Summer

Bloom Thyme: A heart and a garden that is overflowing…

Link | | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

Last night I left California on the red eye with red eyes and a full heart…

  • A heart so full of gratitude for the 3 weeks I had with my loves there.
  • A heavy heart that was so sad to leave them.
  • A heart so excited to see the ones I have missed. My family. My friends. My Garden. My home. My church. My work.
  • A heart filled with gratitude for all the blessings God has given to me.

Yes, a full heart filled with the good, the great and the sad. For those of you with family and friends far apart, I’m sure you know what I mean.

Bright and early this morning Mr. G was there to bring me home. The look on his face told me I was missed!

The garden had missed me too. It will be a few days before I will have it back in ship shape. All of the rain made the care while I was gone much easier but boy did everything grow and many things exceeded their allotted space. We call this stage the jungle stage! Yes, it will take a little while to get things trimmed up. We will be moving slow this weekend as the temps soar to low 90s with the humidity totally out of control.

The garden welcomed me with many blooms still yet to enjoy while I do the big task of deadheading the ones past their prime.

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The rose in front is Dr. Zlesak’s Petit Pink from the OSO Happy Collection from Proven Winners. The white rose behind Petit Pink is Champagne Wishes from Ping Lim’s Easy Elegance Collection. Both are excellent in my garden.

 

Pink Carpet Rose
Pink Carpet Rose
Champagne Wishes from Ping Lim's Easy Elegance Collection.
Champagne Wishes from Ping Lim’s Easy Elegance Collection.
All My Loving ... A new rose from Weeks. Lovely HT with soft but nice fragrance.
All My Loving … A new rose from Weeks. Lovely HT with soft but nice fragrance. Read more here.

We have had 3 rainstorms and a bit of hail in the last week, so it is amazing that any of these blooms hung on! I think it was for my homecoming, don’t you?

These and several others were vased and delivered to the bank for those who helped me through a long distance banking issue.
These and several others were vased and delivered to the bank for those who helped me through a long distance banking issue.

I have some new visitors too…

Japanese Beetles.

So far I am only seeing a few. Seeing any is way more than I ever want to see. I’ll be dumping them into a bucket of soapy water (peppermint Dr. Bronners) for a sweet smelling demise. My friend, Jack Falker, had a lot to say about Japanese Beetles on his blog this week. You can read his thoughts here.

Here’s a simple recipe for the Dr. Bronner’s soapy magic: Add 2 T of Dr. Bronner’s soap to one gallon of water. Stir … don’t shake!  Add to spray bottle. You can buy this soap on Amazon here!

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Disgusting, right?

Aphids.

Yes, aphids are coming to munch on the new buds. Dr. Bronner’s soap solution in a spray bottle to the rescue for this critter too.

If you look closely, you'll see aphids munching. 😁
If you look closely, you’ll see aphids munching. 😁

More new.

I now have blooms on some roses that Proven Winners sent me right before I left. They are doing great! Believe me, the video or pictures do not do them justice!

Take a look…

It is good to be home.

Garden work is a great balm for a heart that is filled with an abundance of love and joy and just a tinge of sadness.

Rose Buzz: Some Like It Hot

| Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

Rose Buzz_7_whiteI don’t know what the weather is like where you are, but around here it is HOT. As you know, it has been RAINY and I mean RAINY. Now it is HOT and I mean HOT. Or at least around here the 90s are HOT. In the deep south my friends are hotter but 90 is hot enough for me … HOT.

I thought as the temps soared, I would have very few roses blooming but that has not been the case. Although I am wilting, the roses aren’t. There are certainly a few that are laying low or sending out small blooms, but today we are going to focus on the ones that don’t seem to be bothered by the heat…

Lady Salisbury (David Austin) Looks delicate but it one tough rose!
Lady Salisbury (David Austin) Looks delicate but it one tough rose!
Our Lady of Guadalupe
Our Lady of Guadalupe (Jackson & Perkins)
Coral Drift
Coral Drift (Star Roses & Plants)
Poseidon
Poseidon (Kordes/Certified Roses)
Another shot of Poseidon with her neighbors
Another shot of Poseidon with her neighbors
Red Drift (Star Roses & Plants) Rarely without bloom!
Red Drift (Star Roses & Plants) Rarely without bloom!
Beverly
Beverly (Kordes/Certified Roses/Winner at Biltmore International Rose Trials)
Petit Pink
Petit Pink (Proven Winners OSO Happy Series)
Charlotte DA
Charlotte (David Austin)
Black Forrest
Black Forrest (Kordes/Certified Roses)
Falling in Love
Falling in Love (A beautiful Tom Carruth HT)
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Smoothie (Proven Winners (OSO Happy Series)
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Quietness (Dr. Buck) (left) and Music Box (Ping Lim) (right)
Music Box Up Close
Music Box Up Close
Cherry Pie
Cherry Pie (Proven Winners OSO Easy Series)
Little Mischief
Little Mischief (Ping Lim’s Easy Elegance Collection)

 

Some of these lovelies made their way to a vase…

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 I have a new shrub rose that I planted a few weeks ago, Sunshine Daydream.

I’m excited to see what it’s going to do. It’s another pretty, fragrant yellow! 🙂

Do you grow it? Any advice on it?

About all this rain…

| Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

The weather man says 90% chance of rain today and it is sure coming down. ☔️ It rained yesterday. Wednesday we had 1 1/2″ of rain and Monday (or was that Tuesday) we had 4″ of rain. It’s getting hard to keep track!

If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. I’ve decided to learn a bit more about rain. Next I may need to read up on jungles and rain forests!

For now, here are some rainy facts…

  • THIS JUST IN: In my next of the woods July broke the 1835 record for rain!
  • The highest amount of rainfall ever recorded in one year is 25.4 meters (1000 inches) in Cherrapunji, India.
  • Antarctica is the driest continent on Earth.
  • The umbrella was originally invented to protect people from the hot sun.
  • Louisiana is the wettest state in the U.S, which records an annual rainfall of 56 inches.
  • On average there are over 1500 thunderstorms occurring on earth with 100 lightning strikes per second
  • Rain drops do not fall in a tear drop shape, they originally fall in the shape of a flat oval.
  • Rainbows are caused by the effect of sunlight on countless millions of raindrops.
  • Annual averages for rainfall plus snowfall in my neck of the woods (Indy) is 42.4. No doubt we are breaking records as I type!

Blooms in the rain

Here are a few rain-soaked blooms from a quick garden walk in the rain…
Belinda's Dream
Belinda’s Dream … Yes, roses love the rain!
Phlox
Phlox

 

Stargazers ... I love these!
Stargazers … I love these!

 

Campanulas - Bellflowers
Campanulas – Bellflowers

 

The first bloom of Aloha
The first bloom of Aloha

 

I think tomorrow we have NO RAIN in the forecast … let’s just say I am looking forward to that.

I am itching to get my hands dirty!

☔️☔️☔️

EXTRA! EXTRA!

I was so honored this week when a local paper, The ICON, ran an article about me. If you’d like to read it, click here, open PDF and go to page 12.
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Why Do We Need the Rain Anyway?

| Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

When my children were small one of our favorite shows was Sesame Street. In fact, I am proud to say that I carry many of the lessons I learned during that era with me. Important things like…

EXIT is the “way way out.”  -The Alphabeats

Life is better with cookies.  -Cookie Monster

Even grouches are lovable and need friends. -Oscar the Grouch

How to deal with misunderstandings and how to be a friend. -Big Bird

How much fun it is to take a bath with a rubber duckie. -Ernie

It’s not easy being green. -Kermit the Frog

Fashion is not to be taken lightly and always remember to wear lipstick. -Miss Piggy

th-2

DRUM ROLL… The big one for this week…  why do we need the rain anyway! Remember the catchy little tune—It’s A Rainy Day?  Well today I can’t get it off my mind.  The phrase that pays from this video is “every living thing needs water.” I sure wish we could share some of our “blessing” of water with our Cali friends!

After two weeks of mostly rainy days, I can tell you that I am more caught up on inside jobs! My linen closet is even organized!

Many areas in my garden are soaked and soggy but some are just glistening…

Click on any of the pictures to start the gallery feature…

Summerthyme

| Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com
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Summerthyme Blooms……

Wow, the first day of summer is here. Doesn’t it seem like only yesterday that I was driving you crazy counting down the days until spring through the Polar Vortex. 🙂 You can flash back to that here.

We have had an almost perfect spring. I have hardly had to use my new Flexzilla garden hose or even a watering can!

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Flexzilla demo at Garden 2 Blog… If you  haven’t heard about this amazing NO KINK garden hose, read about it here! http://www.flexzilla.com/

Summer is coming in with a near perfect day that will hover around 80 and the garden is responding with some super blooms.

In thinking about summer I began to wonder just how many Popsicles are eaten every summer. I didn’t find the answer to that question, but I did find these yummy looking Popsicle recipes…

Yummy!
Yummy!

Find the recipes here.  And, if you find out how many Popsicles are eaten each summer, let me know. 🙂

Flowers celebrating …

These are the flowers that are helping me kickoff summer! (Click on any of the pictures to start the gallery feature.)

 


Stay cool and have a Popsicle or two!