Picked for Happiness

Last week the roses in the garden looked so pretty; I picked a few for the house.

I casually arranged them with a few sprigs of 'Mystic Spires Blue' salvia and several snips of rosemary in a vase John made back in his college days.

The soft fragrance of roses and herbs was detectable when sitting nearby. And just a glance in their direction made me feel happy inside. That's the effect flowers have on me and why I want my garden to be filled with them.

Now that they've faded, it's time to replace them—more roses, perhaps. I just checked the garden and they are still looking pretty good.

The January Garden

Last year the garden was sadly neglected for the more pressing matters of life. It was rarely weeded, never mulched, not fertilized, and left to do its own thing, which as you can imagine resulted in an overgrown mess. We hope to put things back in order this year.

And yet, despite our neglect, flowers bloomed, hummingbirds congregated, and butterflies abounded. And even in winter there are blossoms to enjoy.

The flowers of the firecracker bush are vibrantly colorful.

The fragrant blue mist flower, is going to seed and putting on new blossoms at the same time.

The shrimp plant, though leggy from having to fight its way through the overgrowth, displays its flowers proudly, only slightly nipped from recent frosty mornings.

And, the roses are actually blooming better in the cooler temperatures than in the heat of the summer.

So grows our southern garden in January—until (or if) we get a freeze.