The Gardens of Rooglewood

I was going to write a literary post today, something about style, technique, literary research . . . something fascinating. Really, it was going to be fascinating!

But I'm lazy.

So, instead, I am going to show off the recent green-thumb pursuits of the Rooglewood inhabitants! My Rohan and I have never particularly gardened before, but we have a great big, blank yard. A yard that we don't want to be a mere yard, but rather a garden . . .

Here is the porch area, fresh black dirt in place, a bunch of tiny, new petunias, a bare root rose, and as-yet unseen dahlias:

Here it is developing! Sorry the picture isn't better. But you can see that my petunias are sprouting nicely, that dahlia is getting huge, and there are gladiolas coming up along the wall! The bare root rose is also covered with leaves and starting to look more rosebush-like:

I love petunias! Such happy flowers:

Here is one of the back planters near our sunroom. I dug up all the scraggly grass, Rohan put down fresh dirt, and I built the little rock wall around it. Two more bare root roses, gladiola bulbs, vinca, etc.

Here it is coming along! The gladiolas have shot up to towering heights, dahlias are growing, vinca is settling in well. So excited for summer blossoms!

Speaking of blossoms . . . I didn't realize my rose bushes would bloom the first year! Here is the first rose bud of the season! A pink Dreamweaver:

 And here it is, bigger and frillier!



And here is a picture taken this morning! Spectacular!

Just glorious!

I can hardly wait until they are climbing all over that black rail!

And my first dahlia, stunning in scarlet:

 Opened up a little more here:



Anyway, so there you have a taste of our gardening endeavors! I believe, in time, we shall transform Rooglewood into a veritable butterfly of color! In time . . . in time . . .

All right, I should get to work now. Only ten (outlined) chapters left to write in the current manuscript. I'm just getting into all the fun stuff when all the foreshadowing is coming to fruition, all the characters established foibles and desires are rising to a head, and all the menace is ready to explode! The last ten or so chapters are always my favorite to write. :)