The potting shed.

It was fun to draw and paint an interpretation of the potting shed.

A garden is a commitment to the plants, to water, to weed, to prune and finally to enjoy every task.

In 307/306 BCE the Athenian philosopher Epicurus bought a house with a garden just outside Athens along the road from the Dipylon gate to the Academy. 

Other great founders of philosophical schools had chosen public areas for their teaching: Plato established his school near the Academy. Isocrates and Aristotle taught in the Lyceum. Zeno often met his students in the Stoa Poecile. In contrast, Epicurus’ hedonistic and materialistic philosophy flourished and grew amidst the privately owned groves of his Garden. The Garden itself – apart from the city, a private space, and pleasurable – 

Old Rose, Irene Watts;

I love this rose.

Bred by Pierre Guillot (1855-1918) (France, 1895)

China / Bengale.  

Salmon-pink to light pink.  Mild to strong, sweet fragrance.  up to 50 petals.  Average diameter 4".  Large, very full (41+ petals) bloom form.  Blooms in flushes throughout the season.  

Short, well-branched.  Small foliage.
Height  (45 to 80 cm).  Width (60 cm).   Shade tolerant.  -.  Can be grown in the ground or in a container 

seedling of Madame Laurette Messimy

Here in the subtropics winter smells of roses and the hot sun becomes powdered sunshine. Ts

Photo/Text Ts

Tiny pink Rose

This tiny beauty with a wonderful fragrance grows on the fence between my lovely neighbours, Claire and Mary. When the climbing shrub is in flower I pick some.

Cecile Brunner is a climbing rose with bushy, vigorous growth.

This tall growing rose needs support and is perfect for covering a strong metal frame, pergola or arbour. 

Paul Laurence Dunbar - 1872-1900

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The mist has left the greening plain, 

The dew-drops shine like fairy rain, 

The coquette rose awakes again 

     Her lovely self adorning. 

 
The Wind is hiding in the trees, 

A sighing, soothing, laughing tease, 

Until the rose says "kiss me, please" 

    'Tis morning, 'tis morning. 

Photo/Text Ts

Wonderful Penta.

(Pentas lanceolata)  The plant may reach 1.5 m, but I do not let it grow such hight. I prune it back. The flowers are generally pink, red or white, but new cultivars have introduced tones of purple and lavender and mixed blooms such as pink with red centres. Mine do hybridize resulting in nice colours.  

This old-fashioned plant is a favourite in my garden. The nectar-rich flowers are very attractive to bees and butterflies, so you will have the added bonus of enjoying watching these visitors to your garden. The flowers are also good for cutting, lasting a week or more in a vase.

Pentas flower almost year-round, and thrive in full sun or part shade. Pruning is a necessity to keep them blooming.

Flowers leave some of their fragrance in the hand that bestows them. 

 Chines proverb.   

Photo/Text Ts

Camellia japonica;

Pearl's pet, a miniature.

We are the lucky ones who are loving plants and look after a garden. All year the garden provides changing joys, colours, insects, names to remember, to look and to see. A garden is never in denial always ready to please. 

Photo/text Ts

Wonderful Milkweed flowers;

The milkweed flower (Asclepias syriaca) and its cousin butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) are an essential part of a butterfly garden. Providing nectar for butterflies and hummingbirds. The Milkweed plant supplies larvae of the Monarch with food and shelter, providing caterpillars food and a resting place before they leave the caterpillar stage and become butterflies. 

As the plants can be toxic; consumption of the plant protects caterpillars from predators. Historically, the milkweed plant was valuable when grown for its medicinal properties. Seeds are contained in an attractive pod that bursts and sends seeds drifting through the air, borne by the wind. 

Photo/Text Ts

Camellia Sasanqua;

Camellia sasanqua, Setsugekka;

A delight when autumn arrives in my garden. It is one of the earliest bloomers. Its silvery-white, papery blossoms are delightful and beloved by bees and other nectar and pollen lovers.

Drought and disease resistant. Can grow to a fairly big tree.

“Her delight in the smallest things was like that of a child. There were days when she ran in the garden, like a child of ten, after a butterfly or a dragon-fly. This courtesan who had cost more money in bouquets than would have kept a whole family in comfort would sometimes sit on the grass for an hour, examining the simple flower whose name she bore.” 
― Alexandre Dumas-fils, La Dame aux Camélias

Book of Flowers Photos/Text T.S.