Some garden work

Last weekend (the one before last actually) J and I did a little gardening! We were going to do some more yesterday, but it actually rained which prevented us from working on it. OOOHHHH WEEELLLL.

So we trimmed a LOT of this huge bird of paradise. Unfortunately, as you'll see below, it hadn't been taken care of and is extremely messy and overgrown with roots--about 1.5' tall roots! It's a big mess and we don't know what to do. So sad because the plant is gorgeous.

 Freshened up my flower bed here...

 Can you tell a difference? Maybe?

See the hacked-away portion of roots? Yuck.

Yard Work

Ahhh flowers

The "good" pictures I promised:

primroses

a lavender bud blooming
pink stock
ranunculus
love these colors!


Star of Bethlehem (the theme of my wedding flowers)
more raunculus

The most wonderful scent...

Nothing smells better than early spring in California.

The first of the crop of sweet smells has to be pink star jasmine. I have about ten pounds of it in my backyard. The vines are weighted with these small white blossoms and pink blooms about to open.

Some buds ready to bloom

More Spring in my Step

I added some more flowers to my front planter this weekend. I love springtime and I couldn't resist adding more color...

The stick-looking plant in the center will grow leaves and eventually my Peace roses.
Primroses, ranunculus, and stock.
The white ones are Star of Bethlehem, which was in my wedding bouquet!

I know iPhone photos aren't the best, so prettier photos are coming, whenever I can upload them. I have been busy!

Yay!

Roses

I mentioned before that I planted my uncle Dave's favorite rose in my front yard, the Peace rose. He visited my parents one year and planted one in their yard as a thank-you gift for staying with them. I thought I could start a new tradition and plant one wherever I live as a little "peace" of him. (Sorry that was an awful pun, but I HAD to).

Peace rose:

Well this weekend I went out to get some more bare-root roses before they are all gone, and I found another "tribute rose" -- the Chicago Peace rose. You may be aware that my beloved cousin Bree is in Chicago right now, and I miss her SOOOOOO much, so I thought this would be a fitting rose to plant. It's like the Peace rose, but peach and pink instead of white and pink. Isn't it beautiful!?

Chicago Peace:

Photo credits:

Chicago Peace

Peace

Rainy Saturday

It's monsoon season!

Okay, not really...but we did get a LOT of rain on Saturday, despite J. insisting that we did not.

I got up and traveled through the mist to Home Depot for some roses to plant in my newly empty front planter. No one in the Home Depot would venture to the garden center, because it's open to the elements. Silly, I thought, it's just a little rain. I was prepared: in my husband's coat, sweatpants, and a hat. By the time I left, the rain was coming down harder, and it was windy. The wind whipped the rain at angles toward my legs. I arrived home in time for a downpour. It was the type of downpour you only see in states that are not California. States that are, perhaps, designed to accept rain, not to flood and puddle and crack. By the time I reached the front of the house my planterbox was full of water. I plunked those roses in the water and retreated inside to hide, and watch the Duchess (which I liked, btw).

I did get my planting done, during a brief break (perhaps the eye of the storm!) in which the sun peeked out from behind the clouds. By the end of my planting the rain started again, and was building in velocity, so I went back inside to wash the mud off of my hands, forearms, face...you get the picture. It was muddy.

The finished planter -- no it's not exciting yet, the roses need to grow! I planted some tuberoses around them...we'll see how they do, but they are very pretty!

I planted three types of roses: Barbara Bush (pale pink), Peace (a yellow with peachy-orange edges), and Cabana (pink with darker pink striations). Peace roses were my uncle David's favorites, and on his last trip to CA he planted some in my parents' front yard as a "host" gift. I am excited to carry on the tradition, and plan on planting these wherever I go. :)
The flooded planter, mid-monsoon! The tuberoses are in pots, that's how deep the water is!
My backyard and the torrential downpour (yes, I'm going to play this up as much as possible) and my delightfully scented Pink Star Jasmine.
Koal is a very good helper, and convincingly human when he sits in the car like this!
This was the misty and early-morning scene when we first started our adventure. Ohhh isn't it frightening!?!