Everything is coming up Roses!

Which is loveliest in a rose? It's coy beauty when it's budding, or its splendor when it blooms?

~George Barlow

It is finally time!! The Rose reveal!

When we first moved in, there was one rose in the SE corner of the yard what was obvious, the others were as yet undiscovered, hidden among weeds and grasses.  This rose, however, was also obvious in its suffering.  It was a 2' stick poking out of the ground with two leaves on the end and the tiniest of buds that did not look like it was going to quite make it. It did bloom last year, one blossom.  And what a blossom it was!! Never had I seen such a gorgeous rose in my life.  It was exactly what I would have wanted had I been able to choose.  It gave me hope.
As I picked through the other beds, I also eventually discovered four other roses barely eeking by.  Three in the same bed that is now home to my ever-loved lilies and sunflowers, and one other in the bed on the S side of the house.
I pulled away all grasses that were choking them, and since last fall I have been keeping my eye on them. They have been fed and watered and tended, and as of yesterday, they all bloomed this year!!
The anticipation of their blooms was so succulent, I had no idea what color or shape they would take.  One by one, the showed their true colors, and with each new blossom, I found new and greater excitement and enjoyment in them.
The first to bloom was in Sunflower Row, and it graced me with its presence back in early June, though I didnt get any close-up pictures until mid-July

This is the first blossom. It is really hard for me to correctly capture the color, though it does show up here as a gorgeous color.  It is slightly more coral in reality though.  Either way, it is so gorgeous!! Such a wonderful POP of color!

The next little bud that came out

And of course, as that bud bloomed, the other one just opened up more and more and got more beautiful and complex

Happily together

The next rose to bloom was the sunset rose.  I cant help but think of it as this, the colors remind me so much of the innumerable sunsets I have seen here on the Oregon Coast.
Once it started budding, I started snapping. Nearly every day I took a picture, aiming at capturing the progression of the buds as they slowly opened into the gorgeous blooms they were meant to be.

The one above and on the Left was taken on July 24, the one below on the Right was taken July 27th. You can see how quickly they opened. I tried to only put a few on here, so as not to present an overwhelming amount of pictures.  But it was hard to choose!! I am seriously so in love with this rose.  I have a ridiculous number of pictures.

And of course, as they were blossoming, I kept snapping

Beautiful, beauteous and more bewitching!!

After these two, there were three left, all of unknown color, and I anxiously awaited each.

The next to show its stunning face turned out to be light pink.
She began with a petite peek of pink petals

Then she slowly opened up, petal by petal, and in the end it was a spectacular showing

The previous three were in Sunflower Row, and while the fourth in that bed had a bud out, it was not the next to show its blooms.

The next opening was in the bed on the S side of the house, and its appearance turned out to be a classic.
It inspired Oscar Wilde to say "A red rose is not selfish because it wants to be a red rose.  It would be horribly selfish if it wanted all the other flowers in the garden to be both red and roses."

I have so far been unsuccessful at capturing the amazing color and texture of this rose. It is the epitome of a red rose. A velvety texture, the most perfect, deep red color.
It was very exciting, there were 9 buds on the plant, and then one slowly and carefully peeked its little petals out

As an added bonus, I was watering today, and oh my the water droplets on the petals were gorgeous!

The final rose!!!

It has been torturing me for a month now.  I noticed the first bud in the middle of July, and just yesterday it finally unfurled itself.

It has looked this way for a month now! just sitting there, biding its time. Notice the sunflower on the Left? It now towers over this little rose (you will see in the blooming pictures), thats how long its taken for this rose to reveal!
It began with a tiny peek of color, a tease

I couldn't tell if it was going to be red, or maybe another coral color.
Then two days ago, a little more

Yesterday, finally, the big reveal!! A light yellow, very delicate and lovely

 I love how my rose and sunflower are snuggle buddies!!

This afternoon, a full bloom

I love it.  So very much.

To know where they all are:

Ahhhhh.....I am so thrilled with my lovely roses

Please Welcome....

I got the newbies from Home Depot planted in the new bed!
There are two Zinnia (in the front on the L and R) a beautiful purple petunia (in the middle), two hibiscus (on the L and R behind the zinnia) and moss roses.  When I bought the moss roses, I though I was getting two, but it turns out each container had 4 in it!! So I ended up with enough moss roses to fill in what would have been empty space (eventually, when they grow in, hopefully)

Not only did I get the new Zinnia in the ground, one of the little buds is starting to peek out! 

I also got two more Dahlias at the Newport farmers market this last weekend! Sounds boring, not to mention silly since I can get Dahlias from mom and Malika for free. So, Why?
I have never seen Dahlias like this, they have very dark leaves and stalks, which makes the color of the flowers pop even more! Which I love!

I got this one, and another that is fuscia colored.

Right now they are still in their pots, but I am thinking of putting them along the back on either side of the Canna lily in the bed pictured above.

 The new bed with the new Home Depot flowers and the new Dahlias :)

With time, some of the new additions will fill in the empty spaces. The hibiscus has many buds

and an up and coming bloom

Oh, and did I mention, the rose in the middle is beginning to bloom!! Yay!!

These two are beginning now, and there are 7 other buds in the works! 9 blossoms total, I am so excited!
There are some other beautiful things going on right now as well:

Beautiful Begonia

Sunset-inspired Snap dragons

Pretty Petunias

Gorgeous Geraniums

Lovely Lilies (well, they will be)

 (sorry, no alliteration here, I dont know what this is, I just think its pretty)













And a collection of sunflowers!!!

Under our living room window.  The begonia is in the pot in the middle of the two bushes.  In front of that are snapdragons, with one purple petunia in between, more petunias to the R, and the stalky grass-looking things to the R of that are Tigridas, which I cant wait for!! Behind those on the R is the purple-ish/red-ish bush/leafy thing that I like but cant name.  On the far R are sunflowers with sweetpeas climbing up.

Just a little glimpse at whats new and whats blooming for today :)

A new toy!!

I have taken I dont know how many trips back and forth from the yard to the back corner where I dump waste.  Trip after trip, gripping piles of dirt and grass, my back aching from picking it up and carrying it, sometimes my arms are so tired by the time I get to that last load that its all I can do to hang on to it, and by the time I get to the dump site I am in my last second of available strength.  This, paired with the three trips it takes me to get all my garden supplies from the back garage to the front yard (and three to put it all away), I have decided enough is enough.  I got a wagon :)
Of course, Fred Meyer and Wal Mart had nothing good to offer me, and what they did have was way overpriced for what you are getting.  So I decided to hit Home Depot on my way over to Portland this last Tuesday.  It meant getting up and out of the house by 6 a.m., but its worth it go to a garden paradise (compared to what we have here) like Home Depot. 

I also found something else there that I have been wanting for a while, its called a shepard's hook. Its basically a long piece of metal you stick in the ground and then hang a bird feeder off of.  The birds here have been enjoying the one feeder we have, and I have really been wanting another one.  I saw these hooks at a patient's house a few months ago, and have wanted one ever since.  Of course they are not available in Newport. I just happened to stumble on them in Home Depot.  They were about 10 feet from the carts :)

And, because someone thinks its fun to tease me, there were many many plants outside ON SALE!!!! Now thats just not fair.  And here I am with a brand new bed to fill. hmmmm...... fine. I'll get some.

I didnt think to take a picture until after I had already installed the rear axle, but here is what came out of the box. A tray, lock assembly, front frame, rear axle assembly, rear axle support bar, front axle assembly, 10 inch wheels and the handle.  and  75 pieces of hardware. 75! Ok. I can do this, I have a drill and more tools than I even have names for.

First step is putting the rear axle on.  Well, just as I got myself all set up and ready to go, mom calls, and I wanted to talk to her anyway.  So, I figure, how hard can it be, a screw here a screw there, I can talk and do this at the same time, right? Well, sure, but not correctly!! 40 min later, I was getting off the phone with mom, and yet still had not correctly put on the 6 screws, 6 nuts and 12 washers it takes to attach the rear axle!! Seriously Jessica. 

Problem 1 - Chatting away, I had put the first screw through, washer on the other side, then the nut, and I am happily turning the screw, and turning the screw. And turning the screw. And turning.  turning. still turning.  ITS NOT GOING ANYWHERE!! Not tightening at all.  What on earth is wrong with this screw. 
Oh.  Wait.  Nothing is wrong with the screw.  Something is wrong with me.  The other side needs to be held still, the nut, so that it doesnt just happily turn away as I turn the screw.  Geez!!! So, I go get my handy dandy tool kit and find a cylindrical piece to put over the nut to hold it still (yes, I have no idea what its called.  I know there are two systems to measure by, some of them are 3/16, some of them are 10mm, for example, but I dont know what any of them are called) and I put it on the wratchety thing that makes noise when turning in the opposite direction, and I hold the nut still while I use my fabulous drill (pictured above in front of the tray) to twist the screw into place. Success!!

Problem 2 - All screws on, all nuts on, but it didnt fit quite right.  I looked at the picture, and lo and behold, there was one strip of metal that was supposed to be between the axle and the tray.  2 screws, 2 nuts and 2 washers undone.  Then back on. 

Problem 3 - Something is still not right.  It is not lining up right, and there are 6 washers left over from the "Step 1" kit of hardware (each step has an associated set of hardware so you dont have to root around and collect what you need for each step.  Pretty convenient, unless you are me and end up with extra pieces!).  Well, I am pretty sure they would not provide you with extra washers, so what did I do wrong? I only put washers on the side of the screw with the nuts.  Not the side with the screw heads.  So, one by one, screws undone, washers on, and re-tightened.  By now, one of my screw heads is pretty stripped (because I had the drill on high at first and it got over excited) so I save that one for last, and it has to be tightened by hand.

Then I get off the phone and things go a little smoother.

1 hour after starting, and I have done step one, which is 6 screws!! Seriously.  The funny thing is, I actually really enjoy putting things together like this.  And I am usually not so bad at it.  Oh well.  Zach is the Engineer, not me :)

I am going to go ahead and blame mom (though I know its not her fault)  She called Me.   And I obviously cant walk and chew gum at the same time.  Shouldnt have tried to start this and talk at the same time.

After that things went pretty smoothly.  The only other snaffou I had was that I couldnt get my drill into a space to screw down two of the final screws.  I did get this solved by linking together several of the tubey pieces and drill bit looking pieces and used that leverage to hold the screw while I twisted the nut.  While  I do not know what any of those bits and pieces are called, I am very proud of how I fashioned them together to solve my problem :)

So, its about time to see a finished product, right???
Here it is:

 

and filled with its first dump load:

 

I am very happy with this wagon.  Its pretty tough.  Full of stuff, it went very smoothly over the driveway, down the slope in the other yard, one tire fell into a hole when I was backing it up to dump and it just powered through. Its like it has 4 wheel drive!!  :) I love it.  And the trey tips back for easy dumping!!
Here are the two hooks I got, one in front of the living room window, and the other is along the fenceline, but we can see it from the living room window :)

 I am excited about the flowers I got, three of them I have never had before, and the other two are pretty variations of ones I already have.

I got something called a Moss Rose.  I didnt even look at what it was called until I got it home! I just thought it was really pretty and it said it does well in full sun.  So its perfect for me :)

 I also got two Hibiscus, one Luna Pink Swirl, one Luna Red.  The Pink Swirl has a flower out.  It looked like this earlier this morning:

And then this evening it looked like this!

Very pretty!!

I got three Zinnia, all of the same orange/red color:

 I wanted to include a picture of the upcoming Zinnia bud.   It is such a cute little bud!! all wrapped up so tight!

And I got a beautiful petunia:

Its a very deep, velvety purple, and some of them have yellow stripes

and finally, I got another Day Lily, which I know will not be blossoming this year, but next year it will be nice :)

Whew!!! While I didnt actually get any planting done yesterday, I did get to spend a lot of time outside, putting the wagon together, then watering and figuring out where to put my new beauties.  I put them in today, but I am too tired now to go on.  So that will have to wait for next time.

And I still need to get pictures up of the roses!! Oh my gosh they are SO GORGEOUS!!! I just cant stand it.  I have to keep looking at them, I cant get enough. Just ask Taylor.  Each time he comes home I want to take him out and show him the yard.  He follows me around as I go on "this is new, and look at that, and can you believe how gorgeous this is, and oh my, just look at that rose, isnt it amazing!! and look, buds coming here and ohoh..." the poor guy just follows along and utters agreeable sounds and appropriate ''oooohhh'''s and "aaaaahhhh"s and the occasional "yes dear". 
I'm so lucky :)

But seriously.  I need to get some pictures of the roses up, because they are so beautiful :)