potting shed

Bloom Thyme: THE LIST

| Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

In the fall I start getting a bit frantic … trying to enjoy my roses ENOUGH. ENOUGH to make it last. ENOUGH to make it last until next May. That is a lot of enjoying.

And, this is the time of year, I sit in my potting shed and begin working on THE LIST of roses and rose companions to add next year. I pour through catalogs, look at pictures from my garden and listen to the advice of others who love and grow roses.

My happy place.

Participating in Twitter #RoseChat and #GardenChat, I have real-time opportunities to see first hand what others from around the world are growing and hear all the good stuff and the challenges … making it even easier to put together THE LIST.

Paul Zimmerman highly recommends Mme Bovary from Delbard from Roses Unlimited. A lovely mauve rose with a great scent. And, Dublin Bay … a climbing rose. Very hardy, and it’s a true red rose; lightly perfumed with a repeat flowering later in the season.

Brooke Kroeger says Our Lady of Guadalupe is the best, most disease resistant rose she has ever grown. My neighbor has a couple of these beauties …  spectacular even in the drought!

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Chris the Redneck Rosarian has tempted me all summer with pictures of Julia Child and Golden Celebrations. Two luscious yellow roses…

Julia Child
Golden Celebrations

My Bourbon Queen was so beautiful this year that I feel I need another one.

Bourbon Queen

And, my Roseraie De L Hay was so beautiful that I want more. Can you blame me?

Roseraie de l'Hay

Thanks to @Lara Lewis, I’m also taking a serious look at David Austin‘s, Munstead Wood. Munstead Wood was Gertrude Jekyll’s garden in Surrey where she worked on her many gardening books. I love Gertrude. Surely I should have the rose named for her garden.

It would be fabulous to add a few more minis roses from John’s Miniature Roses — like Cupcake and  Seattle Sensation.

Just wait until the new catalogs start coming … THE LIST is sure to grow.

Sounds like this might be a good time to reread, The Berenstain Bears Get the Gimmies!

What plants are on your 2012 list?

Bloom Thyme: Potting Places

| Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

Step into the potting shed and the hum of the everyday world dwindles into silence. The air is warm and smells of earth. Wood flats checkerboard the potting bench, terra cotta pots tower in the corner like soup bowls on a kitchen shelf, and bins of soil beckon, their contents rich and deep.  –The Potting Shed by Linda Joan Smith/Smith & Hawkins

Twelve years ago my amazing husband built me a potting shed as a Christmas present. It is attached to the back of our house, in front of my rose garden — right in the middle of all the action. A wonderful little place … hand-made desk, shelves, tool closet, cabinets and a potting bench, complete with a dirt drawer (my favorite feature!).

If you are a gardener, I don’t have to tell you the magnitude this gift was to me–I feel the love! My potting shed is cute, it is functional, it is heaven on earth. Every moment I spend in my potting shed is pure pleasure– whether I am potting, pruning, watering, reading, planning, dreaming, designing, writing or just enjoying the view, I have simply never had an unhappy moment in my shed!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

For where the old thick laurels grow, along the thin red wall, you find the tool and potting sheds, which are the heart of all. -Rudyard Kipling

Do you have a tool/potting shed or favorite potting place? I’d love to hear about it…

The Potting Shed

| Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

Step into the potting shed and the hum of the everyday world dwindles into silence. The air is warm and smells of earth. Wood flats checkerboard the potting bench, terra cotta pots tower in the corner like soup bowls on a kitchen shelf, and bins of soil beckon, their contents rich and deep. -The Potting Shed by Linda Joan Smith/Smith & Hawkins

Love my dirt drawer!

 

 

Potting Bench

Twelve years ago my very handy husband built me a potting shed… hand-made desk, shelves, tool closet, cabinets and a potting bench, complete with a dirt drawer. If you are a gardener, I don’t have to tell you the magnitude this gift was to me. My potting shed is cute, it is functional, it is heaven on earth. Every moment I spend in my potting shed is pure pleasure– whether I am pruning, watering, reading or planning and designing the next big project. Spending time there keeps me sane during the long, dreary Indiana winters. I have simply never had an unhappy moment in my shed!

DON’T LEAVE US OUT IN THE COLD

When the temps dip below freezing , I bring the annuals and potted herbs into the potting shed where they will be safe from the cold. Some of the geraniums have spent 6+ winters in the Potting Shed… so they are right a home.

TODAY…

Today when I went into the potting shed I was greeted by a very fragrant bay tree, apple mint (given to me by my mother 22 years ago), blooming geraniums, various leggy plants that need more sun and a stack of books, catalogs, sketches and notes I’m working on to prepare for the BIG SPRING PROJECT! Ahhhhhh heaven.