Showing posts with label rose. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rose. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 5, 2025

Take a deep breath

"You're only here for a short visit. Don't hurry. Don't worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way."   Walter Hagen
Winter and early spring are dominated by rain, snow and cloudy days.  In Southern California we get our share of sunny warm days too but I'm posting  today because this is not one of them 
When I walk around my garden these days there is not much to look at.  I't a dormant time of year for garden plants but every once in a while I am surprised by my garden's gift.  I take a quick breath of surprise and then meet the surprise with my nose and take a deep breath.  Won't you join me?  

Pink hyacinth - deep and heady - smells a little like a lilac.



French lavender - clean and relaxing - we all love this one...especially at night before bed

pink jasmine - growing right outside my bedroom window - ahhhhhh

citrus blossoms - a California miracle !  The all begin this month.  If you don't live in a citrus area  go to your local garden nursery and see if they have greenhouse section.  This is my Meyer Lemon tree just 6 feet away from the jasmine.  It is lovely to walk down the pathway that divides them in the evening

Julie Andrews rose.  Who wouldn't put her nose into this beauty?  

Sweet peas .  Can you smell them from where you are?  My grandmother carried these as her wedding bouquet.  I make it a point to lay some on her gravesite around her anniversary(which also happens to be her birthday) each year.


So take a walk outside.  Search for natures perfume and take a deep breath



 

Saturday, August 17, 2024

Meet the Farm animals

 As of today: 16 farm animals at High Tide Farm.  Each morning starts with letting the animals out of their overnight shelter and starting breakfast,  The day is theirs to enjoy life and then in the evening comes dinner, a little time spent with each one and then all get tucked in to bed with a good night story.  Not all are good listeners.  LuLu has been known to eat the pages of the book I read to her.  Ha Ha!  

Here they are:

Poppy and her mama LuLu - yes  Poppy is a goat not a cow

Poppy with a chicken on her back



Watching over everyone is Charlotte, a Great Pyrenees and guardian livestock dog

Baby Rose is interested in my earrings.  Rose is 2 weeks old in this picture but is now 3

Rodney is a feral turned friendly cat.  He gets along with everyone and is a funny little guy

LuLu (Eloise when she is bad - but she never is.  LuLu came with me from Denver and is now 8 years old.  She likes to hang out on tree stumps and in wagons.  Oh she likes her bedtime stories

Firecracker.  She's just lost her tail feathers and is beginning to molt but when she is laying she lays a beautiful blue egg.  Thank you Firecracker

Pippin.  I don't know where he came from - across the street i think- but figured out where the free meal was served and now is a part of the farm.  I've yet to touch him.   See the heart on his side?

Eclair - one of my newest flock.  Eclair is an "Easter Egger" chicken and is now at 5 months just starting to lay hr eggs.....a pretty blue one

This is Lily.  Lily is also a youngster.  She is a lavender Orpington and her egg is brown.


This is Croissant.  She is Eclair's twin but does have a look of her own.   She is quite a talker and when you hold her she will gently tell you a story....she waits for your verbal response and then she adds a bit more,  Her egg will be either green or blue like Eclair's


Bullet is my only male goat.  He has been castrated and is called a wether - no longer a buck.  He is very funny,  Don't you love his blue eyes?  He also has wattles (little pendulous skin under his throat) which add to his adorableness  Bullet weighs about 60 pounds.  The does weigh about 45


This is Lacy.  She is a golden laced Wyandotte chicken and lays a brown egg.  Lacy is getting old - about 5


Butterscotch.  Also one of my old girls.  She sometimes needs a little help getting out of bed in the morning but don't we all sometimes?  Scotchy  lays a blue egg.  She is an Aracauna.


Jolene.  She is a silver laced Wyandotte and lays a brown egg.  Jolene is the head hen in my flock


LuLu in the chicken yard


Rose today.  She is 3. Rose is a tiny goat even for a Nigerian Dwarf.  She gets pushed around a lot but has developed skills that keep her strong and happy.  She gets a little mixed up when she wants attention.  While the other goats in the herd nestle up to me when they want attention Rose gives me a head butt.  Just a little one but that's really not the way to ask for attention Rose

Meet Spiderman.  She had a different name at first but she started to look just like the first chicken I had in Denver.  Kate had named the chicken Spiderman and she was terrific.  This Spiderman is an excellent Japanese beetle catcher.  She will chase them around the barnyard and when they dare get low enough she grabs them.  Way to go Spiderman!  This chicken is an Aracauna and lays and beautiful green blue egg.  It's actually too bg to fit into an egg carton


Last but not least is Violette.  She is a lavender Orpington and has not yet started laying but soon.  Her egg will be brown.


Today's eggs: Spiderman's, Jolene's, Eclair's & Lily's


This makes a total of 1 dog, 4 goats, 9 chickens and 2 farm cats.


Life is good on the farm.  I'm a lucky girl to have these fabulous animals around me each day!




Friday, December 24, 2021

Merry Christmas!!!! Cookies and Crackers

 This year's theme is based on a pastry chef nutcracker made in the region of Erzgebirge, Germany- the Christmas region  by Christian Ulbricht.  Nutcrackers are hand made from the local forest.  They have the tradition of bringing good luck to the home and are perfect housewarming or hostess gifts.  Judge Drosselmeier, godfather to Clara and Fritz, brought one to their Christmas Eve party which became the setting for The Nutcracker Suite. These carving also are rumored to ward off malevolent spirits or in 2021 viruses


pastry chef nutcracker


This was my muse and then it just became fun:




And of course the cookie part

Peppermint bark turned into some really scary nutcracker soldiers

I had to watercolor some nutcrackers




I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a joyous grateful and healthy 2022
Love Denise
 Rose
Bullet
Poppy 
LuLu
& Charlotte











Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Brand new rose: Huntington's Hundredth First Bloom

The Huntington library and gardens celebrates its centennial year in 2019 and a brand new rose was hybridized for this occasion.  In January I went to the gardens and after listening to the lecture purchased this new rose in bare root form.  It's name is Huntington's Hundredth. Well it's blooming:
Huntington's Hundredth
In full bloom on the bush:

Huntington's Hundredth
It starts out as a red tipped bud:

Huntington's Hundredth
It's first day bloom is yellow:!

Huntington's Hundredth
and the second day it this fun yellow and pink ruffled bloom:
Huntington's Hundredth
Yes it is fragrant.....a must in my garden.  What a nice way to turn 100!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

One rose, 2 homes


Abraham Darby rose, Denver, originally uploaded by cabanagirl.

I thought hard about digging up my pet roses in California and transporting them in a trailer across 100+ degree deserts and making them get used to a new home. But.........here we are. This lovely Abraham Darby rose is a beauty in any yard but what a difference the amount of sunshine and heat make. All of my roses have adapted so far. Of course I know winter is a different story. I have transplanted a few of them in the ground here but this one is still confined to a 2 gallon plastic pot. Even with all the neglect and abuse this rose is a beauty. I wish you could smell her frangrance.