Every year springtime brings thoughts
of my former gardens…
The first garden we had as newlyweds
tucked into round wooden barrels
included
our first three rose bushes:
a blush pink, a lavender rose {which I was crazy about}
and a yellow rose.
Those three rose bushes travelled from
our first upstairs apartment’s deck
to another apartment deck
then to
Camp Pendleton where they were
planted in the ground
along the side of our duplex.
With ocean breezes and just morning sun
they flourished.
We lived in a cul de sac then and those
three rose bushes loved their
sunny southern slope site!
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Cecile Brunner climbing rose ~ it would grow 14′ canes every year! |
Two of the roses travelled yet again in pots
with us to our next apartment ~ the yellow had
grown enormous and
really loved its home there on Ferrari Court
so there it stayed.
Our daughter was born while we lived in
this new apartment off Del Mar Heights Road and
her name became Amy Rose ~ really named
after my father’s adopted mother
Maria Rosa ~
but also because we loved roses…
The lavender and the pink really loved
their new home there in La Jolla
a suburb of San Diego
but
soon we moved out of this place
and into a rented house
of three bedrooms
window boxes of primroses
and now
two rose bushes…
![]() |
Shot with my iPhone 4, I think, as it is blurry. |
Sadly, this was not a good move for the lavender rose
as it never did well in this dryer climate
of East San Diego County.
I was still a young gardener {all this moving was during a five year period}
and didn’t realize I should have dug it up yet again and moved it
to a less sunny location…
When we bought our first home
in November 1993
the lavender stayed in its spot
as it was finally beginning to look better.
I didn’t have the heart to dig it up again
just to see it suffer.
The pink tea rose made its last move to our
first home in Murrieta, California
and
with getting just morning sun in the arid
high desert there it loved its final home!
It is there today.
🙂
![]() |
Hanging phlox and ivy, Japanese boxwood and more tea roses in our second home’s backyard garden. |
That first home is where I went hog-wild
growing all colors and types of roses!
I grew yellow with pinks
a new lavender with reds.
I planted climbers out back.
I found a wooden arbor and my hubby mixed cement
and along with the kids
we made cement stepping stones
and a little patio area on the shady eastern side
of our backyard
next to the rock wall we built
when I was pregnant with our son.
![]() |
The backyard stepping stone garden and tool shed outside our dining room area ~ Amy (5 years), Peter (2 1/2) and Skeeter, our beloved Golden Retriever ~ 1996. |
Then I found out about
David Austin Roses…

Here at our second home I planted several
David Austen English roses ~ three were
cuttings from our first house.
In the photo above are an old musk rose {left of the statue}
Souvenir de la Malmaison
with beautiful white English roses
Winchester Cathedral
every other rose bush.
The pink to the right and forefront is
Mary Rose
which is beautifully scented and
really full of spines {aka “thorns”}.
And now of course
we have begun a new garden yet again…
Our Texas garden!
{ignore the ugly soon-to-be-gone cable dish, please!}
Later this week I’ll share what I’ve been
working on out there.
But by Thursday, I want to finish up the
Beauty and the Beast posts
#1 and #2
with a visit to Janet’s home here at
Wagon Master.
I may not have brought any of my
original roses from those first gardens
of long ago out here to Texas
but
my gardens seem to somehow stay the same
yet still
evolve and look a little different.
Funny how that is…
😉
Happy Tuesday!
As always ~ sharing is caring and
is much appreciated.
xoxo Barb
🙂
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