Don't you think some flowers are practically singing their own theme song?

I think in the case of my red gerbera (which is bursting with blooms right now), if it could sing it would be singing the song that's been going through my head today—Pharrell Williams' song "Happy".

If you aren't familiar with the song you can watch the official video by clicking here

Bloom-a-day 5: Ronald Reagan rose

Like an artist's paint palette exploded, the garden is alive with color everywhere I look.

I've decided to feature a bloom a day until this beautiful show comes to a close.

When choosing rosebushes to become permanent residents in the garden, I tend to steer away from red roses simply because they're not unusual enough. However, when I came upon the "Ronald Reagan" as a bare-root with a full-color photo on the bag label,  I fell in love with the unique coloring of the petals--how they are light (almost white) at the base and then deepen to a bright red on the edges. When I saw that description of the foliage was "dark, leathery and glossy" (translation: more disease resistant) I was sold. I've never regretted buying this beauty. This year it's putting on the best show ever since it came to live here.

The miracle of a red gerbera

I bought it on a lark, reading the plant tag that said "annual" thinking it was a frivolous purchase but couldn't resist the deep scarlet brilliance no matter how temporary it would be.

That was years ago... so many years ago I've forgotten how long it's been.

In the same terra cotta pot, it comes back every year. After the chill of winter has left, the stems begin to emerge and then the brazen scarlet petals of each bloom unfold in unabashed majesty. Unashamed yet unassuming, the gerbera is an every day flower with the simplicity of a kindergartener's drawing (the quintessential garden bloom) yet with a flare that says, "I am no wallflower".

Years of living with its feet in the same pot, the gerbera ate away much of the original soil. Last fall, I lifted it gently and added more soil hoping not to disturb the magical spell that kept it coming back years past its original "annual" label suggested it should. As the fall days grew cooler, the leaves dried, withered and died. It looked as if I had in fact broken the spell.

But just to prove me wrong (like many things in my garden) when the days grew warmer, the gerbera started showing signs of life. The emerging stems came first before any leaves. By late March, the first ruby petals were unfurling.

The spell was not broken.

February is camellia season (and oh how I love camellia season)

I've always wondered... why does February have to be all about a holiday that makes single people sad and men feel inadequate? In the midst of winter, February is a second chance to surround oneself with bright vibrant colors. The red of Christmas is replaced by the reds and pinks of hearts and flowers. Frilly fancy doilies take the place of paper snowflakes.

I used to mourn the passing of the Christmas and New Year season until I realized that as the Christmas tree was coming down (usually around the second week of January) the hearts and flowers of Valentine's Day could be going up. Such a revelation!

Hubby and I have just as much fun putting up the red and white Valentine decorations on our mantle as we do decorating the mantle for Christmas. We even have a special string of red glass heart lights that we put up so in the long winter evenings they glow with a brilliant red hue.

In our mild winter climate, February also brings the blooming of the camellia bushes. Growing on the sheltered north side of our house, the camellias have grown over the past 12 years with some having branches that touch the underside of the eaves. They set buds in November. Then we sit and wait with great anticipation until they begin blooming some time in late January or early February. February has become "camellia season" for me.

I sometimes like to bring two or three blooms inside and float them in low dishes filled with water. They look like Valentines from Nature herself.  The rest of the blooms I leave outside where we can see them through the windows on that side of the house. Even on a rainy day, they brighten and cheer the winter landscape. Cool and velvety-soft to the touch, the brilliant red and pink petals of the camellia blossoms stay on the bushes about as long as roses stay on the bush. Eventually the camellia petals fall to the ground carpeting the ground under the bushes as if a bride is expected to walk down the aisle there. It is dazzling.

I'm so happy camellia season is here once again.

 

Snow white and rose red

From a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm:

"There was once a poor widow who lived in a lonely cottage. In front of the cottage was a garden wherein stood two rose-trees, one of which bore white and the other red roses. She had two children who were like the two rose-trees, and one was called Snow-white, and the other Rose- red. They were as good and happy, as busy and cheerful as ever two children in the world were, only Snow-white was more quiet and gentle than Rose-red. Rose-red liked better to run about in the meadows and fields seeking flowers and catching butterflies; but Snow-white sat at home with her mother, and helped her with her housework, or read to her when there was nothing to do.

"The two children were so fond of one another that they always held each other by the hand when they went out together, and when Snow- white said: ’We will not leave each other,’ Rose-red answered: ’Never so long as we live,’ and their mother would add: ’What one has she must share with the other.’

"They often ran about the forest alone and gathered red berries, and no beasts did them any harm, but came close to them trustfully. The little hare would eat a cabbage-leaf out of their hands, the roe grazed by their side, the stag leapt merrily by them, and the birds sat still upon the boughs, and sang whatever they knew."

This photo is available as custom-printed invitations at Rosehaven Cottage Stationers by clicking above
and is also available to send for FREE as an e-card or e-vite at pingg by clicking below.

Red Gerberas

I deemed today an "in the garden" day because I HAD to fill up the green cans before tomorrow's pick-up. I also had to do some painting and caulking on the almost-completed deck. I finally ran out of things to put in the green cans (when does that ever happen?) and my finger was sore from spreading caulk along the seams of boards. So I came inside and managed to sneak in some studio time as the sun was going down.

It was such a glorious spring day to be outside working that I wanted to somehow capture how it felt in an art piece. So I took a photograph that I shot of the cute red gerberas in the workshop windowbox and turned it into a digital "painting" with Photoshop and a couple of fun textures.

And I liked the finished result so much, that I've made it available in notecards at the Dusting in Pearls online store. Not bad for an "in the garden" day. Now I can go collapse on the sofa and nurse my slight twinge of a headache while Hubby cooks us a late dinner.

Texture credits:
Warm Daydream by swimmingintheether
Flat Stone from my own collection of textures

The Workshop Windowbox

Back when I posted the first photos of our new workshop, I had some requests to make sure and post photos once I got flowers into the windowbox. It's taken me a while to decide on what I wanted in the windowbox. Since the overnight temps have started to warm up, it made my selection wider, but I was still stumped.

Then when Hubby and I were at Home Depot looking for primer and paint for the deck that's going in, I told him, "Let's just take a quick peek into the garden center to see if they have any trellises I like." Well, of course I didn't make it out of there with only trellises. I'm good when Hubby isn't with me, but when we're together I manage getting stuff I hadn't planned on getting. Kinda backwards from most marriages, but that's the way it is.


I ended up with some gorgeous bright red Gerbera daisies and then some little white petunias that will grow in and fill out over time. Once I got them in, I was so glad I chose the red because it looks great contrasting against the butter yellow of the workshop. And they are a wonderfully happy flower that makes me smile when I see them.

A Valentine from Mother Nature

Click image to view larger
Used my free texture Sitting bench 3

While visiting with family last Sunday, I found these lovely miniature roses in bloom in February in my sister-in-law's garden... and of course they are Valentine roses! So to all of my dear blogging friends, Happy Valentine's Day!

Christmas "Decorations" in the Garden

Here at Rosehaven Cottage, it would be a true natural phenomenon if we ever saw snow. Still, the December nights have gotten chilly with temperatures sometimes down in the 30's. The nice nip in the air has made a lot of wonderful Christmas color come out while still being warm enough to let other plants show off their colors too. As I walked around the garden this afternoon with camera in hand, I saw so many "decorations" in the foliage and wanted to share them with you.

The little japanese maple tree has responded to the chilly nights with spectactular red foliage that looks so Christmas-y.

The strawberry plants are doing the same and look perfect for the holiday with their red and green leaves.

There are "gold stars" in the garden too in the form of rudbeckia blossoms.

And teeny tiny "upside down stockings" are all over the pineapple sage (much to the hummingbirds' delight).

The dusty miller is providing "drifts of snow" with its lovely silver foliage.

Since we haven't had frost yet, the canna lily is still ablaze with its amazing red tropical-looking flowers that seem to say "Mele Kalikimaka" (the Hawaiian way to say "Merry Christmas").

And the "holly berries" in our garden come in the form of rosehips on the ancient old rose-with-no-name.

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Walking the Cat and Finding Bits of Red

Above Left: Dexter, my beautiful tabby, walking on his red leash in the garden.

Above right: Red canna lilies growing by the pond add a bright punch of red here and there.

Above: A red pomegranate almost ready to harvest hangs down from the bush with the pond in the background.

Above: My wonderfully gorgeous 17 lb. tabby, Dexter, absolutely loves to walk on a leash out in the garden, so I obliged him this evening and toted my camera along. I realized that I was photographing bits of red after I got back into the house and reviewed the photos. The color of his leash must have seeped into my subconscious somehow.

Click here to see Dexter's line of clothing and accessories