You Grow Girl!

April 26, 2024April 26, 2024Leave a comment

The hostas are unfurling and the shrubs are stretching their limbs as everything is awakening from the sleepy winter here in Maryland’s gardening zone 8a. I’ve also been amazed at how rapidly my peonies are growing. I added plant supports that I purchased from Amazon to help support the billowing pink blooms soon enough. Once the peonies are past their peak, I plan on moving the plant support stakes over to my Shasta daisies later in the summer. At the moment, the daisies are only about six inches in height but I know in time they will grow to be nearly two feet tall. I intentionally avoided the grid-style plant support stakes so I could use these rounded ones in different areas of the garden if needed. I have immensely enjoyed seeing the growth of the peonies and hostas in recent days. The peonies have grown so much you can’t even see the support stakes!

The plant support stakes are camouflaged among the peony stalks.

I also recently added affordable, custom eight-inch metal garden tags purchased from Specialty Garden Markers to identify my roses by name and variety at just $1.50 each. They arrived in a week and were easy to place in front of each rose. Meanwhile, my fragrant, yellow hybrid tea rose known as ‘Eternal Flame’ was the first rose to bloom in my garden, reminding me first and foremost, to keep my mind focused on the Eternal and less on the insanity of this world. This rose bush is nearly as tall as me already! I look forward to propagating it and a few others from my garden after their first flush of blooms – I’m going to try anyway!

The pink dianthus and lavender I recently planted have taken root and are blooming beautifully. I look forward to seeing them bloom in full force as the weeks go on. I’ve staggered the pink dianthus in between the lavender to create a romantic border. In a different, distant bed, one yellow lily has exploded in color but for the most part, my various plants are growing and loaded with buds. I look forward to seeing my garden burst forth soon in hues of yellow, pink, purple, and white.

While my garden is exploding in growth, I, too, am growing spiritually as I continue to study Torah/Tanakh, and I’m also expanding my education as I am about to embark on my next college course while working full-time.

Everything is growing good in my life. I guess you could say, “You grow, girl!”

Four-Legged Foes: Cats and Rats!

March 17, 2024Leave a comment

Living in a classic Baltimore County, Maryland rowhome built in the early 1950s, it’s not unusual to coexist with cats and rats. As discussed in an earlier post, a neighborhood cat thinks my flower bed which hosts pink roses, is her personal litter box. Using her hind legs, she creates mounds of mulch to cover up her unclean presents, and thereby, exposes soil to germinate weeds. The cat is unintentionally creating more work for me by moving around the mulch. On the plus side, the neighborhood cats help keep away rats and mice from creating a nest or munching on my mulch and other plants. It could be worse. Some gardeners in more suburban or rural areas battle deer, groundhogs, moles, and voles. I hear those four-legged foes think roses are a tasty buffet!

With my four-legged foes in mind, on Friday, March 15, 2024, I took the day off from my office job in advance to weed and mulch ‘the pink patch’. I experimented by placing bamboo skewers throughout the bed to deter pests and pets from tromping through my flower bed. Should the visiting cat need to use the restroom, she may feel a little jab, and choose to defecate elsewhere. Likewise, a hungry rodent might decide to go grocery shopping anywhere but on my property! Overall, I think the project was a success as I don’t see redistributed mulch (no fresh mounds) thus far. I just have to remember they are there later in the season when I need to tidy up the bed. They are disguised so well within the mulch. Can you see the skewers in these photos? It’s like a game of Where’s Waldo.

While weeding, mulching, and realizing I’m another year older, I transplanted a small lavender plant, as well as a mound of Lamb’s Ear into their new homes in a different bed. Earlier this month, I ordered ‘Magic Show Pink Potion’ Veronica Speedwells, ‘Fruit Punch Sweetie Pie’ pink dianthus, and more ‘Sweet Romance’ lavender from Proven Winners to add to other beds. I look forward to their arrival and seeing mounds of purple and pink in full bloom! I have a color theme of pink, purple, white, and yellow in my various beds.

My gardening goals this year are to experiment with more perennials to compliment my roses and to invite two-legged guests to tour my ever-blooming garden. Cats and rats are not allowed! Okay, so a cat can visit, just not redistribute mulch!

Happy growing, rose buds!

Special Delivery ~ Sachets for Israel

December 14, 2023April 4, 2024Leave a comment

After the terrorist attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, I made sachets filled with my homegrown fragrant roses, lavender, and love. I had hoped and prayed that somehow these sachets could reach the hands of those suffering in Israel. There was just one problem: I didn’t know a soul in Israel, nor specific organizations serving those directly impacted. I’ve never even been to Israel. Nevertheless, while pondering sentiments found in Isaiah 35 and listening to the daily news of Israel, I continued to fill the sachets with every last dried petal and lavender bud I harvested in my Maryland rose garden, thinking and praying somehow they could be used for something and someone special.

Many days, many tears, and many prayers pooled while my fragrant sachets awaited purpose in a pink, floral box. Long story short, I learned that a local rabbi would be visiting Israel on a solidarity mission and would be meeting with the families of the hostages. Various donations were welcomed. A smile formed across my face as I realized this could be an answer to my heart’s cry. The rabbi graciously took the remnants of my roses in delicate sachets to Israel. We thought it fitting to deliver my homegrown sachets into the hands of the hurting so that they may be reminded of the promises of God found in Isaiah 35. The promises for the anxious to be strong, to not fear, God is coming for Israel’s eventual requital, recompense, and victory! We talked about how smells and tangible items in our hands help alleviate anxiety and how many of the victims in Israel are from gardening communities (kibbutzim). How fitting to bring them fragrant rose and lavender sachets!

Blooming Bolero

August 11, 2023Leave a comment

I hope you have a beautiful, ever-blooming weekend!

(Bolero is a fragrant floribunda rose nestled besides lavender)

Happy ‘Memorial Day’

May 29, 2017Leave a comment

‘Memorial Day’ is an exceptionally fragrant hybrid tea that boasts lush blooms in shades of pink lavender.

Memorial Day & Paul’s Scarlett Climber

Memorial Day

Perennials Please!

March 1, 2016March 23, 20191 Comment

With much anticipation, I long to adopt a few eye-appealing perennials into my family of rose bushes. Nestled within this city, my small urban rose garden will once more delightfully flourish! Soon my hybrid teas, climbers, shrubs, and drifts will swell with new growth as we dance away winter’s frigid blasts of crisp blunt air. As I await such new birth, I find myself perusing a few perennials in shades of blues and purples to (hopefully!) compliment my roses arrayed in yellows, pinks, peaches, corals, creams, and red. Thus far, here is my selection: