Yes Kate your pictures do a great job at raising spirits at my house. BEAUTIFUL!! You have a gorgeous landscape. I love mixing lilies and phlox in with my roses also. I wish lilies would bloom all summer. It has been so dreary and cold here for about 6 or 7 weeks now. If its not freezing cold then its raining which we need so I won't complain about the rain but I am sick of the cold already. Thanks for posting your beautiful flowers. Take care, Judy

I love the way the stepping stones go thru the large bed! A garden to be proud of.

What a lovely colorful garden! I love the purples, pinks and blues! I imagine you enjoy many afternoons on your bench, reaping the rewards for all your hard work! I will come back to your garden often!

Jill

Your yard is pretty. It looks like a kind of cottage garden approach. Out of curiosity, what are the blue flowers in the 2d and 3d picture?

prettypetals--I'm so glad you enjoyed the pics. Yes, roses,lilies, and phlox are an absolutely wonderful combination. I also have some bulb lilies mixed in some of the beds.

iris_gal--those steppings stones through the center of the bed are my "perfumed path." Besides the Double Delight and Elle shown in the pic, you can also sniff Valencia, Chrysler Imperial (well, next spring you can), and another Double Delight along it.

wanna_be--oh,please do feel free to visit often. Myself, I need that color in the middle of grey winter!

the_bustopher--yes, kinda cottage garden. You can still tell in the phlox/lilies sections that I was a perennial gardener for many years before I turned to roses. As for the blue flowers, my camera is playing tricks with the color. They are actually a rich purple--kinda the shade of the perennial Salvia called May Night (a lot of people plant it--I have 3 out there some place). The blue-purple flowers you asked about are larkspur, which re-seeds itself every year. It is usually taller, so I'd guess I took the pics near the end of its cycle after I had trimmed back some of the top portions that were done blooming. It blooms for a good 6 weeks or longer in the spring/early summer.

Thanks, everybody, for your comments.

Kate

You have a gorgeous garden! I enjoyed seeing your pictures, thank you!

Kate, thank you for the visit to your garden. The only thing better would be to come in person. How do you keep your grass and mulch areas so neat and separated?

Carla

Kate,your yard is so pretty!!!! :) you'll have to cuddle up with a warm blanket and start on your plans for spring , the dreaming....oh of more flowers :)!:)!...., wish someone could come and help me with my yard darn it. my hands have been rebelling , and I have big plans , wish I was rich!!! :) I'm planning on placing trellises on each segment of my fence and on the back I have 9 segments I guess you call them, this will be my pink fence so far I have 35 roses to go there the climbers so far will be shadowdancer , multiblue clematis, 2 berries and cream and 2 edens and 1 villa de lyon clematis . I have a few pics I can post.
Happy Planning!
SuzyQ

Kate,

to have a rose garden like yours is one of my dreams.

Ray

Kate:

Your garden is so vivid and welcoming. The way you have shaped the path creates a nice flow while maximizing your space. I just want to plop down on your bench and enjoy the scenery. Thanks for sharing those wonderful photos.

Kate

Kate,
I agree with Ray.To have such a beautiful garden would be my dream. I love the mix of perennials and roses. I have tried to do something similar in my garden but it sure is not as neat and put together as your. Thank you for these pictures. Lesley

Kate this is a beautiful scene on a cold Wintery, snowy day. This is the kind of garden I aspire to! I love the stepping stones and the way it is a mix of roses and perennials but not at all overcrowded. Perfection!

I'm so glad my garden could bring enjoyment to you. The pics certainly are a welcome contrast to the thin layer of snow I can see outside my computer window right now!

Carla, hey, if you are ever wandering by southeast Kansas, make sure you give me a call and I will give you a personal tour of my garden. The neat edges--I get them the hard way. The garden was deep-dug several years ago to get rid of weeds. Then heavy mulch spread. Then periodically I get on my hands and knees and pull back the grass (including bermuda grass--ugh!) that want to spread into the garden. Then I run for the lawnmower, set it on low, and quickly mow around all the edges. Have to do that 2 or 3 times a season if I want to keep it half-way neat.

SuzyQ--your plans sound great. I predict a beautiful garden in your future! And Ray and lesmc, same prediction for you two. My gardens have been maturing and slowly expanding for 25 years now. Time, patience, and care (and getting rid of your mistakes--LOL) are crucial ingredients in any garden.

Redsox and Kate--I'm glad to hear the stepping stones work for you. I put a lot of hard work into doing that. When I moved here centuries ago, there was a big pile of rather large (and heavy!) sandstones. Couldn't figure out what to do with them or how to get rid of them. So I decided sandstone paths were the only solution. Some of those suckers are heavier than I can lift--as my son and nice neighbor who moved some of them for me will testify.

I hope other people will post pics of their gardens. I would enjoy looking at them also.

Kate

What beautiful pics of your lovely garden. It must be delightful to walk around amidst such beauty!

Kate---what a lovely surprise to come to the forum and see your lovely garden.

It is cold and snowy and icy and damp here in the Northeast.

What a treat to visit your garden.

thanks ,Florence

Such a pretty yard and garden you have, Kate. I love the bulging part in the first pic - very interesting and curvy. And all the lovely colors and heights make it easy on the eyes. You've made a beautiful garden.

Sherry

Kate, I love all of your companion plantings and island beds. I also like the seating areas you've incorporated. I need more of those. I spy that nice hydrangea under the tree in the 2nd and 3rd pictures.

Eric

Eric, I have two of those hydrangeas--Annabelle--over there, and when they are at their peak bloom, they even take attention away from the roses, if you can imagine that. Most of the time, however, the roses and hydrangeas get along fine with each other, but my roses have been known to sulk a bit when Annabelle stuts her stuff.

Kate

Hi Kate,

Thanks for letting me know what variety it is.

Eric

You have inspired me too. I am using these pics as inspiration for my garden this summer. Absolutely gorgeous!

Your gardens are just beautiful! I'm missing mine, too - walked around in the snow yesterday, looking at the bare canes and planning spring pruning (months away yet!) I can relate to your wish for having taken more pictures last season. I didn't get out there much with my camera and now I'm regretting it. Thank goodness for rose gardens like yours to sigh over. :-)