My Own Game of 'I Spy'

You remember this game from when you were a kid ... "I spy with my little eye ...."  In this case, we are playing the game with the contents of the bottom of my underwear drawer.  No, this isn't a case of TMI (too much information), since there are no undies actually in the drawer at the moment ... they're in the clothes basket, fresh from the laundry, and  ready to be put away.

When I opened the drawer and saw this stuff, lit so perfectly by the lamp on my dresser, I knew that I had to share and make a game out of it.  Mind you, I did not rearrange these items at all to style them for this photo.  This is exactly as everything was found when I opened the drawer.

 

 

You ready to play?

 

The items to identify in this photo are:

Four belts (extra points for identifying the belt with greyhounds on it)

Two tile coasters from our Alaska cruise last summer

The charger for who-knows-what

A notecard, also from Alaska

A hair clip (my hair has been pixie short for a year now)

A broken string of pearls

A pile of Alaska tourist brochures

Three piles of plant tags made from mini blinds

A case for reading glasses

The reading glasses

Bits of string

A ballpoint pen

A bracelet box

An orphan furniture caster

Two store receipts

A single sock

A pad of Post-It notes

Panty hose

 

Now that I have confronted this problem, am I going to clean out the drawer and put this stuff where it belongs?  Nope.  I plan to do my best Scarlett O'Hara impression, bury it with clean underwear, and deal with it another day.

Sunny Cemetery Roses

While I was at Hollywood Cemetery last Sunday for their "Sunday Picnic", I saw that many of the roses are in full bloom.  Part of my project there is to create an archive of all of the roses, which includes photos and identities of each rose. 

I spent a few hours at Hollywood yesterday afternoon, and I photographed 35 roses.  It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day ... great for being outdoors, but lousy for decent photography.  I took advantage of brief cloud cover when I could, so most of my photos are fairly representative of what each rose looks like.

'Shailer's Provence'

 

 

I will format and share as many photos as I can later.  To be honest, I just can't spare the time to do that right now.  My main concern is to make sure that each rose is documented and that the photos are safely downloaded and backed up.

 

Today is a fun day.  I'm heading to northern Virginia for a garden club plant exchange.  The back of my Jeep is full of roses that I have decided not to plant ... can't wait to see what cool stuff I can swap them for!

 

Feeling Sad About "noreply-comment@blogger.com"

Thank you for all of the comments that you left on my last post about this year's first roses in the garden.  I appreciate each and every kind word that you take the time to leave behind during your visit.  Each comment is a gift, and I am thankful that you choose to spend time on my little slice of the Internet.

I try to send a private email reply to most of the comments that I receive.  (depending on what else is going on, sometimes I'm better about this than other times.)  Six of the comments I received on that last post were from lovely readers who may or may not know that their email addresses are not visible in their profile.  I always return the favor and visit blogs in exchange ... sometimes finding treasures that I continue to return to again and again.  Honestly, though, it's still not the same as being able to share a private conversation with someone ... via email, that is.

Preaching to the choir?  Beating a dead horse?  I still have to give this a shot, in case I can reach just ONE blogger and help them build their network and their friendships.

Do you know if you are a No Reply blogger?  If you are on Blogger, here's how to check. 

1.  Click on the "B" icon at the top of your blog home page.

 

 

2.  Click on the icon in either corner of the Blogger overview page to access your profile.

 

 

 

3.  Click the orange 'Edit Profile' button.

 

 

 

4.  Check the box that says, "Show my email address".

 

 

 

5.  Scroll to the bottom of that page, click "Save Profile".

 

 

 

That's all there is to it!  (If you use another blogging service and do not have a Blogger Profile, I know there are ways to do this, I just don't know what they are.)

 

I make this plea at least twice a year, usually when I receive a frustratingly large number of comments that I cannot reply to.  I know that some of you may have consciously chosen to not reveal your email address ... it's your email and your choice and I respect that.  Others, and I have found this to be the majority of no reply bloggers, don't realize that this is the case for them.  (This is especially true for new bloggers.)

 

Make this change and I guarantee that your blogging experience will be a richer one. For me, direct email contact has led to online and real-live-in-person friendships that I would not have otherwise.

 

Now go check your profile and let me know what you find.

 

The First Roses of the Year!

Last week, on Thursday to be exact, the first roses opened in my garden!  As it is most years, the first one was 'Climbing Rouletii' ... a beautiful monster of a climbing China rose that I absolutely adore.

My 'Climbing Rouletii' was knocked off its arch in a storm last year, and I never took the time to put it back up, so its canes are arching over all of its neighbor roses.  Once it finishes blooming, I will have to cut it to a more manageable size so I can get it back to where it belongs.  In the meantime, I am enjoying the wonderful mayhem.

A close rose relative of 'Climbing Rouletii' is also blooming now, "Mableton Rouletii".  This little miniature China was found at an estate in California.  It is different enough from the identified varieties of Rouletii to justify calling it by the study name, and enclosing the name in the double quotes.

While 'Climbing Rouletii' wants to be ten feet tall, "Mableton Rouletii" is barely three feet tall and wide.  The flowers on both roses are only a little over an inch in diameter.

One more China rose that's beginning to bloom is 'Old Blush' ... one of the original roses imported from China in the late 18th Century.

I was surprised to see flowers on the top of 'Sarah Van Fleet', a rugosa rose that I recommend for gardens who can handle her size ... my plant is about seven feet tall and six feet wide.  The flowers are on the top of the plant, so I had to point my camera WAY up to photograph them.

It's really exciting to finally have roses to share.  The roses aren't the only flowers in the garden, however.

This clematis is always the first one to flower.  I don't know which one it is, because it grows through a huge rambler and I can't get anywhere close to the base of the plant to read the tag.  These flowers are larger than my hand!

My little patch of Lily of the Valley in the bed on the shady side of our pavilion is getting established quite nicely.  I have tried and failed to grow this in two other spots in our yard, so I'm thrilled that I finally found a spot that makes it happy.

On the sunny side of the pavilion, this tree peony has just opened its first flower of the year ... with three more buds following right behind this one.  (I don't know what variety this is, because I lost the tag.)

In the greenhouse, there are flowers on 'Climbing Baby Darling' (a sweet climbing miniature rose).  It looks as if the flowers are pressing their faces to the glass, wanting to go out to the garden with all the other roses. 

Patience, little rose.  Your time will come, and you will get your own spot in the garden very soon ... I promise.

All of these photos were taken this afternoon.  I imagine that things are going to start happening very quickly, once this weather front moves through in the next few days and sunny, warm weather returns.  As soon as I have a better idea of timing, and I see when my calendar will allow me to be here, I will let you know when the garden will be open for visitors.  In the meantime, expect to be totally overloaded with roses for the next few weeks.  It's going to be glorious!

Sunday Snapshot ... New ASCP Custom Color

It's been a long time since I talked to you about any of my painting projects.  I'm still working on stuff, I just haven't posted about any of it.  This morning, even though I'm just getting started on the project, I HAVE to share with you the new color of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint that I mixed up for my brother's kitchen cabinets.

 

 

The top color is made by mixing 3 parts Provence and 1 part Olive.  It is a lovely, clear blue-green.  I am using it with a base coat of Country Grey, and wet distressing with a Scotchbrite pad to give a gentle hint of age and use. 

 

With this sample door completed and approved, I can now get to work on the rest of the doors and drawer fronts later this week.  I'm so excited about doing a whole kitchen.  It's going to be so cool!

 

Happy Sunday, Everyone.  I hope it was a good one.

 

P.S.  There's a photo of the humble kitchen in THIS blog post from last month.  I have lots of photos of what my brother has done to disassemble and rearrange the kitchen so far, and I will continue to take Before, During, and After photos of my part of the process. 

 

Words of Encouragement

This quote says it all ...

source

 

 

The fact that this is from Audrey Hepburn makes it even better.  (love her!!)

 

My garden is a neglected mess, but I believe that I will be here for enough tomorrows to try to bring it into better condition.  I have two very special people coming to visit in the next couple of weeks, and I am trying not to work myself into a froth to get ready for them.  What I plan to do is to take my own advice, that I give to other people when they are stressing about their roses ... the garden is what it is, the visitors are coming to see ME ... and I will enjoy the time with them no matter what the garden looks like when they're here.

 

If I concentrate hard enough, I think I can convince myself that the weeds are 'filler' in the arrangement.

Some Rosy Things To Do in May

May is here, finally!  April was a strange month, with temperatures lower than normal and a wide swing of weather ... I was wearing a turtleneck and a sweater yesterday, for Pete's sake.  It's time to start thinking about warm weather, shorts, t-shirts, flip-flops, and garden events.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (May 2, 3, and 4) is the Spring Plant Sale at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond.  It feels weird that I'm not selling roses anymore and won't a vendor at this show.  (Click HERE to go to the LGBG web site, for each day's hours and a list of vendors.)  Some of my best non-rose garden plants have come from this sale.

 

 

 

 

On Sunday, May 5, from 1pm - 3:30pm, everyone is invited to the 2nd annual "Sunday Picnic at Hollywood Cemetery".  Pack a picnic basket, bring a blanket and relax to sounds of great entertainment (Oak Lane Band and Censations from St. Catherine's School).  Guided Trolley car tours will be provided.  Cupcakes from Pearl's Cupcake Shoppe, an ice cream truck from Cool Concessions, and hotdogs from The Dog Wagon will be on site.  Hollywood Cemetery's roses will certainly be part of the day's events!

 

Print from Harper's Weekly, August 17, 1867.  The caption reads, "Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia -- decorating the graves of the rebel soldiers, May 31, 1867 -- drawn by W. L. Shepherd (see page 568)"

 

 

'Duchesse de Brabant' in the Armistead Plot.

 

 

Another cemetery that is near and dear to me is the Old City Cemetery in Lynchburg, Virginia.  Saturday, May 11, is their 18th annual Antique Rose Festival.  The cemetery's rose collection should be nearing peak bloom for the festival, and there will be a huge assortment of antique roses available for sale.  (Click HERE to go to the event calendar on the cemetery's web site.)

 

The rose sale begins on Friday, May 3 ... with 140 varieties on the preliminary list that they sent me.  This is the ONLY opportunity I know to buy antique roses in person in this region.  Online vendors for antique roses are disappearing, so we have to take advantage of every opportunity we have to get these roses for our gardens, and support the people and organizations who work so hard to bring them to us.  (Lynchburg is pretty close to Covesville, where my new rug is, and I hope to make a combo trip ... to pick up my rug and visit the Old City Cemetery's roses.  Anyone down that way want to meet up?)

 

 

 

'Aglaia'

 

 

 

 

Saturday, May 18, is Rose Day at Monticello's Tufton Farm in Charlottesville, Virginia.  Rosarian Rev. Douglas Seidel will discuss the various types of old roses ... Doug is one of the most fascinating speakers I know!  Bring clippings of your “mystery roses” for Doug’s legendary antique rose identification workshop.  Curator Peggy Cornett will lead tours of the Tufton's gardens, including the Leonie Bell Noisette Garden.  A wide selection of historic roses and other plants will be available for sale.  (I will be there, but I don't know yet whether I will be helping with anything.)

 

 

"Hollywood Pink Cluster", found in Hollywood Cemetery, and growing in the Leonie Bell Garden.

 

'Baltimore Belle'

 

 

Though the nursery portion of Hartwood Roses is closed now, I will still host an Open Garden or two (or more) in late May, once my roses are blooming.  As soon as I have an idea of when, I will let you know.