It’s been pouring rain for a couple days now, but the sun came out from behind the clouds long enough to coax a few rosebuds to open, still with dewdrops. This is a yellow rose in my garden today that I thought looked photogenic so I took a quick snapshot to share; it’s called Helmut Schmidt and has a nice light yellow rose scent. It blooms repeatedly through spring, summer, and fall, and the bush gets large here in our mild climate.
It hit 80 degrees here today and I couldn’t resist spending some time outside this afternoon. My SIL was in town and stopped by for a quick visit, so we sat on the porch for an hour catching spring fever. Here are a few photos I took in the garden today. Above is a winter…
Over the weekend my parents spotted some beautiful dogwoods in bloom at a nearby winery, so I stopped by to see them too. I’ve not seen dogwood trees in years because they are not often grown in gardens here. Dogwood prefers cooler summers and more winter chill than we have, but these at the winery…
I stopped by a local nursery to pick up a couple grasses that I needed and I spotted a vine that I’ve never grown: the deciduous Mandevilla laxa, known as Chilean jasmine. The large, very fragrant, white trumpet-shaped flowers quickly won me over, so I had to bring one home to try. It grows 10-20 feet and…
We’ll do a draw at the end of the day Thursday for 3 winners of one sample each of our two new scents: Wood Violet and Vintage Rose. Just post here on the blog that you’d like to be entered or send an email to info@sonomascentstudio.com and you’ll be entered in the draw. Tell me…
The sweet peas are at their peak now, producing armloads of flowers for bouquets. My Mom gets many more in her garden than I do because she has the perfect spot in full sun for them and they’ve naturalized there. We cut the flowers to keep them blooming as long as possible and then let…
This morning was bright but cloudy, perfect for taking some photos in the garden. The pic above is Ballerina rose, a hybrid musk. Below is Climbing Pinky rose on the left and an overgrown Jacques Cartier rose on the right. Oak trees in the background. Below is Iris pallida, the iris that is grown to produce…