Growing roses

Growing roses just takes patience. I've been doing it for about 15 years with some sucesses and lots of failures.

First roses need sunshine and lots of it - mine are planted where they get sun all day as well as plenty of water is dry spells. Other wise they will won't bloom. Although I do buy hardy roses, I also plant the tender tea roses. What kills the tender ones is not the cold - once the ground freezes and there is a layer of snow, the become dormant and are fine - it's thawing out in the spring then having temperatures drop to abnormal lows as happened this spring.

The two I have shown here are a Teresa Bugnet (pronounced Boonyay) the first pic. and a William Baffin a hardy climbing rose. I'm thinking the William Baffin would look lovely on your pergola. The TB lost a few branches this spring, but it still stands nearly 8 feet tall and is covered in blooms now. The WB which had a lot of "winter kill" and I had to cut it down to about a foot high this spring (it's in the picture of the old bedframe), but it is already putting up lots of new branches.

I have another one called a John Davis which is planted by the back door, it too is a climbing rose but has nothing to climb on so it is always hanging over the step and getting in the way! It has light pink flowers and is so pretty but no smell.

All three of these roses are from Canada and are bred to withstand the cold, but you should be able to find them in Chicago. They are listed in the American Rose book.

The Teresa Bugnet is one of the few roses which will bloom repeatedly in the shade. I had a neighbour who had one planted on the East side of her house behind some trees, it never saw the sun but it didn't seem to care.

More flowers

We must be nuts in this country - we wait 10 months for 2 months of flowers! When they finally bloom we're so excited, I guess we're easy to please......lol.
This is a favorite of mine the Morden Blush Rose, it's hardy and the blossoms are so delicate, but no smell. The columbines on the north side of the house are in full bloom.

Morden Fireglow Rose also hardy but no smell, it looks a lot like a tea rose with long stemmed blooms.

Buff Pixie Lily

One of the new tea roses Pat Austin, I bought to replace those that died.


A new lily called Cappuccino. I have about 20 different lilies, they grow so well here. I hope to add more this fall or next spring.

Come meet the family....

This is Mollie the Collie - she's the best dog in the whole world. She goes everywhere with me and has been my best buddy for nearly 10 years. Sadly she does have medical problems, she's hypothyroid, diabetic and has skin problems. Still she is always happy and has never growled or even shown her teeth to the vet when she has all her tests done. When she goes over the rainbow bridge I will be a mess! Next is Goof the African Grey Parrot, the one who hates me! Hubby got him as a young bird before we got together so Goof bonded to him and still thinks 10 years later, I'm an intruder.

This is Mooch the bird murdering, mouse torturing, butter licking little kitty. She was dumped off by our gate when she was about 5 months old and is just a little sweetheart (when she's not killing something).

Simba Kitty - brother to Max. They were born to a feral cat at the old place, when we moved up here I trapped them and brought them along otherwise they would have soon died. It took a long time to tame them enough to even pet them, but food and patience paid off. Now they live in the house in the winter and are incredibly spoiled.

Fat Cat Critty - also a kitten of the feral mama from the other place. He is a half brother to Simba and Max but is about 3 years older than them. For some reason he has always been tame, he just moved into our trailer one day, looked around and said, "Well, this looks like a good place to live".

Last but not least is Max the mouser - Simba's brother. Although he and Simba are "house cats" now, they are still a little wild. He will come and curl up beside me on the couch, but if I want to catch him - no way!

Since we have no children, these are our family. Next I'll introduce you to the cows!

Hubby and I spent the last two days siding the new shed - new as in he built it last fall. We had tons of siding left over from when we resided the house last summer. I think it looks pretty good, but I can see a new flower bed beginning to form! The north side is along the edge of the veggie garden but is going to end being a short cut to the shop. Maybe a nice stone pathway where those two landscaping ties are laying, with shade loving flowers next to the building?

That is the garden by the way, "But I don't see any veggies," you say! The garden just sucks this year - I planted the peas 2 inches apart them came up a foot apart, the spinach is the same. I'm thinking I'll replant those two as they are fast growers. The only thing that is doing well are the potatoes, they already need hilling and we should have new little ones to eat in about 3 weeks.

Finally ......Flowers!

Everything is late this year, but finally things are starting to bloom. The only thing that is not, are my orange tiger lilies - they are usually early but this year most of the buds are empty and just falling off. The few that are opening are rather sorry looking flowers., but the dianthus is doing well. The peonies are beginning to open, the pink one is 2 years old and this is the first year it has bloomed, it has the most beautiful scent.

This yellow one is a new species and the lady at the greenhouse didn't know how hardy it would be. It too, is 2 years old and seems to handle the winter just fine.

I love bleeding hearts, I have 2 pink ones in this bed and I planted a white one in the middle of them this spring. On the left are columbines, they are beginning to open too.

The Lady

I stopped at a garage sale yesterday coming home from town with hubby. Hubby was annoyed - he not a garage sale person, but ended up buying $60.00 worth of stuff for his shop. I spent $2.00 and got this lady. She will spend the summer on the deck and the winter in my office with me.

Keeping up with the Jones' .....LOL!

I just couldn't resist I just had to show you some of my treasures, most of which I found in a junk pile in the bush when we moved here.
The first one is a steel wheel and laying at the base is a buffalo horn. Hubby found the horn laying in the field when he was tilling.

Next is an old bed headboarad, sadly the climbing rose was one of the casualities of the rotten spring, but it is coming back.

Then an old bicycle tire which make a wonderful peony ring, the legs are made from an old TV antenna.

A cream seperator which I actually bought for 50.00 bucks at a garage sale. I thought of repainting it but I kind of like the distressed look. I have an old rusty cream can that ususally sits under the spouts but as you can see the deck is falling apart and we are supposed to be rebuilding it so I haven't put the can out this year.

And finally my water pump (complete with bird poop), which sits in the rose garden.

I have also found an old hand built wooden wheel barrow (hubby was hauling it to the burning pile horror of horrors). I have to drag it up to the yard and figure out where it is going to go. I'll probably just plunk a pot full of flowers on it this year.