roses

Garden Update – Early June

| terriaw

It seems like it’s been awhile since I’ve done a garden update.

Since it’s early June, I thought it would be fun to share what’s been growing around here.

We have quite a few rose shrubs around here that seem to be doing better and better each year, meaning more blooms. Luckily, roses are easy to grow and require little maintenance.

Our clematis continues to amaze me with that bright blue-violet color and star shape.

We’ve lucked out with warm gardening weather about a month earlier than normal, which has been very nice. That means some of the flowers that usually bloom in early July are starting to open now, like our coneflowers, one of my favorites.

My favorite part of our garden is the entrance gate to our fence on both sides of the house. I love how this hanging basket looks, so charming and inviting. I’m so happy we planted them this year because last year we were too lazy.

Hope you’re out enjoying the summer beauty too. Thanks for stopping by!

Autumn in the Garden

| terriaw

We didn’t plant any fall flowers in our garden this year, so it’s been nice to see our roses continuing to bloom.

The flowers on our hydrangea trees have changed from white to rose – so lovely!

It’s also nice to continue to see green on the trees while we still have leaves.

Some of the leaves have started to fall to the ground, dotting the green grass with a confetti of colors.

I’m starting to see flocks of geese flying in formations as they prepare to migrate south, and our birdhouses are quiet.

The quietness of Autumn is starting to settle in.

Garden Update – Roses

| terriaw

How about some roses from our garden this week!

We have four rose shrubs in our yard. That climbing rose shrub pictured above was planted before we bought the house, and planted a little too close to the corner of the house.


It hasn’t done too well over the years, but this year, it started to bloom early, producing these beautiful flowers. How lucky!

We have another new red knockout rose shrub that is getting bigger since we planted it and is blooming quite well this summer.

We also have two pink rose shrubs that always thrive.

As a kid, I always thought it would be cool to have roses growing in my own yard.

I didn’t realize how easy roses are to grow. Lots of water and good soil. I hear they bloom better with fertilizer but I’m frugal and don’t feel like buying fertilizer, especially when plants are thriving without it.

Fall in Our Gardens

| terriaw

I haven’t shared many pictures of our gardens lately, so I thought today would be a good time, while we still have a little greenery left before winter strikes.

It’s fall around here, so the foliage is changing but not many things are blooming.

We bought a mum to add some color to our patio. I love the warm rich colors of mums.

In my part of the world, the temperatures are getting colder, so plant life is going dormant to survive the winter. I did find a few plants that typically bloom in summer that decided to bloom again this fall.

Up until last weekend, we have had an unusually warm, sunny fall, so I suppose some plants got a second wind.

The sun shining today for the first time in at least four days, so just looking at these colorful pictures is a treat! Hope you enjoyed it too.

Stop To Smell the Flowers

| terriaw

We spend so much of our free time working in our yard (or me working on sewing projects!), that we don’t stop to smell those flowers… or play in our yard. Last night we got out the badminton rackets and played for awhile – so fun!

Speaking of flowers, our rose bushes are blooming like crazy!

Our daisy patch came to life early – one of my favorite flowers!

It’s not all sunshine and roses in our gardens, though. Look at what the rabbits have done to one of our hosts – those lil buggers! Anybody else having problems with rabbits this season?

At least it was just a hosta they devoured and not a precious flower.

Thank you for your sweet comments on my recent handbag experiment! I really appreciate all the wonderfully positive feedback! I am happy to report I have tested the teal version this week, and so far, so good! I am looking forward to the next edition of my experiment.

Three cheers for Friday, my friends!

Weekending Makes Me Happy

| terriaw

I don’t have much to report today.We just spent a relaxing weekend with our out-of-town guests.

We made it to the farmers market on Saturday morning. I was surprised there wasn’t more produce, but there were lots of flowers. I heard strawberries will be available next weekend.

We also made it to the student union on campus. It’s such a great outdoor patio on the lake to people-watch and have beverages.

We spent a lot of time hanging out on our backyard patio.

We were surrounded by the next round of flowers in bloom for the season. Our rose bush exploded with flowers over the weekend.

Our peonies burst open too.

We planted new peonies a couple years ago, but it has taken awhile for them to get used to their new environment. This is the first year they have bloomed, and it’s so nice to know we have these lovely pastel pink peonies.

I found this cool caterpillar hiding out in the grass!

We always have a great time hanging out with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. (They are the family we visit when we travel to NYC.)

I have at least three patchwork projects going on my sewing table, so I hope to be back in a day or two with some productive results to share. Hope you enjoyed your weekending too!

More Gardening

| terriaw

Since I’m not ready to show you my latest patchwork projects yet, can I show you more garden photos?  I have been neglecting our yard and gardens lately because, like some others, I am getting over the whole gardening marathon.

messy veggie gardenI have been especially neglecting my vegetable garden, as you can see from the messiness. I only have two tomato plants in there, and I put cages around them, but they got so top-heavy and I never took the time to string them up more. So now they are sort of crushing the jalapeno and bell peppers. Oh well.

pepper harvestWe are still getting flowers on our rose bushes.

pink rose bushThis one hardly ever blooms, so it was nice to find a cluster of flowers on it.

rose clusterOur little hydrangea trees are almost done blooming too.  They make a nice backdrop against our fence. (By the way, I had to chase Dave outside last night to pull and spray weeds so I could secretly watch the newest movie trailer over and over.)

Leopold bench in backyardSoon enough I will be busy picking tomatoes, making salsa and canning. Then I will really be done with this gardening season.  Oh yea, wait, there will be spring bulbs to plant in October. Darn.