Remember this picture of our poor flower bed taken over by boys and Beagles?

The Mister and I bought some plants this weekend in hopes of beautifying the area and repelling all creatures under 50 pounds. It does still look a little bare, with everything so young and all, but I still think it looks absolutely fantastic!

That’s our office in the backyard.  (Note the chalk on the walls, courtesy of Nico Van Gogh.)  From left to right we have a Night Blooming Jasmine Dwarf Tree (Yes, a tree. Those rascally bioengineers!), Nemesia, clover ground cover, our original Gardenia bush, more clover, and Indian Hawthorne. In the empty space between tree and Nemesia is the other Gardenia bush we planted last year: one sad twig of Gardenia bush with nary a leaf in sight. But, it’s alive, and we are hoping with peace and quite the poor fellow will rise from the mulch in fragrant glory, so we left plenty of breathing room for him.

Between the plants and mulch, we are confident this will keep the boys and Beagles out of the beds. Wait a minute.  Seriously?!  That poor Gardenia twig!

Oh, well. They can sit if they promise not to dig.  In the meantime, the Mister and I need to think of what we are going to do with the remaining 2,000,000 yards of flower bed in the back yard.

And because I know someone will ask, that tree really is in our backyard and really is that big!  In fact, that is the next project in the garden.  The roots are close to the ground, and the earth around the tree compact.  Does anyone have any plant suggestions?

Fall has embraced most of the country, provided the many pictures of turning leaves on all my favorite blogs are any indication. You know, it’s fall here in on the west coast, too. Really! I imagine most people think the only thing that really changes around here is the time during daylight savings. True, if the leaves on my neighbor’s tree drops, it’s because the Santa Ana winds are blowing. But we, too, have seasonal colors, and they were in full force yesterday in my garden.

Oh, look! I see some leaves on the ground. It is fall!

I’ve seen countless pictures this week showcasing acres of trees painted red, gold, and orange. I have that.

And there’s more. California likes to add some “jazz hands” to our fall routine. Indeed, I would be terribly remiss if I didn’t highlight fall’s red, gold, and orange with our sunset’s pink, yellow, and purple.

And perhaps a little plastic surgeon’s white, too.

Because when things fall in California, we’re quick to lift them up.

I have always loved roses. They have a solid dependability I can’t resist. While other flowers come in and out of fashion, roses are the stalwart sentries of the gardening world. Reliable, predictable, and ready to please. The Mister doesn’t share my love of roses. He claims it is because his mother traumatized him by forcing him to prune and weed her many rose bushes growing up. In order to have a few rose bushes at our first house, my mother in law had to resort to buying me garden center gift certificates for my birthday. Once they were in, even he had to agree they were gorgeous. It didn’t hurt that people would stop at the house and comment on our blooms. Nothing warms a fickle heart like flattery.

So, you can imagine our surprise when we pulled up to our current home almost 3 years ago and discovered the (then) owner had an enormous rose bush collection in the front yard. It’s amazing how two people can utter the same sentence at the same time and have two entirely different sentiments.

Jules: “Oh, look! Roses! Look at all the roses!”

The Mister: “Oh. Look. Roses. Look at all the roses.”

The Mister vowed to have them ripped out within a year. I told him he could go pound sand. Three years later and we still have the roses, but we also have a yard service.

I lose track every time I count them, but we have around 48 rose bushes. Maybe 50. I know some of them are rare heirloom bushes you can’t buy anymore. It’s a pity I don’t take better care of them, but lucky for me I live in an environment very hospitable to roses. One of the many wonderful things about living in California–and my desert-like environment in particular–is the extended bloom time. Our bushes will bloom from April until October with nary a pinch or deadhead from me.

My favorite place to write is at the kitchen table. The lighting is almost adequate (we’re flanked by two enormous, sun snatching, old trees) and I like to look out every now and then at the goings-on in the neighborhood. With the roses now in bloom my favorite spot in the house is now even better. The smell is intoxicating. I hope it doesn’t mess with Mikey’s allergies, because we’ll both be sad to see them go.

Is it a lazy day where you are? Maybe it’s the heady scent of roses, or maybe I’m just tired from an early morning wake up call from Nico, but all I want to do is collapse in a comfy chair with a good book. Instead, I need to write. I’ve been getting a number of copy writing jobs, and I would like to wrap one up this week. I’m always surprised–and thrilled–when people contact me to write product descriptions, website pages, business tag lines, etc. I’ve never advertised that I do any sort of copy writing, but I get emails regularly. I’m even toying with the idea of starting up a little copy-writing freelance business. I really do love it. Of course, I’m getting paid to write. What’s not to love?

Well, I better sign off and start writing. I hope you all are enjoying this fantastic weather!