Roses Roses Everywhere

This weekend was my 28th birthday.  To celebrate, my husband took me and our friends Dustin and Shannon to dinner, and on the way we made a stop at my new favorite garden center, Wallitsch Nursery.  Nick got me more rose bushes to add to my growing rose garden.  Nick and I tilled the bed up some more and added my new bushes.  I got 2 that I liked, and he got one that he liked too.  I also got a climber like the one my Mom has that I love love love.  Our next project will be to build a trellis to hold the bush here in a year or two when it gets huge (I hope). 

This is the rose bed after Nick tilled it up more.  It's gone from 3 bushes to 7.  I might have a problem...

Abby watched our progress from the yard.  She does not like the tiller and isn't able to control herself when it comes to "helping" so she has to stay on her tie-out chain.

And finally we got the new roses planted.  I forgot to take a picture of the climber, but I'll post our progress on the trellis.

The is the only rose that's blooming right now.  In a couple of weeks, the whole bed will be blooming.  I can't wait.

After we finished, we had to haul the tiller back and Abby got to spend some more quality time with Mamaw and Papaw.  They very kindly dogsit when Nick and I will be gone for long periods of time, and she LOVES running in their back yard since it's about 4 times the size of ours.

Flower Pots

This weekend, Mom and I ventured to Louisville to a garden center we'd never been to before.  I highly recommend it.  Wallitsch Nursery is on Hikes Lane off of Bardstown Road.  Mom and I hit the one hour mark as I was on the Watterson East headed to Bardstown.  I was getting a little nervous because I had made a big deal out of going to this place and if it sucked I was really going to feel stupid.  Luckily, it was amazing.  The back of the Jeep filled up quickly (and we still had grocery shopping to do). 

Since beginning our landscaping overhaul, I've been trying to figure out how to bring more color to the front yard.  The most obvious solution to that problem seemed to be flower pots.  Always before Mom had helped me choose the plants and plant them.  And while she did offer her input on plant selection, I was on my own with the planting.  I was nervous that my solo efforts wouldn't measure up to what Mom could do.  I'm pretty pleased with the end result.  I also put together an herb pot since my new thing is cooking with herbs and spices.

As you can see, I turned Nick's work bench in the garage into my potting bench.  I'm sure he'll be thrilled when he recovers from his stomach flu and goes to the garage and sees my mess.

And this is the herb pot....

And as promised in my last post...the rose garden.  Although the blooms were in need of pruning.  I also have a Gardenia and another rose bush that is in the garage waiting for a break in the weather to be planted.

Now all I have to do is not kill the plants....

My Love Affair with Roses

My favorite flower has always been roses (and hyacinths).  I still remember the first time I got roses.  I was around 8 and my cousins were visiting from Lexington, which was always a huge deal since we never got to see each other as much as we'd like.  On this particular visit, I developed strep throat and didn't get to see them at all.  So my cousin Sarah drew me a picture of a mouse saying 'Get Well' and my Uncle Tom brought me yellow roses.  I always thought it was horribly romantic when Dad brought Mom roses, especially for no reason  at all.  And the most amazing thing about Green Lake Conference Center in Wisconsin, where we used to spend a week in the summer for youth group at church was their massive rose garden.

Needless to say my favorite part of my Mom's flower garden is her rose bed.  There are several different colors and you can smell them when you're within 6 feet of it.  But my absolute favorite thing about the flowers in my Mom's yard is the pale pink climbing rose.  I think you have to see it to understand the sheer size of this rose.  Mom bought it a few years ago half price at the end of the summer because she thought the color was pretty.  Thje past couple of years it has gone insane.  There are branches that have climbed up the greenhouse about 4 feet away, and more branches that have hit the greenhouse, bend back and hit the fence, and are now bending back to the greenhouse, and finally branches that trail at least 8 feet down the fence.

It was only a matter of time before Nick and I started our own rose bed...which we did this weekend.  We have 3 bushes (photos to follow) and plan on adding more asap.  I have a few flowers cut now so that they won't get ruined in the storms tonight and smelling them immediately reminds me of home and my Mama. 


And on a completely unrelated note, in the week or so since my last blog, our little dog Abby has FINALLY learned that she goes to the bathroom outside.  She's also figured out that she can whine at the door and we'll take her out and she can squeeze out a little pee to keep it honest and then it's time to play in the yard.  Even though she has a tie out chain she can go out on anytime she wants.  But we already wonder what we even did without her.  =)