A Little Surprise

I was completely delighted last week when I walked out on the front porch and noticed a pretty little bloom on the liliums we planted this Spring! I've been patiently waiting for them to bloom, after what seems like months and months of sprouting green stalks (which are now over 2 feet high!). Apparently the last week of sunshine and  90 degree weather was exacty what these little guys needed to come out of hiding! Which is more than I can say for our tomatoes, which, if we're lucky, will be ready to pick when we return from Seattle...but for now, I'm happy to enjoy these pink beauties while they last!

It Finally Happened...

My roses came back in full bloom!!

But before I get ahead of myself, allow me to refresh your memory. Back in January I was advised to prune our way-overgrown rose bushes from this:

All the way down to this:

And to be honest, I wasn't convinced they would really come back with a vengeance this spring.

But then I had some hope when I noticed a little growth in late February:

Though still not enough to make me a believer. That is until what seemed like overnight the rose bushes were suddenly full and lush green. And finally, last month I notices an abundance of these:

Sorry no picture of the rose bushes as a whole, but believe me, they are so much healthier than in picture #1 up on top. And within a few sunshine-filled days, I was graced with these amazing blooms lining my front yard:

Again, sorry for the lack of pics of the whole thing! Just imagine these multiplied by twenty and you will start to get a mental picture.

Last weekend I cut two dozen roses (pictured above) and spread them in arrangements throughout the house, and then cut another dozen for my mom, and incredibly, I hardly dented the abundance of flowers left!I think it's safe to say there will definitely be no shortage of fresh blooms in my home for the next several months. Happy day!

A Taste of Spring

I love how Spring has a way of bringing nature indoors. Where it's warm enough to open all the windows and enjoy the fresh air, all kinds of flowers are popping up around the house and fresh herbs and produce are suddenly right at my fingertips, straight from my backyard. Doesn't get better than that!

While our tradition is to wait until the first official weekend of Spring to plant our herbs and vegetable garden, we decided to get a head start since we will be out of town next weekend. Not that I am complaining as my favorite springtime cookbook is on the counter, just begging to be opened!

And on another gardening note, my camellias have taken off this past week and are now covered in beautiful blooms. And might I add that after looking at the price of a mature camellia at the nursery this weekend, I am so grateful that we already have two!

I am utterly delighted by the beautiful, cheery colors currently surrounding our abode!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Happy Monday!

A Blooming Surprise

While the overall landscaping of our house needs some serious TLC, it's pretty evident that someone, at some point, really loved this house. I say that because little surprises keep popping up all over the place. The most recent find has got me all sorts of giddy!

This weekend (before all the rain came in), we spent some time planting several Spring bulbs as well as replanting some other previously potted plants. Here's a picture of what it looks like after taking out a large, unsightly bush and planting our gardenia and hydrangea. Keep in mind this is after it rained loads, before we moved the huge pile of green waste and that there is still much to do...

See that gigantic plant in the corner? We had no idea what it was and actually talked about replacing it with something else. That is until my Mom, in all of her gardening wisdom, suggested that it looked like a camelia.

So we left it alone and patiently waited for it to bloom. Well cripes, I am just head-over-heels with what I just discovered about our front yard friend this weekend! It is indeed a camelia with these hot pink blooms!

I am ecstatic to have another beautiful choice of fresh flowers from my own yard. Imagine how much money I'm going to save on blooms this year! While it still has plenty of time to show its beautiful self, I was able to cut off two vases worth!

So I would like to say thank you previous homeowner, whoever you are, for leaving us this pretty little surprise!

Tis' The Season

The season to plot out our garden! PS-We are that couple totally geeking out in the garden section of Home Depot-we're cool, we know. On the top of my gardening list this Spring - planting a Meyer lemon tree! It's been one of those desires I tucked away for when we were finally homeowners. And now that it's a reality, my garden department geek-ness has only grown. I bet you didn't think that was possible.

It has only fueled my obsession that a few friends have generously shared heaps of their excess crop. Which, of course, has got me dreaming up all the amazing goodies that could come from having my own supply of lemony goodness, like Meyer lemon marmelade and Meyer lemon pancakes. And if I'm in the mood for savory, Meyer Lemon risotto with Roasted chicken with Meyer lemon sauce. And don't forget about sweet endings like Meyer lemon cake and dare I even go there...Meyer lemon brulee! Sorry, have I gotten carried away?

I didn't think so either. Thanks for understanding.

So lovelies, with Spring right around the corner (18 days, to be exact!) what are your gardening aspirations?

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Weekend in Photos

Perfecting the art of the poached egg, a flourishing succulent garden as well as some growth on my roses, spring tulips, creating a delicious coconut tea sparkler and spending some quality time in my kitchen all made for a wonderful weekend! And by the way, the weather ended up being beautiful and sunny all weekend-so much for the snowy weather report! Happy Monday!

Weekend Love

Happy Friday! I'm definitely looking forward to a long weekend. On the agenda: our monthly stock-up trip to Costco, executing a little idea I had to spruce up our pantry, finding a use for some lovely new fabric I bought, taking a stab at Ellie Krieger's {healthy} dutch baby pancakes and hopefully re-potting the mums, lillies and tulips my sweet husband surprised me with on Valentine's Day. Oh the exciting life I lead;) Have a good one!

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Stop and Smell..er..Cut the Roses?

This weekend was such a productive, fun and relaxing few days! In large part, we dreamed about future landscaping plans for our front and back yard! I suppose the much welcomed warm streak we're having has got us focusing our attentions outdoors. Not only have we been itching to get our hands on our new yard, but the warm weather has got us drooling for Springtime!

With our home, we inherited a very large collection of rose bushes that desperately needed to be cut back. Remember them from the days of yore? While they had definitely seen better days, there were still some blooms when we bought it in early fall:


After getting some solid advice about rose pruning, this weekend we got to work on cutting down the old muck to make room for some new growth. What a great feeling to begin the process of beautifying the outside of our house!

After taking a beating of rain and frost this winter, here's what we had lining our front yard.



Pretty sad, huh?

But with the help of my parents, we were able to chop the old growth off pretty quickly!

And we're thanking our lucky stars that green waste pick-up is today because as you can see, our can is pretty full {ahem, understatement of the century!}.



The finished product is a slightly more bare front yard, which in a few months will be producing a bounty of lovely roses!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend! Happy Monday!