Roses peeking in the window!

15 Friday May 2015

Posted by Julia Monroe in All Sparkled Up, encouragement, flowers, gardening, God, Inspirational, nature

Tags

All Sparkled Up, allsparkledup, encouragement, flowers, gardening, God, inspiration, nature, New Dawn, roses, window

I can’t count the number of friends whose lives are really complicated right now. I’m included in that number. So many troubles are weighing heavy on our hearts. But through it all, God is still there and still in charge.

This year, he gave me a little surprise again. Several weeks ago, I noticed New Dawn rose buds in the window!

The New Dawn rose has grown all the way up to my second story kitchen window again.

New Dawn rose buds peek in the kitchen window.

My kitchen window is on the second floor and I don’t have planters in the windows. The patio isn’t finished, the paint is peeling, lots of things are falling apart.

The patio is still unfinished.

Due to disability, I had to let a lot of things go, such as pruning and training the New Dawn rose bush. Just when it was getting to a good age to work with, my spine was collapsing so there were a half dozen years that disappeared.

The New Dawn rose bush is an untrained mess, tangled up with the honeysuckle bush.

Those were the thorn years. Lots of tangles and brambles.

We have to be careful walking down the stairs because the railing is lined with large, sharp thorns.

Even then, good things keep growing. Never forget that… GOOD THINGS KEEP GROWING.

Look how far that rose has grown! All the way to the window!

All the way up to my kitchen window, the rose bush reached.

The roses didn’t care that the paint was peeling.

Does God know where we are? Does he know our dark space? Can he see our need for beauty and goodness?

Yes, God is aware. He knows what we need. And all those little buds lined up in my window to say Good Things Keep Growing.

The roses are blooming now. But the weight of them is pulling the vine over.

I put three nails and a loose wire up to hold the roses up so I can see them from the kitchen again.

Roses in the window!

And how fitting that the rose is called New Dawn. Even without a window box of nourishing dirt, 20 feet from the ground, never stopping, the roses are peeking in my window to remind me Good Things Keep Growing.

Good things keep growing.

And the Lord shall guide thee continually and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. Is 58:11

Bowl Roses

19 Wednesday Feb 2014

Posted by Julia Monroe in flowers, home decor

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

bowl roses, cut flowers, flowers, gardening, roses

That is what the roses become when they wilt too much for a bouquet.
This rose is too far gone to revive.

The rose is wilting.

All the roses in this photo are from the same bouquet. The wilted roses in the vase on the right are the original length.
The roses on the left had the stems trimmed once and fresh water. The roses in the bowl were cut off the stems right under the calyx just as they started to bend over but before they wilted. Overnight in the bowl of water, they perked up. Amazing how all these roses were from the same bouquet.

All the roses are from the same bouquet but they received different treatment.

This photo was taken several years ago.

The roses are cut just under the calyx and placed in water in a bowl. The bottom of the short stem touches the bottom of the bowl and the roses are resting in the water.

Here are my Valentine roses from this year. They were grocery store roses and weren’t fresh to begin with. But yesterday they started to droop so I cut them short and placed them in water. Today several have revived and I removed the brown outer petals from the roses that never opened.

The brown petals were plucked from the roses and they were placed in a bowl full of water. They still look lovely days later.

Bowl Roses. They still look nice days later.

These roses are exquisite, shaded in delicate shell and baby pink. I was surprised he remembered my favorite colors! So sweet. The Bowl Roses look beautiful on the work table.

The roses have bloomed

15 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by Julia Monroe in flowers, gardening, Inspirational, Scripture

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

flowers, gardening, roses, spring

‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:11-13

The bright pink roses are Zepherine, the pale pink is Sceptre'd Isle and the barely pink is Blush Noisette. The purple flowers are Columbine. The scent has completely filled my dining room.

The bright pink roses are Zephirine Drouhin, the pale pink is Sceptre’d Isle and the barely pink is Blush Noisette. The purple flowers are Columbine. The scent from this little bouquet has completely filled my dining room.

My rose bushes were seriously neglected for over five years. For all this neglect, they still burst into bloom. I am honored and humbled that roses grace my table. The Lord’s plans are good.

The old bouquet roses have donned their jewels

26 Tuesday Feb 2013

Posted by Julia Monroe in All Sparkled Up, flowers, Inspirational, nature, sparkling

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

nature, old, old roses, rainy day, roses, Valentine's Day

Their edges are a bit crispy and tattered and the Valentine Roses can no longer hold up their heads.
I’m not about to part with a bouquet if it has even a speck of life in it.
I placed the musty bouquet on the table outside thinking perhaps a little sunshine might brighten them for a last hurrah.
But there was no sun. Instead, the sky darkened and the rain came down in streaks.

Past their prime, the Valentine roses droop their velvety heads.

Past their prime, these Valentine roses droop their velvety heads.

But these roses weren’t about to waste a good opportunity to glam up.
Like a group of aging women, they donned their crystal and went out one last time.
And I cheered them on.

Once vibrant red and perky, the Valentine Roses age gracefully in their queenly red velvet capes and dripping with jewels.

I’m approaching the age to join their ranks. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I plan on seeing it and, even more so, participating.
You’re never, ever too old to sparkle. Don’t forget that!

Hope from a Rose

10 Thursday May 2012

Posted by Julia Monroe in flowers, Inspirational

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

hope, New Dawn, roses

I do not have an easy life. Thoughts tumbled in my mind, trying to find reasons for others’ actions. I finally had to let go of the jumbled mass of thought because there was no resolution. I looked out the kitchen window and saw roses. It was the New Dawn come to visit, knocking at my window! I opened the kitchen window and the roses rushed in, laying their furled velvet skirts on my window sill.
“I know where you live” was the gentle thought that entered my mind. “I know where you are. I know what imprisons you. I have not forgotten.”
The roses had grown over 30 feet to reach my kitchen window from the ground below.
I leaned over the kitchen sink and smelled the rose. The delicious fragrance filled my senses and I knew everything would be ok. Maybe not today but there is always hope for tomorrow.

New Dawn and Blush Noisette rose bouquet.

“Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD.” Psalm 27:14

First roses of 2012

21 Saturday Apr 2012

Posted by Julia Monroe in flowers, gardening

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

gardening, Golden Celebration, Miss Alice, New Dawn, roses

In February 2006, we planted 15 rose bushes from David Austin Roses. I used to keep a blog about the gardening adventure. Alas, a couple years ago someone mistakenly covered the rose bushes with pine straw instead of mulch when I was out of town and the acid that winter killed over half. I was devastated and quit keeping the blog. But some of the roses made it through and are now doing wonderfully!

The first roses - Miss Alice and Golden Celebration planted in barrels, not yet bloomed New Dawn climbing up around the kitchen window.

The pale pink colored Miss Alice is in a large barrel, as is Golden Celebration. The beautiful New Dawn, covered with buds, has yet to bloom. The New Dawn rose is planted down in the ground at the base of the stairs. It grew all the way up the deck stairs and across my kitchen window and is reaching for the back door, over 40 feet long in all. When the roses bloom, I will be able to open the kitchen window and smell roses while doing the dishes. :) Is that cool or what.

Golden Celebration Roses and New Dawn buds outside my kitchen window on the second floor.

If you’re interested, you can read some of my old gardening blog at The Rose Adventure. I no longer keep it up and some day it might disappear. For now, I’m rather fond of the memory of those years.