Phoebe has been helping a great deal with our little cottage rose bed this spring, so I let her take charge! She has chosen many of our hanging baskets and put them where she wanted them to go! I had my yard man cut my straggling roses back considerably in the winter, so we haven't had quite as good a showing, but they will burst with color again in late June and I'll photograph the whole garden then.
For now, here are a few pictures to show what we've done ... together ... Grandma following the eight year old! I've had this old wooden chair for years and have used it in a variety of ways ... on the porch ... in the yard under shade trees ... always holding a pot of flowers of some kind. We decided to paint it this year and put it in the front rose bed. The pot holds oregano, dill and lemon sage. The wire rabbits have been painted a dozen different colors over the years! Right now they are red and need a new coat of some vibrant color!
Phoebe decided we should move our herb garden of pots from the back yard to the front, this year! Good call because the shade trees in the back have gotten so big and full that we get very little sunshine. We planted lots of basil, rosemary, thyme and chocolate mint for drinks! Don't you love the big leaves of sage in the top picture? I'm harvesting those and freezing them so I can use them under the skin of my Thanksgiving turkey. I love connecting all the herbs to special occasions for Phoebe. It helps her remember why they are important. We'll be making a pot of homemade spaghetti sauce this week when she is with me ... and we'll use all the Italian flavoring herbs that day. She'll love that experience! We'll put it in freezer containers and she'll take plenty of it home to share with her mom and dad!
Moss Roses were my husband's favorite flowers ... and we had a Labrador one time that liked to eat the red and pink ones ... Not the yellow or orange ones!
Joe's been gone four years, but I still plant his flowers each year and this year Phoebe placed them on a table with this cute little green bench and a rabbit! The heart in the following picture says "all my love - all my life" ... another tribute to Papa Joe.
This corner of the bed is important because Phoebe planted morning glory seeds in the big red pots ... and no, it isn't pumpkin time, but this pumpkin spends the whole year in our garden!
When the morning glories start growing and blooming, I'll photograph them again! They will spread all over the fence. I'm afraid she isn't being too patient waiting for them to start blooming.
You'll see more of Mr. Elephant later on a special July 4th tablescape, but right now he is gracing the coffee table on the front porch! We found him at our favorite little collectible shop! The cute cage stand came from the same shop several years ago. This year, Phoebe wanted to put flowers in it, too!
Hope you enjoyed a little tour of Phoebe's gardening ventures! I'll be sharing with a few of the parties listed on my sidebar, but make sure you check out my home page before you move on. I've been posting lots of recipes lately!
