Archives for June 2012

Living Green

I’ve always tried to live green.

I don’t use plastic bags – I use reusable clothe bags for my shopping. I watch how much water I’m using when I’m washing the dishes or brushing my teeth by not running the tap unnecessarily. I walk to work – mostly because it’s very close to where I live but it’s great for the environment that I’m able to do that. I also try to buy grocery products that are grown close to home.

Just like the information in the image below kindly sponsored by Neutrogena Naturals we also use CFL bulbs throughout our house to save energy. I also try to keep the lights out in rooms that aren’t being used. I mean, there’s no point in lights being on or appliances or electronics being on in rooms that no one is using – right?

What do you do you do in your home to save energy and to save the environment? I find Living Green is quite easy if you just keep practicing good habits. One green deed a day and it will come naturally very quickly.

Wrestling with a Monster Rose

by Tricia

I spent a couple of hours this afternoon fighting with my monster rose. I call it a monster rose because it’s absolutely HUGE.

The rose in question is a William Baffin Canadian Explorer Rose. It’s about 10 years old and it’s oh … 16 feet tall and maybe 12 to 14 feet wide.

It’s just finishing it’s spring flush of blooms so all of it’s many branches are full of rose blooms. Thousands of them I believe! It’s absolutely gorgeous – all pink and unbelievable. I can’t believe how big this rose is and how many flowers it actually produces when it first blooms each spring!

Unfortunately about a week ago there was a big rain storm and the rose being so heavy with blooms half the branches fell to the ground. The rose looked like it was split in half!

So … yes, that’s what I was doing this afternoon, wrestling with my huge rose, trying to lift all those big heavy branches and make them stand upright again. I was out there with my husband pounding stakes into the ground and tying branches up with heavy twine. Oh and losing skin … all the while doing this with a hand that very well might be broken!

I sure hope that all the tying up and staking we did holds those branches up for a few years! That rose really is a monster!

The first flush of rose blooms

by Tricia

My garden is just growing beautifully this season. The warm winter we had seemed to put my garden several weeks ahead of itself so my roses and other plants started leafing out and growing literally months earlier than they normally do.

Remember – I’m in a cold climate. I have a zone 5b garden here in Toronto. That’s not the coldest gardening climate, but it’s not southern gardening either. LOL A warm winter was a nice change.

My roses are just finishing their first flush of blooms. They were absolutely gorgeous this year. Just walking into my backyard was a treat. Looking at all the roses in bloom was lovely as was the scent of the roses. It was warm for most of May – warm enough mid month that we had the air conditioning running 24 hours a day, but towards the end of the month and even now it’s been cooler and we’ve had the windows open and the scent of the roses and the honeysuckle has been wafting indoors and it’s beautiful. I wish all of my roses were in bloom all of the time and that all of them gave off scent.

I still have some work to do in my garden to fully prepare it for summer. I have to plant some annual flowers and put a bit more mulch down but I think I’m otherwise prepared. How is your garden? Do you have flowers blooming?

Archives for June 2012

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