Sleightholm Folk Art

My “Lady of Shalott” David Austin rose bordered with perennial blue salvia, pansies, and spent tulips.

“Lady of Shalott” roses up close

Our little stone shed-turned-playhouse framed with some salmon colored roses. These were here when we moved in and were such a wonderful surprise!

Our cat Lucy out amongst the salvia. I also planted cabbage and lettuce in this flower bed, I think its neat to mix decorative and useful plants

A shady patch of our garden is home to oak leaf hydrangea, azaleas, some roses, a small Dogwood tree and a while flowering mystery shrub whose name I dont know!

Little Snowflake sitting on the stair ledge just above an Oak Leaf Hydrangea. She was one of our foster babies!

A yellow climbing rose outside the door to the studio

   The garden is awake! This is one of the best times of the year in the garden. The roses are in full bloom, everything is green and lush, and there’s been plenty of rain! I am particularly thrilled with how my David Austin rose out front is doing— I’ve actually moved it a couple of times trying to find ‘that perfect place’ for it. And I think she’s found her home! This rose— which is called Lady of Shalott (after the English poem) has the prettiest delicate coral colored blossoms with the sweetest faces. They also keep their color and shape longest when cut, out of all my roses. I’m so in love with this rose that I may have gotten another David Austin for Mother’s Day….the flowers are so pretty I get teary eyed. I guess that means I like it very much!

   The kitties have been enjoying their newly lush green world as well, and its not uncommon to find a little pile of fur curled up and sleeping under hydrangea leaves or taking a sip out of a bird bath. And any time we plant something, there is an entire feline committee on stand-by to inspect and sometimes, ah-hem, inaugurate a freshly dug hole if you’re not careful 😉

  This garden is wild and rambling, and so is the yard. We’ve let the lawn go wild, which I think is good because its natural and chemical free, and the most interesting things are popping up in it, like tiny wild strawberries! Our three rabbits also provide plenty of free fertilizer, and its good stuff— did you know rabbit pellets can be put directly in the garden from the hutch without any rest time? Evidently its gentle stuff and my roses sure seem to love it.

   So that’s what is going on with the garden these days….its full of roses and critters 😉 just like I like it!

   It will make a wonderful place to sketch this coming weekend for the sketchbook club! If you’re local, you’re welcome to come! You can find out more HERE.

   Hope you’re having a great start to your week, hope its full of pretty flowers and cuddly creatures.
~H