Notes from the garden - pretty in pink

David Austin - Mary Rose

More garden photos!  My house has been turned upside down from the garage sale last weekend.  We were really happy with the results and sold the big pieces that we were hoping to.  I sold my wicker set (yay!) - not for as much as I'd hoped, but I got a decent price.  Some of the smaller stuff didn't sell so we packed it up and dropped it off at the Salvation Army.  I broke my rule that whatever didn't sell wasn't coming back into the house.  A set of blue and white transfer ware that I put out didn't sell and I decided to keep it.  Oh well ... everything else went!

New Dawn

The day of the garage sale was hot and humid.  We started setting up at 6:30 in the morning and people started to arrive before 7:00 even though we advertised the start time as 8:00.  I'm glad we started setting up early otherwise we might have missed a sale or two.  It was definitely worth advertising in our local paper.  I think we got a lot more traffic especially since our street is a little off the beaten path.

I decided to have a Canada Day BBQ on Tuesday so it's been a busy week!  I'm still recovering and my energy level is a little lower than usual.  I think the heat and humidity drained me more than I realized.  It's much cooler today and I'm actually enjoying it! 

Back to the garden ... while the rabbits completely destroyed my Heavenly Blue morning glories, these red ones have managed to survive.  My brother-in-law brought me the seeds last year from their garden in Germany and they've thrived in spite of the rabbits.  I'm not normally partial to red morning glories but these are really pretty and at this stage, any morning glory is better than none.

I had wanted to share a couple more photos of my roses but when I went to photograph them, there were spiders on them!  Big ones.  {shudder}  I know spiders are supposed to be good for the garden but I don't like them.  At all.  So just two roses got photographed this time. 

Now that it's July (what happened to June?) I'm planning to cut back and just enjoy the Summer.  It flies by so quickly.  A stack of books and the porch is calling!  Have a lovely weekend and Happy 4th to my American friends!  

See you soon ...

 

Red, white and blue

Nothing says Summer like peonies and fresh strawberries!  I've been indulging in our locally grown strawberries for the past week and just can't get enough.  We're fortunate to not only have a large Farmer's Market every Saturday but also several farms nearby where I can buy fresh berries during the week.  Right now, I'm enjoying them on my cereal for breakfast, with yoghurt at lunch and a dish with cream at dinner - and the occasional indulgence of strawberry shortcake!

My white peonies are just about finished.  There's just a few more flowers left but they've been oh so beautiful this year!   I placed them in a vintage blue and white Mason pitcher and paired them with some of my blue and white transfer ware.  Red, white and blue is such a fresh combination for Summer!

The pitcher has a small chip on the bottom which I think only adds to it's charm!

Were having a garage sale this Saturday.  This falls into the "what was I thinking?" category but at the time, it seemed like a good idea.  Hopefully, the weather will cooperate and we'll be able to re-home some of the "stuff" that we no longer want or need.  In the meantime, there's a lot of work to be done!

Enjoy this lovely first week of Summer!

Notes from the garden

I've been taking a lot of photos of the garden this year.  It's something I haven't done much of for awhile.  I thought I'd share some of these photos on my blog from time to time as a record of my garden's progress.

I have two Jacob's Ladders - one purple, one white.  They have such pretty, delicate flowers and are prolific bloomers.  Once they've finished flowering, I'll cut the stocks off and usually get rewarded with a second blooming later in the summer.

Golden mock orange has beautiful light green foliage and small white flowers that smell absolutely wonderful! 

 

Chive blossoms ... a garden staple!  The bees like them too.

My white peonies ... they bloom almost a week later than the pink ones which extends the peony season in the garden for me.  The bottom peony is another that I transplanted from my Mom's garden - a gift to her from my brother.  I have a few more peony photos to share next week. 

Happy Summer!

Pink Peonies

I was blessed with an abundance of peonies this year.  It's not often that I can cut enough flowers to enjoy several bouquets so I've really been enjoying them.  And they're still blooming!

Peonies are delicate and just one heavy rain away from total destruction so I don't feel the least bit guilty cutting them to bring inside.

This peony was divided from one in my Mom's garden that she had for years.  The original plant is gone now but mine is thriving and I'm so grateful to have it.

This is my favourite ironstone pitcher and I use it for almost all my flowers.  It's the perfect height and shape.  Vintage white ironstone isn't something I find too often although it has been awhile since I've hit the flea/antique markets!  (I think I need to get out there again!)

I'm hoping to cut the last few this morning before the rain comes later today.  It's devastating to see all the petals on the ground afterwards!

Last of the lilacs

My neighbour's mother surprised me with these lovely white lilacs a week ago!   She lives further north and east of us so her lilacs were still blooming beautifully.  My white lilacs had just a few blooms this year so I didn't cut any.  Which made these all the more special!

I'm so grateful that she extended the lilac season for me for another week! 

I saw my oncologist a couple of days ago to get the results of my last CT scan.   Unfortunately, the tumours are still growing.  He said because of the location of the tumours, it could take awhile before I start to feel any symptoms.  If I start chemo now, I'm going to feel sick but to just sit back and let the tumours grow is hard to do.  So we decided to try tamoxifen.  It has few side effects and has a 10-15% success rate in treating ovarian tumours.  If it works, I can stay on it for a long time (years).  Our goal is to stabilize the tumours and ultimately, start shrinking them.  I'll see my oncologist again in a month's time to see how I'm tolerating the tamoxifen then will probably have another scan a month or two later to determine if it's working.

One last thing ... the peonies are blooming!!  :)

Have a lovely weekend!