A Wedding in Oranges

Posted on 01/20/2013 by Laurie

We hosted a charming wedding at Bed & Breakfast yesterday. There was quite a bit to do to get ready and so, unfortunately, I didn’t have time to photograph the cake or the bride’s bouquet. I did take a few photos of some of the other flowers today, though. The bride loves orange, especially orange daisies. So I made her bouquet with four styles of orange gerbera daisies along with coppery-pink florists roses and peach-colored spray roses. The textures and colors were so cheerful that I used the same assortment of flowers to decorate the cake. We at The Morning Star wish the bride and groom a very happy future together!

Another Happy Wedding … Cake

Posted on 12/29/2012 by Laurie

Despite the frigid temperatures today, we had another beautiful outdoor wedding here at The Morning Star. The bride wore a stunning strapless gown and the groom was in dress military uniform. There were only six people at the service, so I made a miniature, but highly detailed, wedding cake. The three layer white butter cake was frosted with real vanilla buttercream and decorated with hundreds and hundreds of sugar pearls in varying sizes. It took two of us about 45 minutes to place them all. The cake was then finished with fresh roses and the bride’s cake topper. I didn’t want to get in the photographer’s way, but I did manage to get a few pictures of the cake. This is one that I liked because the late afternoon sun’s rays seemed to imbue the scene with real emotion. May the bridge and groom have a truly happy future together!

Warm Winter Reds

Posted on 12/28/2012 by Laurie

With the cold, damp, grey days that we have been having, I’ve been working to keep the house warm and cozy. Fresh flowers, and lots of bright red, really help.

Marilyn in the Cold

Posted on 11/13/2012 by Laurie

These are photos of my Marilyn Monroe rose that I took this morning. Brrr …

Marilyn Monroe is considered an apricot-colored rose, but the color of rose blooms is often affected by temperatures and seasons. This last bloom of the year was a true pink, but with lime green outer petals – stunning, even in the cold.

Winding Down

Posted on 10/27/2012 by Laurie

It was with some sentimentality that I photographed the garden yesterday. I knew that a freeze was predicted for last night, a sure sign that garden will be winding down for the year. As I sit here and write before sunrise, it is 30 degrees F. outside; and though it is toasty warm in the B&B, I know that once the sun comes up and I take a look around, I’ll see that some of my flowers and herbs have been nipped by the cold. It will take cooler temperatures to make the hardy perennials and shrubs go dormant for the winter. In fact, if the day time temperatures are warm enough, the ground cover roses will keep producing blooms for up to 4 more weeks, but the other roses are almost done for the year. The chrysanthemum plants will be fine, but probably not the flowers. The asters, which put out one big flush of flowers every year in late October have had their show, though they will have color for a little longer.

Yesterday’s Garden

Aster ‘Raydon’s Favorite’

Rose ‘Memorial Day’

Chrysanthemum ‘Diana’ with Ground Cover Roses

White Rose (unknown variety)

White Mum (unknown variety)

Crape Myrtle Foliage

Postscript:

It was a beautiful sunrise. After serving breakfast, I did a brief inspection of the garden. I lost the what was left of my hibiscuses, the potted impatiens, a few hostas, all of my Autumn Joy sedums, and some of the chrysanthemums. Overall, not too bad.

Sunrise This Morning

Weekly Photo Challenge: Big

Posted on 10/15/2012 by Laurie

The Mr. Lincoln rose is cherished as long-stem cutting variety for its fragrant large single blooms born atop very long canes. The photo above is of a bloom on the Mr. Lincoln Rose in our front yard. The canes on this rose bush are standing at over just over 7-feet tall right now. I believe that is about the maximum height for a Mr. Lincoln. I had to extend my tripod to its fullest height to get this photo; and with a breeze blowing the canes around, I had my doubts about whether I would get a good shot at all. This particular bloom is about 4.5 inches across and 4 inches tall. It is highly fragrant and full of color. I’d call it a big rose. There are currently two such blooms on this bush with three more buds yet to open. I can never bring myself to cut my roses, though. I like having them in the garden for everyone to enjoy. After the remaining three buds open, I suspect that this Mr. Lincoln will be done blooming for the season. It takes a lot of energy to put on such a stunning show. On a side note, Mr. Lincoln roses are described in horticultural literature as being a uniformly dark red, but mine always have a little tinge of magenta.

Living Easy

Posted on 10/13/2012 by Laurie

I think that I have probably blogged about every drop of precipitation that we have had here in Manhattan, Kansas in the last six months. It has been a dry year. Last night and early this morning, though, we had a soaking rain – about one inch worth. We need the moisture, but I was a little concerned about how the garden might look this morning after the storm front passed. Though most of the flowers were a bit droopy, they were still quite lovely. There is something about the light after a rain that can make colors seem all the more vibrant.

Below is a photo that I took this morning of one of my roses. It is “Living Easy” – a floribunda rose that was introduced in 1992. “Living Easy” is an All American Rose selection noted for being disease resistant; and, indeed, it fared much better against black spot and mildew than did some of my other roses this past summer. Its petals are yellow at the base, turning peach-colored, and can be tinged with pink at the tip. It has a pleasing, medium citrusy-rose fragrance. I’ve enjoyed its blooms all summer, but Living Easy shows up especially well in the autumn garden. It really is gorgeous right now, even drenched with rain.

Garden Update

Posted on 09/27/2012 by Laurie

For some time, I’ve been wanting to put an arbor over the bench that looks out on the garden. Since we have several garden weddings coming up at the Bed & Breakfast, I decided to go ahead and get that arbor. I don’t have time to get anything growing on it before Saturday’s wedding, so I am trying to figure out whether we need to decorate the arbor and if so … how. (The bench will be moved out of the way and we’ll have mums around the arbor’s base.)

The fountain looks great, but I worry that this might be its last season. Each year it gets more difficult to repair weather’s tolls. We really love having the fountain, though. It is beautiful and we enjoy the water sounds. So we’ll keep it running for as long as we can.

It rained on and off all day yesterday – a gentle, soaking rain of the type that is good for the garden. I managed to get some lovely photos of my roses after breakfast this morning. This is my favorite of the photos …

Have a wonderful day!

Orange on the Block

Posted on 09/18/2012 by Laurie

Looking for early signs of autumn, I decided to photograph the color orange in our neighborhood. It turns out that it was mostly in our own front yard.

Our neighbor’s crabapple tree with the tiniest fruit …

Miniature rose recovering from the summer’s heat by producing a perfectly formed little bud …
Oakleaf hydrangea foliage starting to turn …

Rust-colored chrysanthemums …

“Living Easy” rose, vibrant as ever …

Our new sign …

Leaves from our Linden tree, fallen before fulling turning …

Pyracantha berries across the street …

Early pumpkins …

But don’t let me rush things!

Happy Accidents or What to do With Fragrant Phlox

Posted on 09/08/2012 by Laurie

When working in the garden the other day, I noticed that my Fragrant Phlox (phlox paniculata) was blooming in some unexpected places. While quite lovely, once it is done blooming, I’ll yank it up so that it does not become established where it is not supposed to be.

Here it is growing up through the edge of one of my Beauty Berry bushes (callicarpa americana) …… and here it is growing too close to one of my rose bushes (variety unknown).
Fragrant phlox likes to move around in a garden, though it is certainly not the worst offender in that regard. I find that rigorous dead-heading keeps it mostly under control. And when it does appear somewhere unwanted, it is easy enough to eliminate. I tend to let it bloom once anywhere that I like the look of it – and then yank! Afterall, I don’t want it taking over my other plantings. But in the meantime, occasionally it is nice to enjoy some of nature’s accidental pairings.