roses....roses....roses...

I'm so glad I decided to put a few more roses (well about 30 actually...) in my garden 2 winters ago. I am enjoying the fruits of my labor with gorgeous roses greeting me every morning.

I went to visit a friend this morning and cut the most beautiful bunch to take with me. I was running a bit late so I didn't have time to snap a pic.. but she loved them! 

take care girls, Maryann

my garden arch inspiration finished..

About a year ago I did a post on "garden arch inspiration'  here ... as I wanted to establish an arch with climbing roses with a seat in the middle. Well I can say it is finally finished!  The roses on the arch still need a bit of climbing to do, especially on one side.. but that will eventually happen (I hope!)

I placed it right along the fence line so everything behind it is in my neighbors yard. I ended up painting the bench today to brighten it up a bit. It still has yet to weather which shouldn't take long in the Aussie sun! 

I planted Iris in the back, that have already bloomed and gone. 

                                                 Miniature roses in the pots have yet to bloom.

This view is from the other side of the arch that is divided by a hedge.

This rose (lavender lassie) is actually planted on the other side of this tree. It's found it's way up the branches and looks ever so lovely against the tiny white blooms that are just dripping off this tree. They look like dainty snowflakes as they fall on the ground and on the bench below.

Once the tree finishes flowering I will trim it back to let the rose on that side have a chance to grow up. On either side I have lavender that I had to cut back by half this morning and under planted is a ground cover with the prettiest pink flowers. 

The roses can be seen from other areas in my garden which make it even more beautiful.

 Bye for now girls... take care, Maryann

new mirror in the hallway..

Since I have another mirror now for my lounge room, I decided to take the existing mirror down and put it in the hallway. I was hoping this elongated mirror would look good above my long sideboard and it did. I love how it looks now! 

The mirror needs another coat of paint .. and maybe some gold highlighting..

I did a  bit of experimenting with some lamps too.. the shades on these are too small but it was just to give me an idea of what they would look like. I might change them out to white, or they might go completely and put something either side of the mirror. 

and this is what I had there before, this mirror is now in my bedroom but that's another day as I am still tweaking in there. It looks very sparce here as this was taken a while ago..

I think the white one looks SO much better, don't you? 

take care, Maryann

my very first peony...

Well I couldn't help but be a little bit excited today! After purchasing several peony plants and waiting about 3 years... today.. I had my very first peony bloom!

I had never really heard of this plant 'till I started seeing and reading about them in blogland... and I knew that I just had to get my hands on one.

I ended up getting the plants online and the first year I planted them there wasn't much of a show of leaves which was very disappointing. So I ended up digging them up again and amending the soil adding more fertilizer. Then last year again only a few leaves and I was beginning to think that this may not be the right area for these plants. This year however the plants seem to be stronger and slightly larger and I was so happy to see that I had a bud on one of them. I must have watched that bud everyday 'till it opened I think!

This one is called Monsieur Jules Elie and she's a beauty, what a gorgeous flower. I'm so glad I gave them a go .. now I only hope next year the other's decide to bloom as well!

take care, Maryann

 

how I dressed my dressing table...

 It is so much fun having a dressing table.. sometimes I change a few things but here is what it's like now.
I came across the sweetest vintage doilies that made such a difference and added some pink themed perfumes.

Even if you don't have a dressing table as such you could easily compromise with a chest of drawers by putting a pretty free standing mirror on top surrounded with all your accessories!

take care, Maryann