A recent trip to Rock City Gardens...Enjoy!

1823 – Drawn by amazing tales, sightseers came and rode mules through the naturally formed “streets and avenues” of the place they nicknamed Rock City.
1928 – Frieda Carter spent four years forging a path through the wilderness among the rock formations with only a string to mark her trail. Garnet Carter introduced her unique gardens to the public as Rock City Gardens in 1932.

1936 – Garnet Carter began his famous barn roof advertising campaign to lure vacationers from the highways. By the 1950’s Clark Byers had painted “See Rock City” on 900 barn roofs from Michigan to Texas.

I am experiencing issues with my posts and the ability to move pictures within them which is why I haven't posted lately...complete frustration! I have more photos of this trip to share and will do so in another post.

A Sincere and Heartfelt Thank You!

Excuse me as I step outside the gardening realm for this post. I attempt not to do this, however I felt I absoloutely had to blog about this.

This week I stood amongst 100's of people, waving an american flag, peering through a chain link fence as the coffin of a local fallen hero was removed from a plane and carried ever so gently to a waiting hearst. Today I was slapped, rudely and extremely hard with a dose of reality, as were many of the residents of the small rural town I call home. We have lost one of our own, Lance Cpl. Gregory A. Posey, 22. Posey deployed to Afghanistan on May 18 and was killed on July 30th while supporting combat operations in Helmand Province. I recalled the notice of his deployment in our local newspaper just 10 short weeks ago, he looked so incredibly proud. A handsome young man with a sweet smile, he had dreamed of becoming a marine.

The turn out at our tiny little municipal airport was phenomenal, yet it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. I watched his mothers face as she stood and watched her sweet son being carried from the plane and I was overtaken by heartbreak and sorrow. She was stoic and graceful as she stood there, yet as one mother to another I knew her pain was unbearable. My husband and I rode with the Patriot Guard Riders in the 4 mile procession to the local funeral home which was led by what appeared to be the entire county and city police force, several fire trucks and even an ambulance or two. The streets were lined the entire way with residents of our town old and young alike, flags in hand, banners unfurled, hands over hearts as the procession slowly passed. I was incredibly proud of my little community and those who took the time to pay their respects to our fallen hero.

This week I spent my Saturday standing in a flag line flanking each side of the walkway into a funeral home as mourners passed. It was the hottest day of the year and it felt as though sweat was pouring from every part of my body, but as I stood there I thought of my son, of the countless sons and daughters serving in our armed forces, of my father who served two tours of duty in Vietnam, of the young man with the sweet smile who had made the ultimate sacrifice and I was filled with pride and admiration, suddenly the heat seemed a small and insignificant issue.

As we slowly made our way to the cemetary we passed a group of young kids and it was the sign they held which I feel summed up what we were all feeling. In handwritten childlike script were the words:

THANK YOU LANCE CORP. POSEY!

When we returned home I phoned my son and through a mothers tears I thanked him over and over again.

Have you thanked a member of our armed forces lately?

What's Been Blooming? An Update!

I've not been posting...and some of you have commented. Rest assured I am fine, the garden is fine (aside from a Japanese Beetle issue currently driving me to madness) and Mr. Maximus is as sweet as ever. I have a multitude of reasons I have not blogged, most of which have nothing to do with the garden, therefore I will refrain from boring you to death with the specifics. I did feel though that I ought to post some pics at the very least. Yes, I have actually been taking them even if I wasn't sharing..LOL

So here is what the garden has been doing...

Spring arrived and the garden began to unfurl its' hidden beauty. The Bearded Iris were beautiful this year. Every single one of these Iris were passalongs given to me by various folks in the Fall of 07. They did not bloom at all in 2008 and I was incredibly dissapointed, but a google search assured me that new divisions often don't bloom the first year. I was ecstatic when they bloomed with abandon this year. Until the flowers bloomed I was not certain what colors I had and where, but it all worked out fine. I must admit I was partial to the Purple ones, though the white certainly held its' own.

Climbing Pinkie Rose which I planted on each side of the arbor. They are just babies really as they were planted in Spring of 08. The blooms were amazing this year and it's my understanding that they get better every year. As we headed into Summer the colors of the garden began to shift to brighter and stronger hues.

Phlox and Rudbeckia(above)and gladiola(below).

A Handpicked Bouquet for the house, one of the best perks of gardening.