Poppies and Roses

At this time of the year there is never a dull moment in my Texas hill country garden.  In my routine morning trek out to the vegetable patch, I made a wonderful discovery.  Right there in the middle of Mo's garden was this beautiful, tall, pink, perfect poppy blossom!  I couldn't believe it.  When I went to inspect it, I noticed that it was a big patch of poppies and that there were quite a few buds down in it.  Looks as if I'll have a show of poppies for a little while anyway.  Luckily it was a cloudy overcast morning, so with camera in hand, I began snapping away.  Look at this beauty.  Such a gift.

 

A few of you have asked me if those beautiful rose buds I posted a couple of weeks ago have popped yet.  Well, yes they have and here they are!

So much beautiful color in the garden during the early spring.  It is simply wonderful.

My Roses are Fixin' to Bloom!

...Eee gads...that is SO Texas!  But it's true :)  My roses *are* fixin to bloom!  Just look at the beautiful buds on these babies.  Now I know they aren't blooming yet, but to me there is something so beautiful about the buds...a tease for the show that is yet to come!

 

(See Greta standing guard, Shirley? :)

 

 

I've long since lost the tags on all these rose bushes so I can't tell you what they are.  But I've had them all for about three years and every year each one puts on a continuous show of beautiful, fragrant blossoms throughout the summer...some yellow (my favorite), some red, some pink and some a beautiful, vibrant, variegated orange (a close second choice).

They live in pots on my back patio and I feed them with a locally produced (Hamilton, Texas) organic rose food called Rose Glo that I get at my favorite nursery.  It's a natural fertilizer made from a blend of feather meal, alfalfa meal, soybean meal, ferrous sulfate, corn meal, phosphate, humates, kelp meal, molasses, sulfate potash and magnesia.

Although in the heat of the summer I do struggle with black spot, my rose bushes at this point in time are very happy and I can't wait to share their blossoms with you!  

Roses at Sunrise

I took this photo this morning just as the sun was coming up...

and this one a short time later after the sun had risen

My favorite rose is the yellow rose.  If I were ever to get a tattoo (which is not likely), but if, it would be the yellow rose of Texas (but honey, I really won't...honest ;-)

Roses

To me, cool, crisp fall mornings are one of life's greatest pleasures.  I stepped onto the patio early this morning and my roses made me smile.  Looks like they will put on one last glorious show before I prune them for the winter.