This Perfectly Imperfect Life

Deadheading the roses on this cool & cloudy Friday morning. 🙌🏻 Usually it's a more peaceful time, but the family of squirrels living up in the maple tree was causing a ruckus most of the time I was out there with their shenanigans 🙄 So I found myself more annoyed than usual, but for me, deadheading & weeding are always a time for me to get things out of my system (like journaling, or prayer, or rearranging my bookshelves), as is much of my time in the garden, so it's never time wasted. What do you do to work things out, de-stress, or heal? Enjoy your day peeps!  #morningmotivation #gardenwalk #upheavalintorevival #rosechat #inmygardentoday #apartmentgarden #gardencritters #friday #june #junegarden #springgarden #fridayfavorites #booknerd #myperfectlyimperfectview #thisperfectlyimperfectlife 

SO much rain from these coastal storms, complete with thunderstorms mixed in, and the gardens have gone from loving it to drowning 😐 And I can't wait to check the basement again 🙄 We'll have gone from drought to the exact extreme opposite if this keeps up. But, there's only a chance of showers between later today and Monday (as of now 🙄) so hopefully we all get a chance to dry out this weekend!  #friday #morning #gardenwalk #morningritual #morningmotivation #rosechat #roses #inmygardentoday #apartmentgarden #coastalgarden #raindrops #myperfectlyimperfectview #thisperfectlyimperfectlife 

Sunny Knockout's in full bloom & surviving the rain 💛 Good morning & happy Wednesday ☺️  #goodmorning #gardenwalk #morningritual #morningmotivation #nofilter #roses #rosechat #inmygardentoday #apartmentgarden #springgarden #maygarden #yellowrose #plantastar #simplepleasuresgreatestjoy #myperfectlyimperfectview #thisperfectlyimperfectlife 

'Love & Peace' hybrid tea. I mean, Come. On.  In my garden today y'all! That's a 'no filter needed' rose my friends! I am so glad, relieved, happy, that I have found comfort and joy in gardening again.  What's on your Friday Favorites list today?

Hello everyone! A bit of catching up for today. Belated Happy Birthday to me from Hubbs, and happy Pub Day to author Karen White, whose Flight Patterns was just released this Tuesday. We picked it up on what was also our 12 year anniversary together! Then we headed to our camper to spend the rest of evening, and Wednesday, our 11th wedding anniversary, at the lake.  Of course there was book mail this week! More about Last Ride To Graceland and The Fifth Avenue Artists Society coming soon. And thanks to the weather turning from chilly 50s to summery 80s, the roses have begun to bloom! Well, it is nearly Memorial Day, so I guess it's time. (How did it get to nearly be Memorial Day already?!) I'm so far behind with my writing, and reading, since Mom's recent stroke in Marrch, and the domino affects it's had on all of our lives, but, things may be leveling out to some degree, so it's time to play catch up, and create a new normal for our family. What are you currently r...

Pink Knockout, Rosa Radcon Pink Knockout, Rosa Radcon, same bush as above Aren't October roses The Best?! I love many things about October, but roses at Halloween makes my top five! (And another reason why I love Knockout roses. Not only are they the *only* roses I have left of all the roses I have grown over the last several years, but depending on the weather, they'll bloom through Halloween, Thanksgiving, and even Christmas). What's one of your top five favorite things about October?

Going back to 5/24/13 when I brought Gertrude Jekyll, a David Austin rose (my first DA) home. A birthday present to myself. I couldn't stop taking photos of her!  She was coming back strong last season (2014), until a very late cold snap, and she never recovered. Debating on replacing her with another this year. I'm not sure it will be in the budget (if there even is a gardening budget this year, that remains to be seen), but I do miss Gertrude so! I think she and Julia Child would get along famously, although I'm afraid Queen Elizabeth is getting a tad put off by being surrounded by other famous women ;-)   Do you have a favorite rose you once grew that you no longer have in your garden?

Sidewalk garden in town. Much sunshine & glare coming up the hill in the morning! The porch wraps around three sides of this home up the street from us! 'Julia Child' floribunda rose in my garden.

Earlier this month, I welcomed my second newest rose, ' Twilight Zone ' from Weeks Roses , into my garden. This rose is a stunner! Of course I've taken oodles and oodles of photos in between enjoying its delightful scent, this is my first 'purple' rose, but unfortunately, my camera's show it more or less as being a dark pink color. So, without further a due, introducing TZ: The purple color and 'ruffled' bloom caught my attention. The scent sealed the deal. Traditional yet lighter with a hint of lemon. (But not a barely scented rose by any means). It made my heart sing! Very unique. (To me anyhow). The blooms remind me of 'old fashioned' garden roses. Some are less purple and more pink, but that's perfectly fine with me - y'all know how I love pink. Regardless of color, so far each bloom has been the size of my hand! Also a good cut rose for the mantle vase. Twilight Zone is a grandiflora* rose which ...

Gardening heals my soul, but roses bring me heart-bursting joy!  What are some of your favorite things?

Yesterday I welcomed " The Sunny Knockout® Rose " (Rosa 'RADsunny'), a Star® Roses and Plants rose, into my garden. As I do with all new additions, I spent much of the day entranced with & fawning over this beautiful yellow rose! And believe it or not, this is my first ever solid yellow rose! So, without further a due, introducing Sunny: Yellow always was, and still is, a very favorite color of mine. Since I was a little girl. It's an extremely comforting color to me (although I don't have a clue why). As y'all know, I've been heartbroken over losing more than half of my roses these last few years (including four after this most recent Winter) and I have been on the look-out for this particular rose for some time now. But I wasn't expecting to see roses or find this one at the time I did. This was the only yellow Knockout amid a sea of (very pretty) pink & red yesterday morning and it stood out to me like ...

11/13: Thankful to be able to do something nice for others (like making pots of coffee for the landscapers on a bitter cold morning).  11/14-11/15: Finally remembering to order a certain Christmas present for a certain hubby early enough so it wasn't sold out (he's going to Love it!), and for books, favorite mugs & roses in November.  Sent from my iPhone

Sent from my iPhone

Happy first full day of Autumn everyone! Here is a quick look at some of what's bloomin' in my garden today. Late season roses make my heart sing! Snuck a Scarlet O'Hara morning glory in there as well. How is your garden growing?

S Some of my favorite photos from this week!

It's a (not so) Wordless Wednesday here at The Portable Homestead and that is because Ms. Jekyll, a David Austin rose, has begun her second bloom! I'm pleased since I only just bought her as a birthday present to myself the third week of May and she finished that bloom before mid June. She's already more than doubled her height! I was afraid the slight touch of black spot & powdery mildew she's come down with would hold her back. Perhaps she's competing with Queen Elizabeth (grandiflora) who is now seven and a half feet tall! From the lovely, delicate pink color, to the ruffled petals once a bud opens fully, to the utterly enchanting scent (heavily traditional yet not overwhelming), I adore this rose! For more photos of Gertrude, click here . Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®