Gone but not forgotten.

I love tea roses, however they are very hard to grow and keep alive in this area. If we have good snow cover for insulation and a mild spring after the snow melts, there is a good chance they will survive. This spring 2009, after the snow melted we had a bitterly cold few days, these roses were showing signs of life but now seem to have lost the battle. Therefore I shall remember them in pictures (I really wish they could invent smellaputer - some of these were heavenly!

Queen ElizabethAbout Face

Queen Elizabeth again (as soon as I figure out how to delete pictures after I add them this won't happen again - I promise.
Chicago Peace

Gold Medal

Granada

Sunsprite


Marina

You can never have too many flower beds!

When we first moved here there were no flower gardens, just grass, junk and this sign! Luckily the folks we bought the farm from came back for it. Little did we know how apt this sign was....the place needed a lot of work. Not just in the flower department, but everywhere, the buildings, the corrals, the fields...but that is another story - this one is about the flowers.
We moved here in 2004 and I started the flower beds in 2005, the first year I just tried to save the ones around deck and the west side of the house.

The first thing I did was start my rose garden. Since the original owner (he moved 7 years ago) had thoughfully put lots of good dirt down before he planted the lawn, I thought, "Great, all I have to do is remove some sod and viola!" Little did I know how hard it is to removed old sod! After 3 days of back breaking labor I got the sod out, dug the landscaping ties into the ground even with the grass (easier to mow around that way) and planted my first 15 roses.
This is taken in 2005.

This is 3 years later in 2008. Sadly, this year because of a cool spring and a late really cold spell (after the insulating cover of snow had melted) the garden is suffering. I don't think any of my tea roses will make it and even the hardy ones are struggling.

That garden worked out well, so I decided in 2007 to build another one. Old age has it perks, one is forgetting how much hard work building a flower bed is! This one is mostly lilies and this photo is taken the first year. That is my vegetable garden in the background and my little green house where I grow yummy tomatoes.

This is taken in 2008, I added some delphiniums and a few other perennials.

Not letting common sense or good judgement get in my way, I built a third one this spring. Those silver things are rather large tire rims and were a PITA to water and to mow around, so they had to go.

This one will also be filled with perennials. Right now there are a few plus 60 gladiolas, panseys and a few odds and ends that I moved from other places. I also have two very small spruce trees which are growing in the rose garden, which I'm going to move to either end of this bed. They are such slow growers I figure by the time they become too big and shade everything I'll probably have alzheimers and won't remember what the heck was in there anyway!