, and they hold onto the more open, flouncy blooms longer. We had a beautiful day today and managed to get a lot of work out of the way - as well as a little play time. The dogs were laying on the floor tonight looking totally worn out!

"Jackmani" clematis

sedum "Autumn Joy"

"Autumn Joy" with "Purple Dome" asters

"Purple Dome"

"Madison" roses

fall blooms

We've had two very windy days now, and I'm happy to report the oil/gas film on the lake from our neighbors' boat sinking has disappeared.

Our boat was pulled yesterday, so this weekend we'll be getting that winterized and ready to cover for the winter. If the weather cooperates, we'll also try and get a start on taking the dock out. It's way more fun getting all of these things out in the spring than putting them away this time of year! Here are a few more of the blooms I've been enjoying the last week or so.

Carefree Beauty rose

hibiscus

turtlehead

snakeroot (I think "Brunette")

anemone

veronica

John Davis rose

thanks for the great ideas!

Thanks to everyone for your nice comments about my shed!! I appreciate all of the great ideas you shared. I don't know if we'll start decorating this fall or wait until spring - but I think it's going to look cool when we finally have it done! I am so excited about having that storage space - and I know I could easily fill 2 or 3 of them!! But, for now, I am thrilled to have one.

Kobie and Tess were playing King of the Hill in it today - one of them would stand inside the shed with a leaf or stick, the other would grab the prize, and then they'd chase each other round and round the shed. After several trips around, one of them would jump inside the door - and then the whole thing would start over again. I swear, they play just like human kids! The really cool part is now I have a really fun dirt race track going around my new shed - it's exactly what I was hoping for - lol!

"Knockout" - the rose I had in one of the half barrel planters. I put it in the raised garden by the patio a couple weeks ago. It's doing great - new buds and beautiful blooms. It's in the same garden as "Hawkeye Belle" - I hope they look good together and provide some fun color.

Autumn has come to our yard! This maple tree is our neighbor's - it sits between his garage and our driveway. Everyone coming down the street sees it - and everyone comments on how beautiful it is.

Carefree Beauty

I must have been very tired last night when I put this post up - I forgot to write anything about my lovely rose!!! Thank you, Barbara, for reminding me! :)

This is "Carefree Beauty." It's one of the first roses I chose to put in my gardens many years ago, and I still adore it. It's lightly scented - heavier on some days than others. It does a nice flush of blooms in June, then sporadically until mid to late August. Then it starts putting on a show and blooms heavily until our first hard freeze. Some years I still have blooms and buds in November.

roses, roses, roses

Wow, wild weather tonight. Heavy downpours and winds, hail, tornado touchdowns, and flooding streets. Luckily, no damage here.

This is a great time for my roses. They all bloom heavily in June, and then kind of putz their way through July and August. About the middle to end of August, they start putting on another fabulous show. That will continue until our first hard freeze - sometimes into November. I have one rose - "Carefree Beauty" - that blooms its heart out this time of year - and, so, deserves its own post - tomorrow! But I also have some beauties to share with you today.

"J.F. Quadra" - a climber that is just completing its second year in my garden. This is turning out to be a really fun rose - lots of blooms and a really nice dark red color.

This is "Quadra" on the "rainbow" trellis Mark made for it this summer. The background still isn't wonderful, but look how tall some of the canes got this summer. I think in another year or two it is going to cover this area of the fence very nicely!

My species rose. I adore this rose. It grows very "wild" and has the most wonderful fragrance. It also has been most elusive in letting me take photos of it - but I thought this one wasn't too bad.

"Country Dancer" - aren't these buds just too sweet?? Last year, the first year in the garden, this rose bloomed like crazy. This year it's been a little more reticent. But I still have high hopes for it in the years to come.

"Fru Dagmar Hastrup" (or "Frau Dagmar Hartopp") is a lovely single rose. Its blooms are so fragile looking - so pretty and dainty. I really like it.

I'm so pretty

I guess if anything can be excused for being narcissistic, it would be roses. Still it was a surprise to find this Nearly Wild bloom staring lovingly into the gazing ball.

Mirror, mirror

in the ground,

who's the fairest

rose around?

more late summer blooms

On our walk through the garden yesterday, we found a surprising number of things still blooming, reblooming, and just starting to bloom. Maybe I'm the one who's tired - not the gardens!! Here are more photos.

dianthus (pinks)

Queen Anne's Lace

native rudbeckia or coneflower
These all started from seed brought by the wind or birds or ??
They bloom, like, forever! I love it!

plantegenia hosta
these blooms smell sooooo good!

dahlia

turtlehead

little blue stem grass

just starting to turn burgundy and develop seed heads

the phlox are winding down, but still some color

"David"

"Hawkeye Belle"

(this rose is just covered in blooms again)

one of the dahlias

hibiscus are still going strong

mallow reblooming

shasta daisy

"Autumn Joy" sedum, just starting to show color

hibiscus bud starting to open

delphinium reblooming

(surprising because I neglected to deadhead the first blooms)

one of the caladiums in the garden