HouseWifery: Tales from a garden...

I’m walking on petals at the end of an enchanted June, and sunshine has awakened the garden by way of zillion little secrets...

As the earth turns and the seasons march along sapphire horizons, a succession of miracles are taking place right here—small and big miracles in way of a succession of bloom—a garden blooming in waves, from the first crocus to probably the last mum.

It's been fun watching the early narcissus giving way to tulips, then came the Ninebark flower and crimson weigelas, dianthus followed and the blue delphinium and sweet Williams and garden phlox, and now here are the roses and the foxgloves and daisies, soon there will be lilies, daylilies, bee balm and hollyhock, and finally the burgundy asters and chrysanthemums that will bloom until the first freeze. I am enchanted by it all.

Remember my cosmos seeds in early March? None survived... well, except for the flimsy little seedling I thought it wouldn’t have a chance, and thus I took outside to let it died naturally under the bitterness of cruel March because I didn’t have the heart to kill it or throw it away... Wow, what a lesson from Nature that was!

It’s a bird’s Paradise here. Can you see this robin in the petunia flower pot admits the roses?

I’ve never seen petunias reached this high. Must have something to do with the garden fairies!

Snapdragons don’t usually survive our winters, so they’re sold as annuals.... but not here in my garden. A couple of years ago a bought two tall snapdragons and waited for them to die back that winter... both of them survived, and now they have self-seeded themselves prolifically in the garden. I have lovely snapdragons everywhere... even outside their beds. To me this is yet another miracle among the miracles in my garden.

Evening Primrose have self-seeded prolifically as well. This was a total surprise to me because I can’t remember having planting them at all to begin with.... little gifts from above? I can’t complain!

Roses have taken over the garden. I’m in heaven right now as you can imagine. They’re my obsession and if you ask people around here, they would say that my roses thrive on the wing of magic... really! I have no other answer.

You see, cane blight, a bacteria that affects roses have reached devastating levels this spring in our valley. Sadly, 500 rose bushes from our public rose garden were damaged and had to be taken out, one quarter of the total in that display garden. It had to do with a succession of two consecutive extra cool wet springs that has wreaked havoc in gardens throughout our valley. I can’t explain exactly what magic is going on here in my pesticide-free garden, but the truth is not one single rose bush in my garden has been affected, and they’re as healthy as they can be, and more beautiful than ever.

Is it just me? It’s crazy, but I don’t like to cut my roses. I feel I’m committing a crime whenever I cut them. I like to look at my roses on the shrub were they belong. So that’s where I usually keep my bouquets. I love the opulence they bestow on the garden. Sometimes, I will bring in something that I had to cut anyway or if I find one perfect bloom then I will sometimes bring one rose inside or share it with co-workers at the office.

I don't like to cut roses and other flowers, for that matter. Every June I promise myself I will start a cutting garden specifically for cutting, but I guarantee I would still not cut them. Very peculiar! Plus I already have a cutting garden spread all over my garden and still won’t cut flowers. I find it quite nutty about myself. Are you like that too?

Earlier this year I make some bouquets from the weigelas and ninebark flowers when prunning, and forced myself to some simple rose bouquets for pictures and posts...

Here is the same bouquet (no more cutting roses) in the kitchen, with delphinium petals on plate