Garden Sketches - Roses, Lavender, Peonies; all the favorites!

My favorite time of year here in New England - summer, glorious summer! This climbing rose is the most fragrant thing, right by our front door! The little nest had been abandoned, and built within the canes of the rose, mid-way up the pillar! Isn't that a romantic little home? Except for it being in a rather busy spot...and later being blown out by a storm! Now, as for the sketchbook itself, it's made by Nujabi, from India, and is a very soft beautiful handmade paper with a deckled edge. It used to be my favorite paper. But I've found one that I like much, much more! (which I'll talk about in a later post). I've been enjoying using a Lamy Joy fountain pen to draw with, and use a variety of watercolors (Winsor Newton, Daniel Smith, M. Graham). In some areas with finer detail I use a Pitt permanent pen.

The front garden is so inviting! I love being in this area! The fragrances are wonderful, and when one plant goes out of bloom, another is just coming into bloom! The peonies have just gone by, the roses are still hanging in there, and the lavender is just bursting open! Oh the color and fragrance!

We have 2 different varieties of peonies, one is pink and the other white (but do I remember the names?, no, that's what I depend on my garden guru hubby to do for me!...I remember the fragrance and color!).  The white variety in the front garden is heavenly! 

 Just a nice spot to sit for a short while...not to linger very long. But it certainly is inviting to come home to!

The pale pink rose is along the fence, it took a hit from a winter thaw followed by a snow storm. During the thaw, it was just long enough for things to start budding. Froze back most of my hydrangeas, too. The darker pink rose is wonderfully fragrant, and a lovely climber. We've trained it up the pillar on the front porch. 

 One of my lavender varieties, the darker purple Hidcoate is beautiful! I just love the color! It's shorter in height than the lavender grosso variety we are also growing, but the fabulous color certainly makes up for that! What are your favorite garden plants? I have to admit - our gardens have turned out to be so satisfying! The work never ends, but the results are so delightful!

Garden Journal Sketchbook - slowly but surely!

Things are pretty slow this year in the garden.  I've been keeping a garden journal for the last couple years, and these little green nubs (as seen on Good Friday -  April 3rd of this year) are our daffodils! Last year on Good Friday, they were already up and opened, like so:

and yes, last year Good Friday fell on the 18th... which is tomorrow. They are still not ready to open! They're up...and I can see the  bloom heads waiting...just waiting for that right time to pop open! Well, I'm gonna just quit looking. In fact I'm going down to DC this weekend to visit daughters and see cherry blossoms! Hopefully when I get back home the daffs will be in bloom. Hubby might even get to see them before me! If they pop open while I'm gone, I'm sure he'll send me a photo! 

So, I know what I'll probably be painting next week!!