Garden Bloggers Bloom Day ~ December

Find more blogger's blossoms at Carol's place. She's the inventor of Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.

Mini Roses enjoy the view from my sunny window.

Truth be told I don't care for my house all that much. It's old and desperately in need of updating. But, it has this bright, sunny window that always brings a smile to my face.

In fact, that's why I fell in love with the joint. That and the fact it's located across the road from a nature preserve that makes for some interesting sightseeing.

Paper Yellows

Paper Whites are ever so popular but I see too much white in winter. To get a job in my sunny window you need to be a warmer color. :)

Giganto Amarylis!

I had big ideas for this place 7 years ago. A fixer upper! I was naively excited ~ how hard could it be to fix up an old house?
 

Turns out, way too hard. I'm better at planting flowers than I am at pounding nails. :)

* I've got lots of indoor bloomers for GBBD, though they won't be here for long. I've grown most of these little darlings for Christmas gifts.

Gingersnap and Tater Salad Tips

We celebrated 4th of July on the 2nd. This town did fireworks on the 3rd. By last night when most parties were in full swing, I was so weary of the festivities I got on my bike and took a peddle down the old ranch road.

Past one of the last 'real' farm houses left around here. One that somehow resisted the temptation to sell off, to be torn down and re-built as ~ yet another ~ big, fancy mansion. (If that ever does happen I doubt it would occur to the contractor to save this magnificent rose bush ~ much less the cool, old fence.)

Straw Flowers (aka Bachelor Buttons) are a great quick fix for wild areas. This is their second summer.

Holiday highlights were few. I managed to screw up the potato salad. Which is kind of the shock of the world. An embarrassing moment for self AND country seeing as how I'm [allegedly] 100% Irish.

Meet Gingersnap. I don't know his real name. But I bike over to see him every evening. It's the highlight of my day.

If you're not Irish then perhaps you're not a tater aficionado. So, let me help you out here. Red potatoes have lots of moisture in them. Russet potatoes do not. Russets roast up crisp, golden brown and dry...

I think he's starting to recognize me but he keeps his distance.

What does all that have to do with great potato salad? If you want to make a name for yourself, with respect to potato salad... you don't boil those taters, you bake 'em! Dice 'em, olive oil 'em, sprinkle liberally with crushed rosemary and roast them 'til they're crisp and delicious.

Then go about the rest of your potato salad recipe however you want.

Just don't forget the pickles.

* Roasting red potatoes doesn't work as well because they contain too much moisture.

Wild Roses

"Some people grumble that roses have thorns. I am thankful that thorns have roses" - Alphonse Kerr

Overnight, yellow roses burst into full bloom - as fleeting as lilacs and just as fragrant. This big, pretty bush reminds me of my Mom - because I snitched it from her garden! It's been transplanted twice, but here it will stay. At six feet, she's too big to survive another move.

Unlike hybrids, wild roses bloom a very short time, just long enough to be pollinated. After flowering, a red bud (called a hip) appears, filled with seeds. Start new roses with these seeds - but be quick about it. Rose hips are tasty treats for local birds.

Wild roses fit my garden because they've got what it takes to survive. They hold up to high winds, are pest free and drought-tolerant. This bush is thriving in a fairly inhospitable place. It grows in ordinary soil, without compost or fertilizer, and they live forever.

The parent of this pretty rose has bloomed every spring, for 40 years, at my Mother's home in South Dakota.