The Beauty of Flowers

This rose is Alchemist.  I bought it from Antique Rose Emporium in Texas.  It has truly been spectacular...and has bloomed for about 6 weeks....very fragrant and absolutely one of my all time favorites....

There is nothing on earth that is prettier to me than flowers...Just imagine that our Creator made them just for us to enjoy the beauty...such extravagance...such love....such creativity...Have you ever thought about how many different flowers there are?  unfathomable...so why do we try to copy someone else with our lives?  that also is unfathomable.....Be who you are meant to be.  Be Yourself!

Come on in and I will show you a few more roses....

This is Graham Thomas.....

and Julia Child

they are both similar but oh so different....both of them yellow but different fragrances and different plant styles..

 now the daylilies.I just cannot get enough of them...and yellow seems to be the color of my garden right now...

The blue of batchelor buttons is a nice complimentary color in the garden........and so is my companion Bo...

I am joining in the fun at   Clever Chicks Blog Hop
Come and see what is happening there...lots of fun...

Good Things Are Worth Waiting For

 My roses are starting to bloom all over the yard.  I have many roses that have come from the Antique Rose Emporium and they are beautiful every year.....this rose is the Alchemist rose.  I bought it last year and it didn't bloom so I have waited a long year to see the first blooms.  it should be spectacular soon...you will be seeing more of this beautiful rose.  and the fragrance is what you would expect from a beautiful rose...

The chive blooms make me happy every year..one of my favorite herbs in the garden...

Oh and the daylilies..yes, they are starting to put up scapes.  it won't be long now...can't wait..

Bachelor buttons....they are eye level to a child...wonder how I know??   because I remember them from my childhood.  Mama had a big bed of them and I can still remember being eye to eye with them.  I have been growing these in my garden forever...

This bloodgood maple is so red in the spring.....

Just a few short years ago this plot of earth was just red clay, weeds, and a little bit of grass.. Bryan and I started working on it and today it is a huge perennial bed...I add a little bit to it each year...expanding it slowly..grin..

That's about all I have today.  it has been raining and I have been cleaning.. and of course, setting a table.....

APRIL in bloom

I have so many ideas lately that I could write several blogs each day...spring seems to be so busy around here...

My gardens are beautiful with something new coming up or blooming every day...I thought I would show you a few of my roses from Antique rose Emporium and a few other pretties too...I hope you enjoy..

Graham Thomas

Heritage

Variegata di Bologna

Madame Isaac Pereire

found rose from Bryan's Granny  we call this 'Granny"

Penelope

Bloodgood  Japanese Maple

Japanese Maple seedling

Smoke Tree

Beautiful Bo

Bo is just a little baffled at all of the picture taking....He had rather me be scratching behind his ears or paying attention to him..he is such a sweetheart... well, unless he doesn't know you....grin...

Thank you for stopping by today...I hope to see you again soon..

Mona

Being a Romantic

I enjoy romance........I think most girls do.....but mine is real and not a mask or an act......knowing who I am as a woman has helped me to define this.....my mama used to accuse me of being in love with 'being in love' and I felt like I was 'less than what I should be' when she said it...Over the last few years, I stopped running from that accusation and started to look at my life and my desires....and YES, I am in love with being 'in love'...We have a love story that God orchestrated....we let Him write our love story instead of our fabricating one.....and I think a lot of my life is the fruit of that love story written by the ONE who is LOVE..
so for the sake of romance everywhere, I am sharing some of the things that make up the romantic side of our home....and NO this is not X rated...  grin..

Lighting.....so important to romance.....

captured during the blue hour right before sundown

When we put up these lights in the backyard, it automatically felt romantic to me....easy and very inexpensive...


and cut glass goblets.....another element of romance.....even if just for the way they reflect light...

 I found these at Dollar Tree while shopping for Easter baskets..another beautiful addition to romancing the home.

and last but definitely not least......FLOWERS...roses to be exact..what can say romance more than roses?  and these came from Antique Rose Emporium...easy and long lasting.......

So there you have it.....lighting, cut glass, and ROSES!  just a few of the things that speak ROMANCE....that reflect the feelings of 'being in love'.......

Yes, I am a romantic at heart....and a lot more than I ever realized before releases that in my home...a romantic home...I like the sound of that......

Add some romance to your home..it is not difficult..the main thing is to begin with LOVE in your heart..and the rest just follows.....

Thank you for stopping by today...and I hope to see you again soon...

                                                                               Mona

Antique Rose Emporium

When I get this email confirmation in my inbox, it makes me smile...

Item                                         Qty      Qty      Qty  Expected
 Number    Description                        Ord.     Shp.     Bck.    By 
---------- ------------------------------ -------- -------- -------- --------
2013       Alchymist                          1.00     0.00     0.00
105        Chestnut Rose                      1.00     0.00     0.00
2104       Maggie                             1.00     0.00     0.00
1106       Penelope                           1.00     0.00     0.00

This is an order for roses from  The Antique Rose Emporium      ....

Almost by accident this tradition started on our honeymoon in 1997...April is just a beautiful time of year to get married and also a time to celebrate spring and all things green.....and blooming....and just anything that goes into the ground and grows.....

On our way home form our weeklong stay in the Smoky Mountains, we stopped at a little herb garden..Penny's..located in Mountain City..it is long gone..loved it...and great people owned it too..anyway, I was looking for the sweetheart rose named Cecile Brunner..they gave us directions to the Antique Rose Emporium that was in Dahlonega at the time...so off we went....and after driving for a while we got there.....and bought this special rose...My Grandmother had grown it and I had memories of it from her house ..I thought it would be the perfect flower to remind me of our honeymoon ...cause I might forget it about it...wink, wink...
..I planted it along the fence in our backyard and it flourished...

But it didn't want to move when we bought this house so I had to buy another one.....one of my all time favorite roses.....

This is the rose that started it all...my favorite...Cecile Brunner..the sweetheart rose....

Here are the roses that are growing all over my yard..the ones that I have collected from ARE over the years.....

Aren't they beautiful?  these pictures were taken last April in my garden...

I just needed to share something beautiful and hopeful this morning..while the weather is gray and cold and yukky..there is HOPE that spring will return.....

Dig deep...and find those roses in your life that gives you hope of a brighter future...that silver lining that says..YES.....the seasons change...they do not stay the same always...
I hope you have enjoyed my roses this morning...for an even more in depth look at beauty, go to ARE website and have a look around..  I have always had good success with their roses.....

Thank you for stopping by this morning...until next time.....
                                                                  
                                                              Mona