Hello .... how was your week? Mine was filled with indecision and on and off rain which combined for low productivity... I'd also like to blame it on my bum left knee which was bothersome all week... 10 more days till I can get the biologic shot... fingers crossed this will give me some relief... but I've given a lot of thought this week about knee replacement. It seems inevitable... and perhaps the beginning of 2026 would be a good time to do it. I've been ruminating on the situation... as of August Elliott will be in 1st grade, full time school, and my babysitting will be curtailed. By November or so the garden will be cleaned out. It would be great to get the surgery and the rehab done and dusted by Spring... I'll have to see how this all plays out.
So I have very little to show you this week... well the fence project is complete... finally got the gate...
now I have no clue when they installed this. I know for a fact it wasn't there Tuesday ... and it wasn't there Wednesday... at least I don't think it wasn't... but I went and worked out on Thursday morning at 10am and when I got back it was there!! My Ring doorbell didn't capture any movement (this is on the side of my house without a camera) so I assume they came into the yard out of range... but I am very happy to have this completed because... I went and got roses!! The last garden center I called, Burger Farms, told me on the phone they had David Austin roses... and they did, but they had a very limited amount of inventory... you could tell they had a lot more earlier in the season but I am happy with what I took home.
This raised bed is the the very back corner of the yard...along with the gate I've blocked off access on the right side of this bed... there is still an entrance through the covered patio but so far I haven't seen any evidence of deer encroachment... and I have an idea for blocking it if needed. Now 6 rose bushes is probably more than I should have planted in this space, so we'll see how this works out ... but right now they are making me very happy!
I wasn't able to get 6 David Austin roses, but I did get 2 and then I got 3 more that are English looking and one that was an unusual color that I loved.
I got Molineux which is yellow and Queen of Sweden which is a pale pink... and if you want to see more varieties here's their website....
My Queen of Sweden doesn't have any open blooms yet, but this is the Molineux...
I picked 3 roses of the Bloom- ables brand...Leonardo da Vinci which is a deep pink, Polka which is peachy and Cloud 10 which is white... Polka and Cloud 10 are climbers and I'm adding a trellis behind them. If you want to see some more eye candy go check out their entire site... sooooo many pretty roses.
Here are pics of my roses...
Leonardo...
Cloud 10...
Polka...
The last rose I picked is called Cinco de Mayo from Weeks Roses... the color is so hard to describe but the copy on the label agrees with me...it says "indescribable blooms of smoked lavender and rusty red- orange"...and the foliage on this one is a burgundy and green... very pretty..
My rose is full of buds but no blooms yet... check out the link above on the name ... the color is exquisite.
Now I pick roses in the same way I pick fabrics... the color and the name influence me greatly... if there had been another yellow rose I would have bought it ... and how could I pass up a rose called Polka???
I got the roses planted on Monday and that evening I was over on YouTube and stumbled across this video...a tour of the David Austin garden... breath-taking... and I was intrigued that lots of the roses were in big pots... and while I don't have any more room in the raised beds I do have room for pots along the new fence wall...
sooooooo I may try to get a couple more rose bushes.... and yes it is very good thing that my vices don't run to gambling and liquor and drugs... LOL...although those vices might be a less expensive than what I've spent on house and garden projects this year... yikes!
The cicadas right now are deafening... probably 3 more weeks till they are DEAD... then I can sit out on the patio.... or even pull a chair out into the sun... and admire my flowers... I can't wait... the fence and the gate add the privacy I've wanted for my yard... so happy with this addition to my home.
As for crafty stuff... well I spent a lot of time with Annie Beez American Sampler House and here's where I am now....
OMG that flag took forever and there is SO MUCH house!!! I finally had to stitch on something else for a while and I went back to the Erica Michaels God Bless America... that linen is more blue in real life...
Remember when I started this one I said I was going to do the large version... and then after a bit of thought I said I was going to do the smaller version... well I ruminated while working on this piece and tried to decide if it done? Do I make it into a little pillow? ...OR I put this away till next year and finish it then?... a I have a nice selection of patriotic pieces that need to be FFO...
The two spools are from Crafty Bluebonnet's Patriotic Spool Trio... and the cute flag bearer is from Pinker n Punkin Quilting...Marcher of the Flag...
Patriotic Tiny Town from Heart in Hand...
On the left is a Threadwork Primitives Patriotic Pear and on the right is a strawberry from Prairie Schooler No. 100 American Strawberries.
and the more I think about it (more ruminating) I think the Annie Beez piece is going on hiatus with the Erica Michaels piece and I'll pick them back up next year. There is plenty of FFOing there to do....
If I get up the energy I'll start getting out my patriotic stuff this week... or maybe next week...and I'm still ruminating over starting another Prairie Schooler garden-y sampler... or maybe jumping ahead and working on something for Fall or Halloween... or God forbid, picking back up one of my many UFOs... just feeling a need for a change of scenery... Oh I talked myself out of the pricey OOP Blackbird Designs chart on eBay... spent some time with my BBD stash and found several other charts that are just as pretty and already paid for...
No big plans for the upcoming week... Elliott on Tuesday... Nick has a dentist appointment on Wednesday and I have my hair appointment on Thursday... and that's enough running around for me at the moment... I'm in a stay at home mood, which should translate into getting more stuff done, but it hasn't. I'm content to sit in my recliner on the sunroom porch, watch the birds, cruise the internet and nap... I have the bulk of the garden planting done... I always end up adding some plants throughout the Summer but just one or two here or there that follow me home from the garden centers... I do need to clean out my garage... it is a mess... but the frequent rainy days have provided a nice excuse for not tackling this job yet.
I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today... it rained Friday night and Saturday night and is forecast to rain again today and Monday...and then we may get 3 dry days... sigh...lately we never get more than 3 or 4 dry days in a row... the rain is getting to me... so I may spend some time down in my sewing room... plenty to do there... or just veg out in my recliner on the sunroom porch and watch the rain... Hope the weather where you're at is pleasant and that you have a lovely week ahead!
happy stitching-
carol fun
Your fence looks great! You are making me want to get some roses! I think I am going with the potted version though. We just had some very expensive landscaping done in the front of our house and only have 2 trees and three hydrangeas planted. Everything else is in pots. We may sell in a year or so and we want the landscaping to stay nice and more maintenance free. Yellow roses are my favorite so I will be looking for those.
ReplyDeleteI counted the other day and have 8 patriotic stitches to FFO. I plan on finally getting them done this month. It's so hard not to start more patriotic but I am trying to finish more of my WIPS this year, for cross stitch and quilting.
Congrats on the fence being done and such beautiful roses! I planted a bush in my community garden a few years ago that was a bare stem start from Aldi (yes the supermarket!) and am continually surprised to see it bloom so beautifully each year. I have a small plot in front of my townhouse and I've longed to plant some low height ground cover style roses but I always seem to think of it too late when the starts are already gone.
ReplyDeleteYeah that Beez sampler has a lot of filler, I can see why you need to switch off every once in a while. Ooh, you have a lot of patriotic FFOs to work on! Perfect time of the year to pick a few that you want to display and get them done for that.
Fence plus gate equals security and happiness in your yard. I've never grown roses but certainly admire their beauty.
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