Patty's Flower Garden

 

One of the most frequent subjects I get asked to blog about is my garden... it's in full bloom right now and I thought I'd share a few photos I've taken this month!  I love my garden.. I inherited that from my mom I think.  It gives me peace and reminds me of all the beauty God has created in our world.  I love all the color and the beauty in the mix of all the flowers.  I grow roses, alstromeria, geraniums and hydrangea with some success.  This year my Bougainvillea finally bloomed, which was nice, and now I'm waiting for my trumpet vine to come into bloom!!

 

Above: my crazy Easter Lily finally bloomed in June :)

Above: beautiful blue hydrangea

For those who don't know, we live in the San Francisco Bay Area about 1 mile from the bay, so I do think that the perfect mix of fog, cool, rain, warm, sun and heat are really what help my flowers grow.  I feed them once a month, water them a few times a week, and talk to them often. :)

Above: Gemini rose in the sunset light

Above: purple and white alstromeria in wood planters

Above:  gorgeous yellow roses... before the heat this week fried them :(

Above: huge hydrangea in a pot... it's happy under the shade of 2 huge liquid amber trees

Above: a bouquet I cut for myself on Friday

I hope you enjoyed that!! 

We'll get back to stampin' stuff tomorrow. :)

 

 

 

 

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Easter Blessings to You!

 

Wishing you a lovely Easter today!

 

 

 

 

 

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Happy Spring - Backyard Flower Update

 

Thank you so much for your kind comments when I post my garden photos to Instagram and Facebook.  I am thrilled that you enjoy seeing updates as my garden blooms each year!  We had a ton of rain here in the San Francisco Bay Area this winter and then a mild spring so I think my plants are happy!  My roses are all set to burst out with blooms very soon (ONE rose has bloomed!) and my Alstromeria, Wisteria and other bulbs are blooming!

 

 

Above and Below.. our Wisteria always blooms in late March.. always for our son's birthday!

 

 

I also have Alstromeria (in the lily family) in several colors.. these are my favorite flower next to a rose.  They last 2 weeks easily in a vase and come in lots of pretty colors.   I won't mention the fact that I fell a couple weeks ago right into my biggest Alstromeria plant and might have damaged some of the stalks... :(  sadness.

 

 

Below: this is a huge 6' tall bush in full bloom .. I believe it's called Witches Broom  It's one of the only remaining plants that was here in the garden when we moved in almost 20 years ago.  I've replaced almost everything else.

 

 

Below: someone might want to confirm for me.. I planted these bulbs YEARS ago.. I think it's a crocus???

Thank you to Luzi who commented.. they are freesia :) 

 

Below.. my first official Rose of the 2017 season!

 

Thanks for joining me today! 

Hope you are enjoying some spring weather, too!

 

 

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Best Mother's Day Gift Ever!

 

This is probably not the view of my garden you are used to seeing, but I just wanted to share what is making my heart so happy this Mother's Day weekend!! 

If you've followed me for awhile, you know I lost my mom to cancer almost 10 years ago.  She was an avid gardener and loved her rose garden.  As a teenager, of course, I didn't really "appreciate" that, but over the years I grew to love her rose garden  and I knew that her Whiskey Mac rose bush was her favorite.  I tried twice to take a cutting from it, and it never grew.  I really wanted one in my garden, and looked and searched for nearly 10 years for one!

Fast Forward.. a couple months ago, my sweet hubby found a Whiskey Mac bush on ebay and urged me to buy it for Mother's Day!  I did.. it finally came a couple weeks ago.. we planted it... and I've been waiting.. and NOW, it finally has little growth spurts on it!! yay!

 

 

So yes, I know.. it's not very thrilling, but it thrills my heart to know that I will soon have a beautiful Whiskey Mac rose bush!! 

And as a Happy Mother's Day wish to all the moms out there this weekend, I will share 2 lovely bouquets I cut from my garden a couple weeks ago.. I love bringing fresh flowers into my home from my garden!

 

Blessings to you!  Have a wonderful Weekend!

 

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No Foolin' - My Garden is Bloomin'

 

No tricks this April Fools Day... just some pretty spring flowers from my garden to share with you!

One of the things you mention to me over and over is that you enjoy photos of my garden.  I'm so glad you enjoy them and thought I'd show you what's blooming so far this year!

 

In my garden, I grow mostly roses and alstromeria.  You can see the beautiful yellow alstromeria above.. it's one of my faves! I think I have 4 colors of alstromeria.  I love to cut it and add it to my bouquets because it lasts a LONG time in a vase!!

 

 

Above: This is a Peace rose.. it's very happy in the sunshine... there are dozens of buds ready to bloom on this bush!

 

 

Above: A bunch of sunflower seeds planted themselves under the bird feeders.. so this year I just let them grow.. they are already all in bloom!!  Why did I think that sunflowers bloomed in the fall?

 

 

Above: This is one of my pink alstromeria growing up in amongst one of the rose bushes!

 

 

Above: I think this is Star Jasmine.. it sure smells wonderful when it's blooming!  It climbs all along one of the back fences.

 

 

Above: Another Peace rose silhouetted against the shade...

 

And more happy alstromeria!

 

One of my backyard buddies was resting, watching me in the garden.. they are so funny...

Thank you for letting me share a little about me, and my garden.  I get asked all the time what my secrets are for gardening and success with roses .. truly I think it's the San Francisco Bay Area climate - perfect mix of warm, cool, rain and sun.. and yes, I do talk to them.. not sure if that helps.  I prune them sometime between Christmas and Super Bowl weekend (how's that for a funny schedule) and they are always still blooming so it kills me to cut them back, but boy does it make them come back with a roar of new growth!!

 

 

Have a great day my friends! 

 

 

 

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Easter Blessings

 

Wishing you a beautiful day as you celebrate Easter!

 

 

 

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Happy Spring! Oh, I mean Happy Halloween!

 

Yes, I know this is not your typical Halloween post.. but many of you have been asking for more flower photos from my garden, so I thought I'd share the last bouquet of the season with you ... there are actually more rose buds ready to bloom, but with the {{hope!}} of rain I thought I'd go ahead and cut 1 last bouquet. :)

(UPDATE: the rain never came.....  sigh.)

So... Happy Spring, Happy Flowers, Happy Halloween, Happy Weekend.... just have a happy day!

And just because they are too cute.. here is an update on my backyard buddies from yesterday...

Click to view previous silly squirrel pix :)

 

 

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Easter Blessings to You

 

Wishing you all a Blessed Easter.

This Easter Weekend, I am just sharing some photos from the beautiful trees in our neighborhood and some flowers from my garden... enjoy, rejoice, be thankful, smile, and spread some cheer this weekend...

I love to take photos of the Cherry Blossoms each March in our neighborhood.

Aren't they gorgeous!!??  I am thankful for God's beauty in nature!

And here is a quick collage of flowers blooming in my garden as of March 19th.

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Like Clockwork, the Wisteria bloomed for Jason's birthday!

 

Happy Birthday Jason!

It's like clockwork.. it's the one thing that assures me that all is right with my garden every year... the Wisteria blooms for Jason's birthday!

Above: 2015     Below: 1994 Just for a little nostalgia!

 (so just a side note about this photo above taken at Lake Tahoe around Jason's 3rd birthday in 1994 ... for those of us in the California coastal areas (we live in the San Francisco Bay Area), we have to travel a few hours to go see snow, which generally means we PAY to stay in a hotel to go see snow... pretty crazy when my East Coast friends are about ready to ship me buckets of their snow any day now!!)

 Back to the Wisteria...  like I was saying... the Wisteria in my garden ALWAYS blooms right before Jason's birthday... I've taken his photo in front of it every year that we've lived here.  So fun to see how much he's grown up!!

Above and Below: Wisteria in Patty's Garden, March 2015

As you probably know, if you've been visiting my blog for more than a few months, I love to spend some time in my garden every week .. this year will probably be a huge bumper crop of roses again... last week I already counted over 40 rose buds.. . I am so excited to pick my first bouquet of the season in a couple weeks!!  whooohoo!  My hubby knows that he doesn't need to spend money at a florist because most of the year I have all the flowers I can handle. 

Do you love to spend time in your garden? What is your favorite flower (or flowers) to grow? leave me a comment and let me know!  My favorites to grow are roses and Alstromeria... I also find geraniums really easy to grow.. I just bought a few more to add to my garden.. I need to get out and plant them!

Here is a photo of the Alstromeria in my garden.. I love these!

 I feel so blessed that God gave us Jason and entrusted us to be his mom and dad... he is the best kid anyone could ask for.. I'm so proud of him!!  I also feel very blessed that God sprinkles the beautiful flowers He does in my garden.. they bring me such joy!!  I guess I'm just blessed all the way around.. wonderful hubby, great kid, amazing family and friends, stamping buddies, a craft I love, and beautiful flowers to look at in my garden.  :)

 

Happy Birthday Jason!

 

 

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Delightful Visit to Anna's Flower Shop in Hercules

 

Today we are taking a break from crafting so I can share a fun day I had last week... one of the things I constantly hear from you is to please share more of my rose garden with you .. so today, we're talkin' flowers, roses, florists, lunch and more! :)

Last week I met some friends for lunch at the Powder Keg here in Hercules, CA.  It's been open for many years and we've never been there.. so it was a fun experience!  It is on the corner in a neat building that was built down at the waterfront .. made to look old but it's a fairly new building! 

My friend Joy and I both tried the grilled crab sandwich... it was like grilled cheese for grown ups... grilled cheese and crab on the perfectly grilled sourdough bread!!  I could seriously eat this every day!! (but then I'd have to walk about 10 miles a day!)

After lunch,I walked with my camera down to the waterfront (just at the end of the building) and took some photos... the fog was just clearing and it was still hazy.. but the bay is there in the haze.. ya.. hard to see. . but that's the Bay.. we are across the bay from San Francisco and Marin County.

On my way back up the street, I walked past a florist, turned around and decided to go in and see if I could buy some "filler" to go with my roses from my garden... boy am I glad I stopped in, because I met 2 of the nicest people EVER!!! 

Meet Chance and Anna of Anna's Flowers of Hercules!!

Chance and Anna were prepping for a wedding the next day and I was just awestruck with the beautiful arrangements they were creating!! Oh my gosh.. so gorgeous! I asked if I could take photos.. then I mentioned I might just have to blog about them, and then before you know it Anna and I were posting photos of each other on Instagram and we felt like old friends by the time we parted ways that day!

Aren't these fall wedding centerpieces just amazing!?  I am normally not an "orange person" but wow.. I loved these!

This was another one of the centerpieces:

 

Thank you Chance and Anna for a delightful visit!!!

So after we chatted for about a hour and a half (!!) :) I bought some filler for my roses and went home to cut roses from my garden.

These are some photos from my garden..

After cutting about 3 dozen roses, I brought them inside and made 2 bouquets.

Flowers make me HAPPY... just Happy.. that's all.

I'm just hoping that nobody tells my garden that it's November, because there are still about 50 roses out there.. I need to cut more.. maybe it's time to deliver some to the neighbors!

 So we'll get back to stamping tomorrow.. thanks for letting me share my day with you.. hope you enjoyed the "detour".

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Our Backyard Friends - Jason's Amazing Squirrel Photos

I hope you don't mind a little break from stamping projects today.. I wanted to share a fun part of our lives with you .. For about 15 years we have been feeding the birds and squirrels in our backyard.  We thoroughly enjoy buying seeds and peanuts for them and watching them as they visit us all day long.

They have us trained, mind you... they come to the back sliding glass door and look in ... "hey you.. toss out the peanuts".... :)

They have come really close to walking right in the back door, but we have not let them.. it scares me to think of them going and hiding under the couch or something!

Collectively, Jason and I have taken over 500 photos of our backyard friends... I've made calendars and cards using the photos, and I always thought it would be fun to put funny captions to the photos.. so if you have suggestions for funny captions, leave me comments below my blog post.. who knows..  I might just end up using your comment on an upcoming funny squirrel project :)

Enjoy this fun photo blog post today featuring Jason's Squirrel photos... and a couple of mine, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When it gets hot, they love to do their spread eagle thing... too funny...

um ya... busted.. they sit in the bird feeders... a lot!

'

I think this is an award winning photo... what a silly squirrel!!!

yep, Jason feeds them by hand, too...

their favorite treat.. peanuts in the shell...

and busted again... sneaking seeds from one of the birdfeeders!

Do you have backyard friends?  They sure do bring hours of pleasure and lots of smiles for all 3 of us. Thank You Lord for creating such adorable creatures to entertain us!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

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Flower Garden Happiness

NEW!!!  Washi Tape Bundle!

You already know that my flower garden brings me SO much happiness,

and I am excited to share 3 bouquets of happiness today!

 

Have an amazing day!

EDITED TO ADD at 2:30pm - 100 degrees in the SHADE

NEW!!!

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25% OFF selected GREETING sets! Ends Sunday!

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Embossing Folder GIFTS for my Luv 2 Stamp Group

I have a few fun things to share with you today!

FLOWERS:

 Thought you might like to see the bouquet I picked from my garden last week..  I think it's the prettiest one yet!!

I feel so blessed that I got my mom's love for the garden, AND I'm very lucky that we live in a great climate here in the San Francisco Bay area and that my plants are usually VERY happy! :)

I wish my mom were here to celebrate my birthday with me yesterday.. but I know she's smiling down from Heaven!

25 FREE EMBOSSING FOLDERS:

 I challenged my Luv 2 Stamp Group to MAKE and SEND 10 cards to 10 special people in May.  We are in the business of making cards and making people smile by sharing those stamped cards! I wanted everyone in my group to participate and told them I'd draw 25 names to recieve a FREE Embossing folder of their choice!!  56 participated and here are the names of the 25 winners!

 

 I challenged my group to keep sending 10 cards a month - if all 225+ of us do this for the rest of the year, we will have blessed over 15,700 people with handmade cards!!!

FUN DAY ON THE BAY:

Last week we had the opportunity to board the Grand Princess cruise ship .. she was in port in San Francisco on her way to Alaska... we had friends who were sailing to Alaska, so we were able to do the "Bon Voyage Experience" that Princess offers and board the ship for the day and enjoy the superb service at lunch in the dining room and then spend a few hours on the ship! Here are some of the highlights from our 1/2 day on the ship.

Below: Grand Princess from the Bay Bridge, with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background

Below: Eric, Patty and Jason at Pier 39 with the Grand Princess in the background

Below: lunch in the dining room

best shrimp and avacado appetizer EVER!! and I mean EVER!!!

orange souffle for dessert... wow would I love that every day!

Views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf and downtown San Francisco from the Grand Princess

Below.. this is the bridge we come over to go in to San Francisco.

In 1989 this was the bridge that was damaged in the quake - remember when a section of it collapsed? .. they are FINALLY building a new bridge!  I think bridges are beautiful.. I can't wait to see the new span open and the old one demolished.

Below: After our short 4 hour visit on the ship, we walked up and down Pier 39 and watched the Grand Princess sail out of San Francisco bay and under the Golden Gate Bridge, on her way to Alaska!

Bon Voyage, Grand Princess!

 

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Mother's Day Flowers

Wishing a Happy Mother's Day to all the amazing moms today!

 Sending my warmest wishes and blessings to all the amazing Mothers in my life.. and a special greeting to my aunt Mary Jo and to my sweet guardian angel mom #2 here on earth.. Shirley.  My Love and Thanks for all you do!

I loved the sunset lighting on these roses in my garden the other night.. this is my Nancy Reagan rosebush.. aren't they gorgeous!?

More Mother's Day flowers from my garden for you!

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Patty's Spring Garden - April Update

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I thought I would take this beautiful day to share a few more pictures I took in my flower garden this week... I hope you enjoy these and that they bless your day!

Hope that you are smiling and that these garden photos helped brighten your day! I'm so thankful and blessed in so many ways... you probably know that my flower garden and photography are both a passion for me and I love to share them with you!  Thank you for letting me do that.

I stopped counting at 145 rose buds while I was watering yesterday.

I am blessed!

Here is my scrub jay buddy who watches me water and loves taking a bath in the birdbath and eating all the peanuts we will give him.

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