A Good Year for Roses

I actually wrote this post yesterday because tomorrow my daughter is taking me out for a lovely day of shopping then lunch and maybe a bit of vintage shopping so I'm keeping my fingers crossed the sun stays shining.

































But being a women and being excellent at multi-tasking I'm also going over to the lovely Jane's from SmallButCharming for her 'flowers in the house' link party, always fun so if you have a few flowers pop them in vase and join in.



























The Roses are wonderful this year, I have no idea why but this year they seem huge.




































This lovely cream Rose is a tea rose called 'Sombreuil' I'm very lucky it grows so well as it slightly sensitive to frost but it comes back every year.

Kitchen Favourites

The lovely Sarah over a Modern Country Style is having a link part about our most favourite parts/items in the kitchen.










































So this got me thinking about what exactly are my favourite pieces in my kitchen, usually its the newest addition but there are some old favourites that seem to stay even after I've had a clear out.













































This 'cafe' sign I made from an old piece of pine, I occasionally cheat if I can't find what I'm looking for and make my own. This 98% of the time doesn't work, they never quite look right but this one has stuck around. I like how it draws the eye to a spot in the kitchen.












































Another favourite is these old scales I love the colour and patina and they add a bit of colour to the kitchen.















































This cake stand is another miss-match item that I put together, I like the fact that it adds an English tea room look to the dresser.

and then of course my dresser is, as you can probably guess as it features all the time in my posts, my most favourite part of my kitchen. I have had this dresser through the 90's stripped pine stage till now, I love how I can change everything around to create a different look and just pick a few flowers from the garden and plonk them into a simple jar and it looks great every time.

Lovely Lavender

Lavender is such a lovely plant and his year I have an abundant of it, so decided to bring in as much as I can to dry and use for lavender pillows.



























Even a little sprig in the bathroom.

The kitchen too, the smell is wonderful.

and the best place for lavender is in bedroom. I'll show more of my newly painted bedroom soon, just waiting for hubby to fit a new cupboard door.. you just can't rush these husbands :)

Today I'm linking with Linda over at Coastal Charm

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Busy Times

I'm decorating my bedroom at the moment and that means everything else seems to go to pot.


































My garden is wild with neglect.










































and I just had time to pop some roses (Madame Pierre Oger Rose) into a jar to scent the kitchen this morning and then its back with the painting.

Of course there is always time for vintage hunting and I added to my bottle collection this weekend.

Flowers in the House

Its a beautiful June day here today, the sun is shining and the garden is full of flowers.







































If fact so many I picked a large bunch to bring inside and enjoy and to share with others at Jane's, SmallButCharming for Flowers in the House.









































I have a bit of everything here, the Chive flower, blue Campanular, Arum Lily, blue Geranium, Alchemilla Mollis, a few Granny's Bonnet seed heads, Verbascum, white Peony and a Rose......





































Not only is this a very beautiful rose it also has the most wonderful fragrance. It's a David Austin rose called 'Constance Spry'. It only flowers in the summer but is well worth growing just for the lovely scent, which Austin describes as having a strong myrrh fragrance, this I can vouch for as this one rose has filled my whole kitchen with a exotic spicy and licorice scent.

My Garden in June

The weather here is lovely the sun is shining and the very old tree in a neighbouring garden has a wonderful Blackbird that lives there and sings his heart out all day long.

Although, along with shade the tree also brings sticky sap and hundreds of seedlings that have to be weeded out every year...... strange but since the Blackbird has lived in that tree I don't mind about any of those things.

Alchemilla Mollis a cottage favourite mixed with Purple Sage and Chives.

A little shady bit at the back of the garden.

This Arum Lily had become quite big so I chopped a bit off and used it in the pond as a marginal.

It didn't seem to mind.

Experimenting here with the Plum Tomatoes I'm growing this year with sacks, as I'm determined not to use plastic pots any more.

I now look in junk shops for containers and have now replace every plastic pot on my patio, I'm still looking for a few more for the containers I have at the back of the garden.

The blue Campanular has seeded itself everywhere along this border, which after this year will be changing to incorporate shrubs at the back, so if you have any suggestions for any great shrubs that have a lot of interest I would be very grateful.

Since changing the liner in my pond the water has gone a nasty green, even though I introduced oxygenating plants, maybe it needs some more, any suggestions?

More herbs and close to the Kitchen on the patio for easy picking.

A favourite seating place for me is near the pond.

This is a nice combination of planting, the white Peony and Blue Geranium.

Today I'm linking with Laura over A Place for Tea for Friday Flower

A Favourite Rose

Although we have been having some very dry weather lately, the Roses seem not to have suffered too much and even seem bigger to me this year. This Rose is a favourite of mine because it flowers with abundance and has a very pale silver lilac colouring and a very lovely sweet scent.







Its called 'Blue Moon' its a Hybrid Tea rose and was the first Rose I planted in this garden so it's well established and it seems to like climbing over an arch at the back of the garden.






Here its tangled with 'Clematis Montana' which flowers in the spring.






As I have said before I'm always on the look out for vessels for flowers and whilst at the little French shop last week I found a few items that are perfect for Roses.




A couple of jam jars and a tiny potty.

Don't worry the potty was thoroughly cleaned :).

Its very rustic to say the least but has some lovely faded gold detail that I thought was lovely.

Today I'm linking over at a Beach Cottage for Good Life Wednesdays