The Run of the Roses With a Brass Band

The run of the roses has started in the gardens. About five years ago I saw a photo of the William Baffin rose in a magazine and was amazed at the number of blooms and hardiness of this rose. The William Baffin is a hardy shrub rose developed in Canada and is known to withstand disease and winter temperatures.Mine continues to be the workhorse of the garden. I am glad I put it in a place where it could just spread. I did read this morning that you can also train this rose to be a climber. My newly added Brass Band rose continues to be an eye pleasing plant in the morning garden. I love the ruffly petals as the bloom opens up.

Pelargonium cv. : aka Scented Geraniums

a photo by JEJ of our large scented geranium that we keep wintering over

I really like scented geraniums. I discovered them years ago while visiting a little nursery with my mom in Dayton, Washington. When you rub the leaves of a scented geranium, the scent of the plant is given off. Through the years I have propagated and repropagated my plants and now they all smell the same... nice, but the same. Recently I found a new catalog that carries a very large variety of scented geraniums. I ordered some online from Mountain Valley Growers and they arrived today.
I am now the proud owner of geraniums that smell like lemons, limes, roses, nutmeg, ginger, and peppermint. I am going to plant them in separate pots to keep the scents from intermingling. These plants are usually annuals, but can be kept inside during the winter. They have small blossoms which are usually pink. I did order one that will bloom in red. I am eager to introduce these wonderful scents to our garden. They are a perfect filler in a bouquet, especially one that doesn't have strong scents from the flowers.
I did glance through the catalog from this company today and am thinking I may do another order. These are plants that caught my eye that I had never heard of : light pink double columbine, chocolate scented daisy, rosemary that blooms with pink flowers, rose scented bee balm,and an herb called Society Garlic which has grass-like leaves and edible garlic flavored flowers!! I better count the change in my piggy bank!

The plants from Mountain Valley Growers came packed very well in 2 3/4 " pots. With the day as hot as it was, they were hardy travelers!

The First Rose Blooms and Other Wednesday Garden Delights

I purchased a new rose called Brass Band and it has already performed beautifully on the morning side of the house. Our William Baffin is covered with buds, but one here has just opened.The honeysuckle vine is filling in with color next to the lilacs that are done with their show.
I have gone through a love hate relationship with petunias. Some years I use them everywhere, other years I grow tired of them. I decided this year to try a combination of white and purple. In the evening the white blooms catch the eye.

Here is one of those heirloom iris plants we got from the neighbor. The deep color adds richness to the wedding garden.I think you can never have too many dame's rockets. Between their color and lovely scent they dress up the area in front of the shop.

The Poppy of Geogia O'Keeffe in My Garden

The Poppy of Georgia O'Keeffe

In the carmine extravagance
the skirts of a Spanish dancer swirl
flamenco rhythms, castanets
exuberant dancer
drumming her heels on a wooden floor
staccato barks, deep intricate guitars
the energy pulsing from the dark
surrounds and enters

The poppy is wide open
her petals curve
like the skirts of a mountain
filled with the morning sun
we climb
and reaching the pinnacle shout
like the flower
in strict discipline, in eloquent satori
in the wild grace of black and red.

by Janine Pommy Vega

Sibling Assignment #100: Dear Old Dad

Today marks the 100th Sibling Assignment I have written with Raymond Pert and Silver Valley Girl. Here is the assignment from SVG:
"Think back to your music education from the Kellogg School District,and talk about the influence one of your instructors had on your life and how they influenced you musically."

From the time I started kindergarten I had music instructors that influenced me musically. I'll save that for another post. Thirteen years ago today my father died . I decided to remember my dad today and share how he influenced me musically. What I remember vividly was when we were young the family did much singing in the car when we traveled. Now we only went to Spokane and Orofino to visit relatives, but I remember those road trip songs. Maybe Dad belted out those songs as we cruised down the highway along the Clearwater River to keep awake, but I want to think he wanted to entertain us. The song I can still sing from beginning to end is I've Been Working on the Railroad. Mom would join in and all of us would create quite a choir in our Chevrolet. He also loved to sing K-K-Katie, Beautiful Katie and Mairzy Doats. My dad had a good singing voice and I loved to hear him sing. On those trips he always seemed relaxed and happy as he said good-bye to the Zinc Plant for a couple of weeks in the summer and headed down to "Goofyville" , his favorite name for Orofino. He would laugh when he joined us in How Much Is That Doggy In the Window?

When we had gatherings with friends over the holidays or at the lake in the summer the evening often ended with singing. The Turnbow family had a quartet that usually started it off, but soon everyone joined in on many of the favorites. Songs like Cockles and Mussles, Tell Me Why, the Idaho Fight Song were old standards.Often somebody would sing Danny Boy, but then everyone else just listened. Many an evening was livened up with H - A - DOUBLE R - I - G - A - N SPELLS HARRIGAN.
The Fourth of July traditionally ended with God Bless America around the campfire with my dad linking arms with his friends that he had known most of his life. My musical life was very influenced by those years of singing with my dad.

Dear Old Dad.... I honor you today. There are many things I miss about you, but one thing is your singing voice that takes me back to cruising down the Clearwater, gathering at Christmas Eve with family, or around the campfire at the lake with friends.
You Tube hadn't arrived yet in 1996, but I can guarantee you my dear old dad would have loved this:

Images As Spring Moves to Summer

"In my garden there is a large place for sentiment. My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams. The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful. "~Abram L. Urban