1.  You want to dead head other people’s flowers ~like at the Dr.’s office.

2. Your receive potatoes for your birthday~ and they are in a gift bag!

3. You need to work in your yard all day….and you are happy about it.

4. The  Gardening department is your first stop at the home improvement store. 

5.  Mosquito netting over your hat sounds like a good idea to you~ Damn gnats!

6.  You don’t care how you look while wearing that mosquito netting over your head.

7.  In addition to the mosquito netting, acquiring gardening apparel of any kind feels like a wardrobe boost.

8.  When it hasn’t rained in a while,  and you finally get a good soaking rain ~ you imagine your plants just sighing with relief….. and you are so thankful for not having to water.

9.  Your teenagers and/or their friends actually notice your garden AND remark at how nice your yard looks. 

10.  Strangers stop to ask questions about your different plants ~ and you know the answers. 

11.  Your favorite shoes are waterproof.

12.  You are nodding your head because you can relate to most of these reasons… 

Have any others?  Let me know!  I will be sending out a Waistie Garden Pouch from Garden Shoes Online to one of you who comments with a good one! I will have the staff at gardenshoesonline.com pick the winner from your comments.

Weather means more when you have a garden.  There’s nothing like listening to a shower and thinking how it is soaking in around your green beans.  ~Marcelene Cox

Many really great photos of roses were submitted.  Southern CA garden photojournalist Debra Lee Baldwin had the tough job of  judging the contest.  This is a copy of their post announcing the winner:

Picture This Photo Contest Winner

June 27th, 2009 by Debra Lee Baldwin · 17 Comments

 A big thank you to all who entered and an ovation for your rose photos. Many of our 31 entrants submitted the full allotment of three photos, so I had close to 100 to judge—a daunting yet delightful task.

Our winner Tes seduced me with her tight shot of ‘Hot Cocoa’. I like the way the way sunlight shines through the water drops. Exquisite lighting also emphasizes the translucence of the petals and their felty texture. The lines draw the viewer into the center of the flower, and by illustrating the bloom’s intrinsic geometry, interpret the concept of “rose” in a fresh new way.  Tes, take a bow!

Gardening Gone Wild is hosting their monthly photo contest.  The Subject is Roses.  Weeeeellllll,  I just love roses. 

                                                               The following 3 pictures are my entries.   

   This is the rose in my garden that I think is easily one of the most beautiful roses I have ever seen~ It is a russet-colored floribunda named Hot Cocoa. 

The texture of the petals and the shiny leaves make it stand out from other roses.I watched the flowers unfurl.  When it is was a bud – I was sure that it was the prettiest thing I had ever seen, then it opened and it was even more pretty, now when it’s in full bloom, it is even more beautiful.  The color is extraordinary, and I also really love the name~ how could a rose named after chocolate be anything but delicious?

 I took this picture last week at Cayuga Lake.  I couldn’t resist photographing them, they looked very old fashioned and romantic.

      You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns have roses”~ Ziggy