Share your Travels.... Gardens, Roses, History & Culture world over
Khalid Waleed (zone 9b Isb)
8 years ago
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8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoKhalid Waleed (zone 9b Isb)
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Are roses your favorite flower - why or why not?
Comments (21)My mother had several plant collections, she collected rare alpine plants, most of which were 2 to six inches tall, and I never did appreciate them, but I loved her Primula collection, odd gilded Victorian primroses, hose in garter prims, Japanese primroses, drumsticks and species. My first love in my own garden was the Lily, I loved the trumpet and oriental lilies for their rich deep scent. I lived with more than 200 different modern rosebushes for five years and only one was fragrant Double Delight, and I could not stand the gawky bare limbed growth habit of those H.T.s and Florries. THEN LUanne changed my life with one suggestion "since your'e looking for fragrance why don't you try growing Old Garden Roses ? I did and never looked back. I was enchanted to know that I could and would grow the white 'Rose of York' and the Lancaster Red Rose, cloned from descendants from the same plants that bloomed in medieval Europe. The white Musk rose that Shakespeare wrote so sweetly of, is in my garden now about to bloom. The history and mystery of Old Roses endears me to them, I love knowing that I see roses blooming that I grow the white rose of York, known since the 1400's in England, and that white rose and the red rose of Lancaster was likely to have been seen by both Shakespeare and the Tudor family back when knights fought in tournaments, and some people truly believed that unicorns might exist, the wild eglantine one sees in Queen Elizabeth 1's portraits, painted in the 1500's, are a symbol of virginity and I have held the wild eglantine in my hand, so small and frail and perfect, and smelled the welcome scent of its leaves on a moist breeze. - the rare and only yellow garden rose, brought from the middle east, seen in the paintings of the dutch masters was so rare in the 17th century that one painter had to wait months for a yellow rose bloom to appear in the marketplace, so he could fulfill his patrons request for a yellow rose in a still life. The many Tea roses blooming in my California garden, and the Banksiae have ancestors in China, and I would love to see them all in their native habitat. I love roses best with companions, the photo posted recently with hollyhocks and red Valerian in profusion with one Le Vesuve in the center is my idea of high beauty; lush colorful companions with a queen in the middle. O, Splendor, O, Joy!!! The leaves,up to 15 leaflets upon one stem, fern shaped leaves of Scotch Burnets, pleated rugosa folaige, the scent of the Incense Rose leaves, more strongly scented than many a flower of a modern rose, the flagon shaped hips of Alba Semi Plena, and millions of R. moyessi hips, hips as large as cherry tomatos on Magnifica rugosa, tiny sprays of black hips an ornament many Spinosissima roses, the lush grow of de la Grifferaie' blue-green leaves of the Alba roses, pretty arching growth of a pegged Hybrid Perpetual Ulrich Brunner fils' , and many scents of the different rose classes, , classic Damask, to the sexy scent of Tea roses has opened a world to me that I could not dream to comprehend before I knew of any rose other than 'Peace'. -and best of all, the people I meet at Old Rose events, and here on gardenweb that share their love of roses with me. Thank you all for sharing your beautiful writing, Lux...See MoreGarden History: Garden Antiques
Comments (20)Oh Mel...are sure you want to get me started????? It's going to be LONG LONG LONG. It would distract you from your woes .... this house is a doozy and you'll think you're rolling in clover in comparison. (A lot of this story may sound pretty sad but it really isn't - we've gotten past most of the sad bits and we're determined to get the job done and live happily ever after) A little background on how the house got in such a state of disrepair. My parents bought the house in '63, in Carmel by the Sea, a pseudo rancher at the cutting edge of contemporary design. Not my forte but lots of folks would find it pretty cool. Just after I went off to college my parents moved to the middle east where my dad was Chief of Surgery in a hospital in the middle of the Saudi Arabian desert for over 5 years - I spent an unbelievable 4 months out there but that's another story. While there they rented out the house which turned out to be a huge mistake. Upon their return the house was pretty trashed but my mom had just been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's and my dad spent every minute taking care of her rather than making repairs. My parents were in there 40's when they had my brother and me, so mother was in her early 60's when diagnosed but she had suffered a serious head injury in her 30's, so the Alzheimer's was not familial but due to the head injury - not uncommon. Mom took 11 years to die, and after that my dad wouldn't let any of us touch anything because it was the way my mother had had things. Really, it was very sweet on his part but it sure didn't help the house any. When ever one of us tried to do anything he quipped "it can wait until I'm dead". Well, you can guess the next part. Actually, daddy died at the ripe old age of 85 and the way he wanted. It was just after my husband and I had spent a week with him that he decided it was time to go - so he went, by sheer will power on his part as far as we can determine, in his favorite chair with a good book in hand. After my mom's slow and horrible demise I have to credit my dad for passing as he did. He had been a trauma surgeon for over 35 years and would have loathed having tubes in every orifice and/or being on life support. Still doesn't make it any easier but I understand. So then the house went into probate - dad still had my mom's name on the latest greatest will and the attorney's wouldn't let us touch a thing until recently. It will be two years in June since daddy died. Not only has that contributed to the problems but my brother, who is chronically ill with inoperable brain tumors (not malignant but needs regular chemo and radiation to keep them small) and now has Parkinson's (I KNOW - it sounds worse than any soap opera I know of but he still manages to work as an assistant golf pro) lived in the house keeping an eye on dad and continues to do so with a 160 lb Great Dane named Titus. Cleaning is NOT by brother's forte, so the house is not only falling apart - it's filthy. Okay, now comes the commute, destruction, and process of reviving a house that should sell for close to a million. Have you heard of anything so OBSCENE??? The one good thing is after paying of the mortgages (dad quit work to take care of mom) and splitting the profits, my brother plans to move east and buy a house - cash upfront - and will put the rest in a trust. If we see this thing through to the end he'll have enough to be able to live comfortably and without much worry. So how bad is the house?? I've been restoring beat up abused disgustingly dirty old houses since college and this one takes the cake. What's been a bright spot in all the despair is the tradespeople. Not only have they come to our rescue but charged us less because they knew my husband and I are doing most of the work ourselves. One corner of the foundation had collapsed and sunk almost a foot and the repair estimates initially came in at 75K to 36K. That kind of money would have been a huge chunk of our budget (I'm still paying dad's mortgages) and we would have had to sell the house pretty much as is. We then found Dave Potter, bless the man's soul, who not only raised and rebuilt the foundation but put in french drains all around the house to prevent any further damage, all for under 9K - 3K less than his lowest estimate. Same for our termite/structural contractor - he's letting us do as much as we can and will sign off on our work if it's done to code. Guess I must have done something right in a previous life. And boy is there work! HUGE 4X6" floor joists that are swiss cheese, holes in vinyl (yuck!) flooring and the 1 1/4" subfloors, the cork flooring throughout has completely disintegrated despite being covered with carpet for 40+ years, a tub and half a bathroom that is that close to falling into the crawl space due to water damage, 1970's paint that needs to be primed and redone inside and out, termite damage to outer sheathing and ceiling beams, kitchen and both baths that need to be gutted and rebuilt from the ground up, and a once beautiful garden that is nothing but weeds, except for a few diehard troopers, and now needs to be completely regraded and replanted. To make things even more difficult ...there's just so much of it. How's that for frightening? Feeling better? It's not ALL bad for we are now making progress. I quickly taught myself how to install hardwood flooring, showed my husband, and the two of us working together are making good progress. We've been painting what seems like forever - big rooms and lots of them with 16' vaulted ceilings. The plumber is redoing all the piping and he too has been WONDERFUL. They will be hooking and unhooking things in phases without charging extra, and working around my brother's living in the house. We've one bathroom gutted and I may be able to start tiling as soon as this weekend. We completely destroyed the kitchen last weekend - unbelievably therapeutic despite the 20 mummified rats under the cabinets. I hate to admit it but I ran when I saw the first one and refused to participate until they were removed. But my husband's running commentary on rat removal would beat any Jay Leno monologue hands down! We try to laugh as much as possible,luckily I'm married to the funniest person I've ever met and he keeps me smiling - even through the tears. After a little more drywall removal we can start on the kitchen. Lowe's told me that since I'm acting as General Contractor they'll give us a break on all the cabinets and appliances, tile, etc. so that will help as well. We've been pulling weeds and trimming trees so even the yard, can't call it a garden yet, is looking better than it has in years. Even my brother, as ill as he is, is trying harder and things are a little cleaner. All in all it will be worth it in the end. I get to use some of my creative skills outside the usual constrictions of restoration which is really exciting, and both my brother and I will be more financially secure. I'm sure daddy's smiling about that one, he really thought he was leaving us nothing. Barbara...See MoreLet's share travel adventures
Comments (26)To expand one I listed into a story: It took four flights and effectively 24 hours to get to Madeira. We went to baggage claim and got my wife's bag, however my bag was not to be found. After a lengthy cab ride and checking in at the hotel, we needed to get out and stretch our legs. We first walked to the center on the main city, Funchal, and there found a gondola/cable car going up, out of the city to a suburb. At the top we found a hotel with scenic grounds with a small rustic stone hut. Inside the hut was a table with several wine glasses, a bottle of Madeira and a sign directing you to put 1 euro in box with a slot for a glass of Madeira. After the hassles and stresses of travel, sitting calmly, alone together, drinking a glass of Madeira was a singular perfect moment. After that we toured through a nearby botanical gardens and after a late lunch in the gardens we took a lengthy hike along a "lavada", which is a narrow trail alongside a small irrigation channel. It passed under a waterfall and went on quite a way, much further than we felt like walking. We turned around and hiked back to where we started, and found that the gondola/cable car had stopped running for the evening. A passing cab stopped for us, he was officially off duty, and was going home for the evening, but consented to drive us back to our hotel, giving us a running commentary on the history of Portugal and Madeira along the way. Then after a later dinner at a place the cab driver had recommended, we got back to our room and found that my bag had been found and delivered to our room. Lastly to top off the day we found out that a massive blizzard had gone through the Northeast states, and that if our tickets were one day later like those of another professor who was attending the same conference, we likely wouldn't have made the trip at all....See MoreTravels, gardens and roses 2016 - share your pics here
Comments (95)Straw: Thanks for the verses on giants. In various areas of Pakistan, people have strong believe that once upon a time, there used to be giants living around. However, many people do not include them amongst humans.... they think they were genes or some other creatures, not humans. These are the photos of Deosai Plains. Deo means a Giant (from genes, not humans) and sai means land. Deosai means Land of the Giants. Located at 14000 ft above sea level, it's a strip of 60km x 40km and one of the highest plateaus in the world. As per the local legend, once upon a time giants used to live here. Deosai plains remain under snow for around eight months and remain open only from June to September. During these 4 months, millions of wild bulbs and flowers grow here. Most of them are fragrant which leaves Deosai travellers with an intoxicating feels. One loses sense of time when your are sitting in a huge natural grassy lawn just next to a crystal clear stream amongst thousand of wild bubls with intoxicating fragrance. BTW, ancestors of many of the bulbs that we grow in our houses grow here. Deosai is a national park and therefore, no construction is allowed here. What you can see here is just a few kiosks that are established during tourist season. It is also home to the Himalayan Brown Bear....See MoreKhalid Waleed (zone 9b Isb)
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8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoKhalid Waleed (zone 9b Isb)
8 years agoKhalid Waleed (zone 9b Isb)
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8 years agolast modified: 8 years agojessjennings0 zone 10b
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agojessjennings0 zone 10b
8 years agoKhalid Waleed (zone 9b Isb)
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8 years agolast modified: 8 years agojessjennings0 zone 10b
8 years agojessjennings0 zone 10b
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8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoKhalid Waleed (zone 9b Isb)
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8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoKhalid Waleed (zone 9b Isb)
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