A Pink Surprise at Heart and Home

Hello and good morning to everyone on this fine Pink Saturday!  Beverly at How Sweet the Sound hosts us every week,  it's always so much fun to go visit and see all the pinks out there in Blogland! 

Well, since it's October I was not expecting to see the Cecile Brunner roses blooming again. This is a small plant that had been transplanted from a pot to replace a really large and lovely one that was destroyed by those varmints the gophers.  I was so sad to lose the other rose, since I had planted it on the side of the arbor in memory of my mother - but what a surprise to see how this one has thrived in it's new location.  I never would have guessed it would bloom again at this time of year-Cecile Brunners are not known as repeat bloomers. The big one on the other side  (that's it in my header picture) stopped blooming awhile ago, and it gets much more sun. But here they are, this handful of tiny pink flowers greets me each day.

They're aren't a lot of blossoms, but still.....

the ones that are there are lovely!

Flowers have always been such an important part of my life. My parents always had a wonderful vegetable garden, with lots of tomatoes and peppers, and all sorts of delicious treats. But what I remember  from the time when I was very young is working beside my mother in her little flower garden. Together we planted sweet peas, gladiolus, daisies, petunias, lobelia, alyssum, carnations, and always in the fall rows and rows of bright yellow and orange mums, and lots of tulip and narcissus bulbs. She never had the fanciest garden, but it was really pretty! My mother could coax just about any nearly dead plant back to life, she would transplant all the plants her friends brought her (you know - the grocery store mums and lilies and such) on the hillside in our backyard. That became the most vibrant and colorful little hill -

These Cecile Brunner roses are pretty simple to grow, and they are hardy and have abundant blossoms, and are fairly pest resistant (not counting those pesky gophers, and moles, and the deer). They don't need a lot of attention or a ton of sun,  they seemed like the perfect plant for my first try at growing roses.

So far, I haven't been disappointed! In many ways, they remind me of my mom - I've told you a bit about her before (read that, here). Like these roses she was beautiful, and tiny, just barely 5' tall - but she was a very strong and determined woman! She rarely took no for an answer, and when she wanted to do something, she figured out a way to do it...

...it's been two and a half years since my mother passed away.  Strange how it's always the little things that bring back a flood of memories and break my heart. But life is just that - an endless string of  little things, some of them sad, and others - like seeing these roses each morning - that remind me of happy times, planting flowers with my mom in our little backyard garden.

Thank you for stopping by today! I truly appreciated it, and I hope you have a great weekend - do something fun and, because I'm feeling sentimental, I'll add:  hug the people you love!

Remember:  to be included in the giveaway see more info here and here. The winner will be announced on Monday - and I'm working on something fabulous this weekend that I'll show you then, too!

Until next time,

XO

Heidi