Rise and Fall of the roses

Every gardening season I look forward to the return of my roses.  One day they are simply all green with little buds then after a heavy rain, the whole garden just explode in colors with roses.

 

 

I have different varieties of hybrid roses.  I wish I was brave enough to grow tea roses and antique roses but I am a bit intimidated by them.  One of my favorite roses is New Dawn climbing rose.  I wish they bloom as profusely as drift roses but I will take what I can get.

This was a new rose I added to my rose garden this year.  I find its coral color to be so charming.

I like to think I am done adding garden beds for the season but I find myself flipping through gardening books and finding more and more inspirations to create more gardens.  It truly never end and I love every second of it.

Here is one of the new gardens I planted a few weeks ago.  It will be mostly roses as you walk down the path.  As you can see half of my yard is completely shaded with big trees.  Now that you have seen the rise of my roses, are you ready to see the fall of it?  For the last few days it has been raining non stop.  I woke up today to find my garden covered in rose petals and most of my plants flat on the ground....kinda sad and romantic at the same time. I spent this gloomy morning dead heading the roses.

My front garden just look like a sea of blue and purple.

I would love to hear about your favorite plants.  I am such a novice gardener and I am learning as I go.  I think I might just do one more garden bed...I swear I am done after that!! I have been dreaming of a peony and rose garden.  I want to plant a row of peonies in the back with roses in the front.  That way when peonies are done blooming then roses can take over.  Can you recommend any roses that do well in zone 6?  I love medium size roses that look and smell like roses but not as high maintenance.  My little gardeners are ready for their summer vacation.  I imagine a lot of the summer will be spent traveling or simply enjoying nature.  I am quiet looking forward to both.

Happy Gardening,  my friends.

Love,
Victoria

Easy Turban Headband

I love turbans.  Turban of all kinds.  I love full blown turbans.  I love scarf turbans.  I love turban headbands.  I have to admit I wear turban headbands almost everyday.  They are just so easy yet oh so chic.  The girls, especially Aurora, has been known to spot a turban on several occasions.  Turban headbands are also very easy to make.  You all know how awful I am at writing up tutorials.  So instead of writing one for you and confusing you even more, I found a really good tutorial with lots of clear pictures.  Check out this tutorial  from  Life Is Beautiful blog. Yesterday was such a gloomy and rainy day and I thought it would be the perfect day to sew some turban headbands for us...matching ones, of course.

 I tried to get all three of us to be in the picture but it was near impossible.  This was the closet one I got.

Now go get your turban on.


Love,
Victoria

Gardening Obsessions

Won't you walk with me through the garden?  Dwarf mock orange trying to brighten a gloomy early morning.

Salvias are trying to soak up the late evening sun.

Little gardeners enjoying their late evening ritual of tending the garden.

It isn't any secret that I love to garden but this last week, I realized that it might be a bit of an unhealthy obsession.  I know what you are thinking.  There is nothing unhealthy about plants and flowers and gardening.  I have an obsessive personality when it comes to projects.  I have a vision and I will stop at nothing to make it happen as quickly and as soon as possible.  As much as I am in love with my front gardens, I have always been a bit embarrassed by my backyard.  I have a huge yard and I did nothing to it.  Weeds took over the grass.  Then I had a vision.  I wanted to make five garden beds and turn my backyard into garden rooms.  I did that in three days.  I didn't stop.  I removed the grass and tilled my side yard by hand.  It was ridiculous.   I went to bed in tears from pain but then I would wake up in the morning and couldn't stop myself from doing the same thing all over again.  It was truly an addiction.  Here are a few sneak peak of what I have been doing in my backyard.

The last of my peonies in the late evening light.

I planted a fairy rose and candy land climbing rose for a little arbor.

Here is the side yard that almost broke me.  A little path takes you into the yard.

The girls and I are making it into a fairy garden.  A little fairy house hides behind spring flowers.

I can't wait to add more delphiniums here.

Drift roses are starting to bloom.  They may not be as showy as knock out roses but they are so graceful in their beauty.

As exhausted as I feel, there is nothing more rewarding than being able to walk into my garden to cut bucket full of fresh flowers for my friends.....just because.

I am sorry my Instagram friends for me putting some of these pictures again.  I hope you guys can follow me on Instagram.  I post pictures there daily.  Happy Gardening, my friends.


Love,
Victoria

Antique Swan Head Day Bed

I have to tell you.  Lately furniture gods have been really really good to me.  A few weeks ago, I was thinking to myself how the girls are ready to have their own rooms again and how I was going to redo the rooms.  As I was pulling into my driveway, I thought, man, I really wish I could find another gorgeous antique bed frame and as that thought enter my mind, I saw this beautiful bed frame just sitting there in my neighbor drive way.  No way.  I kept saying there was no way.  I walked over to my neighbor's house and knocked on the door to make sure she was really giving it away.  She said it was her husband's grandfather bed and they just didn't need it anymore.  Of course it came home with me.  My father gave me an evil eye as I added yet another piece of furniture into my hoarding room.  So this post isn't even about that bed.  This post is about the most beautiful French daybed I have ever seen and it is MINE and ALL MINE!!!

If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you will know about my love for French daybeds.  I even made myself one since the real things are way out of my budget.  You can read about how I turned a foot board into a daybed here.  Of course I never stop dreaming about owning a real French daybed one day.  That day came in the most amazing way.  My friend Danielle who blogs at findingsilverpennies sent me a message last week saying she has a daybed that she thought I might like.

I almost fell off the chair when I saw the picture.  My exact response was Is this Christmas??? YES!!! So that weekend I drove to  Scituate where Danielle and her family live.  First of all, Danielle truly is one of the nicest people I have ever met.  We met through blogging and met outside a few times.  She even came to my house last year.  Just being back at Scituate again made my heart very happy.  This little beach town has a very special place in my heart and it is a story for another day.  After spending the most lovely day with Danielle and her family, I came home beaming ear to ear with this gorgeous beast.

It is huge.  The whole thing is 92 inches long.  I think it fits perfectly with my equally huge oil painting.  The hand carved swan heads and all the details make this piece extra special.  It has been reupholstered in the last decade with this very neutral velvet.  I am going to enjoy this beautiful daybed for awhile before I tackle the upholster.

I don't have a big house but somehow it feels like this lovely daybed was always meant to be here.

The daybed I made used to be in front of the painting.  Now it resides in front of the fireplace.

A little shabby corner with equally shabby faded pink chair.  The garden is in full bloom right now and I love mixing in my catmints from the garden with roses.

Speaking of roses, these beauties are new to the garden this year.  They are called Sexy Rexy.

There is nothing quiet like being able to walk out the door and cut your own flowers.

My front entry table has a single purpose of holding gardening tools and cuttings from the garden.

Living in New England, we only get a few months of gardening season and we like to take full advantage of it.  Oh how I wish you could smell the flowers and lounge on this beautiful daybed and we could talk about furniture hoarding and flower addictions.

Thank you, my dear friend, Danielle, for this beautiful gift and a little piece of history.  Being able to meet amazingly talented and kind people like you is why I blog.

Love,
Victoria


Linking up with:
http://www.frenchcountrycottage.net/
http://shabbyartboutique.com/
http://www.findingsilverpennies.com/
http://www.savvysouthernstyle.net/
http://cedarhillfarmhouse.com/
http://www.astrollthrulife.net/
http://missmustardseed.com/

Rainy day blues

I have been bit by the gardening bug again.  Last week I spent everyday digging holes and making flower beds in the backyard.  When I did my front yard garden two years ago, I was scared and didn't know what I was doing.  Two years later, I still don't know what I am doing but I am a little braver now.  I am planning to put four more flower beds in the back.  I am nothing if not overly ambitious.  The last two days have been dark and rainy.  I keep looking out my windows and itching to tend the garden.  My peonies have finally bloomed but all this heavy rain is washing away the petals.  Today, the girls and I braved the rain to cut some peonies for the house.

Oh Peonies.  I wish they last forever and bloom continuously through out the season.

Of course I couldn't help myself but take pictures of them.

I have two different varieties of peony.  The pale pink one only gets a single bud on each stem but this darker pink one gets multiple buds.  That pretty much sums up my knowledge on peony.

I can't wait to share this amazing antique French swan head daybed with you soon.  

It doesn't look like the rain will be stopping anytime soon.  What a girl to do but read about gardening on days like these?

Wishing you sunshine and warm breeze where you are.

Love,

Victoria