Autumn is glorious!!!

So, so glorious!!!

Was I sad to put the garden to bed?

Yes!

But how can I remain unhappy when all of this is before me now???

Aren't we blessed to live in such a gorgeous world?

When I wake in the morning...I have a ritual.

I go to my bedroom window, and draw back the curtains, and say a prayer.

A prayer of thanksgiving.

For everything!

For every bit of it!

The seasons change so beautifully here.

It makes everyday a pleasure.

It makes me want to jump from the bed in the morning just to see the loveliness

that will be gone too soon from view.

These are the last views of the garden I will be showing this year on my blog.

I now hope to get some pretty things made for Christmas to give as gifts this year.

My daughter who lives in Boise came and spent two days with me,

and helped to jump start my creativity.

I have difficulty switching gears from one thing to another sometimes,

and it takes something, or someone to help prod me a little.

I have no idea when Jo Packham will be contacting me about shooting the feature

on the studio, but I think I had better get to making something to show for having

such a fun place to create in.

Nature has certainly been busy (without any prodding at all) creating amazing views

in the garden and around my lovely part of Idaho.

These are some earthworm eye views of the leaves falling all around

the beds and lawn.

I have all the work done in the garden for another year and it feels good to have

accomplished it all before the snow comes.

Of course there is always something that will have been overlooked...

like getting all the hoses rolled up, the lawnmower Winterized,

and the patio furniture stashed undercover...

but those are Dale's chores. 

I'm just sayin'...

Sorry about all the pictures...

but I had so many I wanted  to share and had trouble deciding, since it was the last post on the garden

for 2010.

This crabapple is my favorite in the garden.

Still so much green for this time of year here.

And...can you believe these next few were taken the same day???

Just a couple of days ago!

And this is my last garden bouquet of the year!!!

I will miss you, beautiful roses!

And a few words to live by

Thank you for letting me share my passion for gardening here and

for your encouragement.

So until next year...

White Wednesday...and a lovely new magazine.

It seems to me that the world is spinning at a faster pace than I can keep up with...

so when this happens, therapy for me is to take the camera outside

into my place of repose and capture the beauty that is there for the taking.

A week or so ago, I had cut some of the hydrangeas that were blooming

and put them in a picnic basket to dry naturally. This arrangement will be adorning

the top of my kitchen cabinets for the Winter to remind me Summer will

again come and bring it's blooms with it.

As you can see from the pictures, it was still very green here at the time I cut the hydrangeas.

In a very short time, things have changed and Autumn has painted the garden a myriad

of hues, and everyday is even more beautiful than the day before.

The petunias in the urn behind are still hanging in there with their

gorgeous colors from Summer.

I left many on the bush to see if they would change from their white to the lovely sepia

tones that they do sometimes in the Fall.

I think because they have been so late this year, they won't get their chance.

 Snow is expected here next week.

Last Fall we got our first snow the 6th of October! Even the snow is late.

 (thank goodness)

I love hydrangeas in all their different hues and stages on the bush,

and I cut them to see how each stage will dry.

The longer they are on the bush the better they dry.

But sometimes I want just the right color, so I will cut early.

I don't mind if they shrivel and crinkle up a little.

I can still see the beauty they have to offer.

Boy, do I hope people think that way of me when I get that way.LOL!

The roses are STILL blooming beautifully!

 In the middle of October...

LOVE IT!

I took the pictures of this 'Morden Snowbeauty' rose yesterday.

The pureness of the white is so striking in the garden right now,

amidst all the Fall colors.

And what goes better with White Wednesday, than a little white dog???

T.T. Rabbit aka Tiny Tim

Among all the green that is still out here in the garden,

you can catch glimpses of Autumn everywhere.

I took many photos yesterday of the colors, and will be posting them

in my next post.

 I better hurry and post however, because it sounds as if I will

have snow photos to post soon!

If it wasn't for the fact that I am in need of a good rest...

I would be kicking and screaming my way into Winter.

But am I tired!!!
The good kind of tired.

To veiw some beautiful whites,

you will find a link to many sites showing theirs off this Wednesday

at Kathleen's Faded Charm.
***

I am excited to share with you this beautiful magazine

 that the lovely artist Jo-Anne Coletti at

Vintage Rose Collection is creating.

She had asked me if she could do a feature of some of

my style in the garden, home, and studio. 

I was thrilled that she would consider me, since this is a one time magazine on

romantic style that she is creating.

I am so excited to be able to grace it's pages.

Thank you so much Jo-Anne.

I have left a link to her site if you would like to know more about it.

Just the front cover makes me drool.

I can't even imagine what the rest will be like.

Did I already say, 'I am excited'?!!

Fall roses and a note...

The final flush of roses is on in the garden now and

 I thought I would share a few pictures I have been taking of them ...

in the house and in the garden.

This pretty little rose is Colette. A  'Romantica Rose'.

It is an extremely vigorous rose, and does well here in my garden. 

It can be trained as a short climber. One of them grows on the south side of my house.

Below is a view of it now in it's second bloom cycle.

***

I love this rose below, but don't have the name of it right now. I have it written down,

but didn't take the time to find it. It looks a lot like my 'Angel Face' rose, but has

a little more peach in it.

I have it sitting in the kitchen window.

Sure wish you could smell this pretty thing.

It dries beautifully too.

The rose below is 'Morden Blush'. I can't get enough of this rose,

and so I have several bushes in my garden.

The rose below is 'Moxie'.
This rose shows up almost like a neon light in the garden.

I love it's form and scent, and wish I could find another.

My mother gave me this rose, so it is very special to me.

For any of you that have 'Bonica' in your garden, I don't need to tell you 

how special this rose is. 

Perfect in almost every way for us cold Winter gardeners.

She is just covered with blooms right now, and goes into Winter blooming like crazy.



You can look out in December and see the frozen blooms still clinging to it.

***

I wanted to show the sight along the driveway right now.
 We have this little arbor over the iron headboard gate that I have on my sidebar, and

the morning glory is blooming now and looks so pretty. 

Morning Glory are one of those 'granny garden' plants that I love so much.

I had an elderly friend who has long since passed away, and she had them growing

everywhere. I think they are charming in every way.

A peek of the gazebo through the arbor

I'm not catching on to Blogger's new way of loading pictures, so this picture of my 'Morden Blush'

rose should have been below the pictures of the bouquets of it above.

Just a view of it on the bush.

The picture above and the one below, are of the roses growing along the driveway now.

Finally Fall is coming to the garden, although it is still very green,

some of the trees are starting to color up a bit.
I am madly cutting things back, and getting the garden ready for it's

long Winter nap.

Now is when I wish I could hire someone to help me.

But, boy do I need the exercise, so I will go it alone for another year.

You can see that the pruners are missing from my little bucket

tied to my tree. I wonder where the heck I've laid them down now.

I had a lot of questions about the horses near my little getaway, and thought I would answer

you here. Yes I do ride, but haven't for quite awhile. I think it has to do a lot with

wondering how I could take care of Landon, if I fell off and broke something, LOL!

My husband goes up about every other day to check the amount of grass

in which ever pasture they are on at the time. It is time for them to go on the hillside now,

because the grass is plentiful there now, and for some reason

 they love the dry grass that grows there.

The water is plentiful, because of the creek and the natural springs that are there.

We have seven horses total and love 'em.

In the late Fall, we bring them to the home place and stable them here. 

Then they sulk all Winter, until they can be on their forty acres, 

pretending to be wild ponies again. 

Thank you for all of the wonderful messages you left me about the shack

(okay, I'll change it's name)

 I cherish them, and the friendships we have forged  here.