My Wish List.

Ooohh la la…winter solstice is here.  Which means the longer days return and it is time to start planning next years garden, do my winter sowing of some annuals and perennial seeds and pick out the roses I wish to order.

 This week has been sunny and bright.  The skiers are not happy, no real snow to speak of and that hurts the economy in our resort town so in that light it is sad but I am still enjoying it. 

I have painted on more signs this week but in the evening I have been crocheting on a few different projects and picking out roses.

I lost several roses 2 years back in an early hard freeze and I am going to start replacing them.

Albertine (antique climbing rose)

It used to grow up on my porch.  It blooms early but only once, it is covered for several weeks. 



I will plant another pink climber with it to fill in when this one is done.  Planted and vining together it will look like one and bloom all summer long.  I have a couple choices I am considering, one is called Collette and another is the Peggy rose. 
Most of the roses I lost in that freeze were David Austin English roses, I had collected several over the years and they did fabulous here. 

One of my favorites was Jubilee Celebration..it gave me bouquets all summer.  This spray was on a single stem.



A newer variety I am eyeing is the Princess Alexandria, it is very hardy and an excellent bloomer. 



I have never had a white one and I just fell in love this one.  Susan Williams-Ellis.



A great red that I must get again..it looks more purple here but it really is a great red.  William Shakespeare 2000



This one is called Hyde Hall, I had them growing along my back garden wall and it grew to nearly 6 feet the second year, it made a great hedge and bloomed non-stop all summer long. 



This is just a start to my list and it may take a few years to replace what I lost but it will be fun.  I hope you enjoy my garden dreams. 

Here are a couple of the signs I have been working on.





I hope to get to start building my painting table next week, we shall see.
Enjoy your weekend, we sure will.  We have special plans!

Unexpected pleasures!

Good Monday morning to one and all!  We had a busy weekend but fun.  Friday we took a trip with the nephews to the San Francisco Zoo.  I have photos of all sorts of critters but to my delight there were tons of plants blooming.  I forget sometimes that San Francisco climate is so temperate especially this time of year.  So when I am looking at this desolate garden at home..

San Francisco is a haven of blooms.

Wish I could name all the plants I photographed but I am rather ignorant of many of these plants.  Some I do know but very few. To get to the zoo we drove thru a lovely old neighborhood with interesting homes perched on the hillside facing the ocean and there were an abundance of these bushes trained into trees just covered with these purple blossoms.  A real visual treat.

See how bright and sunny it was Friday, it got into the upper 50’s and lower 60’s with little or no breeze.  Perfect!

The landscaping all throughout the zoo was a feast for my eyes, waterfall and fountains tucked into all sorts of places.

Bursts of color around every corner.

I love Fuchsias..I can barely keep them alive here and this one was flourishing beside the building housing tropical critters.

They had some interesting rockeries filled with succulents.  I have just in the past few years become interested in growing succulents, there is such an interesting variety and the fun planters you can make with them is boundless.

I have always loved Bougainvillea but have never lived where it would stay alive thru the winters.

I thought this little Iris type was eye catching.

  I really wish they would label the plants. 

There were some that were the most interesting shapes, no blooms were necessary for them to stand out.

These bushes were taller than I and covered with these delicate brightly colored blooms.

A bright orange..

The too bright sun blanched out the vibrancy of the orange but you get the idea.

And last the Statice outside the gate as we headed for the parking lot. 

It was such a lovely day and we enjoyed it very much.  Next weekend we are planning a little trip down again to go to the Conservatory of Flowers and the CA Academy of Sciences.  Two places we have wanted to visit in a long time and the weather is supposed to be just as wonderful as this past weekend so it should  be a fabulous trip.  I will bore you with all the photos in coming posts. 

And I will share some animal shots of the zoo next time.  Now I must go paint some signs.

Enjoy your Monday!

A dusting of snow and one tough rose.

We woke to about half an inch of snow.  It was not a surprise as the weatherman had forewarned us but you never know when the weather will decide to do something other than what they predict. 

I decided to take a cruise of my garden with camera in hand to see what may be blooming on this 15th day of December.  The 32 degrees felt nearly balmy compared to the past few days that started around 26 degrees. 

A snowy viola I have growing in a barrel on my back deck. 



This is a Heritage rose from David Austin English roses..it has been a tough one. Roses blooming here in the Northern California Sierra Nevada mountains is unheard of this time of year, usually.  



It resides beside my studio.





Its brother hovers at its feet, but the roses on this one are more desiccated though still rather lovely.



There are more things blooming in my Greenhouse.  Some pelargoniums..





A Cappuccino Rudbeckia



A volunteer white petunia that came up in a pot with some boxwood. 



And here are my ladies at breakfast.



I hope you enjoyed my little morning walk..

I am going to join Bloom Day over at May Dreams Garden