I've got to stop looking at those colors Karen! I gave away all my roses a couple years ago and your photos make me rethink that move.

Thanks for sharing the carnival of color. I am thinking a plain clear vase has got to go.

What gorgeous colors and healthy flowers, Karen. I See you like ENglish roses too!

Liza

Karen, your boquets and gardens are stunning. I never would have thought to put those color combinations together, but they definately work. All I can say is WOW!

Karen, I love your arrangements! They are wonderfully exciting and vibrant... I could almost smell the fragrance too. Thank you for the inspiration!

Karen, Very beautiful I love your choices of vessels and the courage to put lots of color together. I too tend to go for the more bold and it always makes me happy.
Quick question for you on the mosaic table top below, did you make it yourself? If so can you tell me if the sunflowers are painted on before or after the setting and or grouting? I would like to do something very simular to a tabletop in my new outdoor kitchen.
Oh, and is that a Pat Austin (english rose) in the last arrangement? I have several english roses which are my very favorite in a loose arrangement but, they don't last more than a day or two. Just thought you might list all the flowers for those of us admiring your work.
M. gardener

Thanks to all for your enthusiasm for my colors!

M. Gardener, the rose in the last photo is The Impressionist, a stunning climber from Heirloom--may be my favorite of all. As for the sunflower table, actually it was part of a set of tables & plant stands I stumbled on at Ross or Marshalls or one of those stores. I also got a little cafe table & one [dang, searched hi & lo for a 2nd, to no avail] chair in the same pattern.

I only recently learned how to superimpose text onto the photo using photoshop, so several don't have names, tho I'm glad to respond if anyone wants to know a particular flower.

Karen

Karen, Thanks for the info. Ross, Marshalls, Big lots and Home Goods are regular stops for me. I must say too have picked up some real tresures and have been know to go from store to store looking for more of the same. When I'm doing the decorations for a Wedding or event I always find that something special that sets the theme.
I have to put The Impressionist on my list of must have plants. It is one of the most beautiful roses I think Ive seen. Keep up the good work, I too am learning how to use my new digital camara. It takes some trial and error.
M.G

Karen,

I can only say "Wow!" My own arrangements tend to be monochromatic, but your work opens up whole new vistas. Beyond that, in my humid climate, I've ducked roses for years---gonna rethink that one! Many thanks for the photos.

Valerie

Photo number 8, is that a hydrangea? Your photos are so beautiful! Photo number 2, what is the foliage in the front? Thank you for "filling us in" lol. Beautiful, I saved your pics and am showing others how gorgeous they are.

Kim,

No hydrangea in #8 if I'm looking at the same one you are--[has 2 yellow roses on the right?]--I think the plant you're wondering about is a type of oregano. It's also in #2. I can't recall the actual name at this moment. Perhaps someone else will know. Glad you enjoy them.

I'm about to post some new photos I've done recently--first dahlias of 2005! Stay posted!

Karen

Well duh, it's probably the plant I've been hunting high and low for and FINALLY FOUND! Is it Ornamental Oregano, Kent something or another? I mentioned it recently at a garden center and she ordered it after she looked it up. I found it in a magazine early this spring and have been on the hunt for it ever since. I can't believe I didn't recognize it, lol. Mine isn't big enough to look quite that "lavender" yet, thats why I thought it was some kind of hydrangea. Your pics take my breath away every time I look at them, good......check that.....GREAT job!

please forgive me but in the second photo there is foliage that is on the right side...almost like a little tree branch type...what is that??? Simply beautiful....bring on the pictures......
p.s. are ferns good to grow for a cutting garden...this is my new passion this season and i'm really starting from scratch...so i'm trying to eat up any info...does anyone know of websites/books that show some floral arrangments and flowers,etc...thanks for all the amazing help here!!

Nicucoll, that's a maidenhair fern. easy to grow, & looks lovely with flowers. Many ferns are great with flowers.

Karen

Stunning!

What a blast from the past--your comment, new2gardenfl, brought me back here after a loooong hiatus. How on earth did you find a post from 2005? Anyhow, it's a sweet reminder of a time when I grew many more perennials, which, since then, I declared too much work. I had a case of garden eyes being bigger than aging slothful stomach!

Thanks.
Karen

It is really beautiful. What are you growing now in place of the perennials? I bet it is beautiful too! It may have been too much work, but WOW WOW WOW!!!

I looked at all your pictures and wish I knew how to put something together as beautiful as your garden pictures. Can you recommend any good books on designing a flower garden like yours? I am trying to grow both flowers and edibles on a tiny lot in suburbian Florida.

Nancy

Hi, Nancy.

Well, I mostly have bulbs now (lilies, bluebells, allium, etc), along with some variegated chartreuse Iris, acorus gramineous (sp?) Odon, hakonoachlea macra aurea (a lovely yellow-green Japanese grass), variegated butterfly bush, to add structural elements here and there. The bulbs are mostly no muss/no fuss, but I did have to divide the Casablanca's last year as they reached towering proportions.

I wish I could tell you of books, but I mostly fly by the seat of my pants and intuition. I did hang out for a time on the Landscape Design site here, and a similar one at Dave's Garden, where knowledgeable people hang out.

One tip is to build up berms of varying heights around the perimeter of your space with purchased superior garden soil, arranging them in curved, irregular, organic lines. You can then plant in them immediately, and later enclose them with border stones or whathaveyou. Just be sure to leave room to reach things at the back of the berms for tending, and plant shorter things in front of taller things.

Sorry I can't recommend books. I bought many over the years and while I got some ideas here or there, none would be a how-to manual.

Karen
http://www.pbase.com/karenmickleson

Thank you for the advice Karen. Lovely photos! Did you paint your own clay pots? If so, could you please tell me what kind of primer/paints/sealers you used? They look great! I want to paint my clay pots too, because they dry out too quickly.

Thanks,
Nancy

I don't think I ever painted my own pots, Nancy. Sorry.

Karen
http://www.pbase.com/karenmickleson

I try and match at least the COLOR of the pot to the bouqet too. I buy them cheap at thrift stores and places like Savers/Value Village.
What I noticed about the color arrangements and what made them 'work' is that you chose colors that although different from each other, they were of the same intensity. Bold and soft pastels don't really go together as either the pastel gets diminished or the bold looks garish. Your bouqets have such a lovely balance. This has made me LONG for my flowers to finally....flower!
Thanks so much for the eye candy!

Thanks, triple b...Glad you enjoyed them.

The 'secret', if there is one, is using complementary colors--whether among brights or pastels. That's what makes them work. I favor vivid complementaries, like purple-orange, magenta-chartreuse, etc...You can play with a color wheel to think about this.

Karen
http://www.pbase.com/karenmickleson

just so happens I have a color wheel. back from the before children days when I had time to pursue my art.

Meh! Forget the flowers, I want your camera. Only joking of course. The flowers are breathtakingly beautiful.

Karen, I also favor vivid color complements. I think violet/chartreuse/magenta/turquoise is my fave!

"I think violet/chartreuse/magenta/turquoise is my fave!"

Ooooh. Yummy. But what do you use for turquoise?

Karen
http://www.pbase.com/karenmickleson

Karen, absolutely gorgeous flowers. Can you tell me what the ivory coloured rose is in the second to last photo. The rose is on the right side of the arrangement. Is it Irish Hope? Thanks, Kat

Hi, Kitkat.

It's an Austin rose called 'Golden Celebration'. Actually, it's a nice, buttery-golden yellow. As with many Austins, it tends to droop a bit, but is a great vase flower if you catch it before it's all open.

Karen
http://www.pbase.com/karenmickleson

Here's one which got deleted, I think. It's one of my favorite roses, called 'The Impressionist', available via Heritage Roses in Oregon (or Washington, I forget). It opens with several hues which change as it evolves, is tissue like, and absolutely gorgeous. It invites combining with many other shades.

{{gwi:622317}}

Karen
http://www.pbase.com/karenmickleson

Karen, you must be sort of psychic, I just put my list of roses together from Heirloom Roses and 'the impressionist' is first in line. Absolutely gorgeous. Thanks for the photo, it reinforced the choice. I have also got Irish Hope on my list, another real beauty. I have grown the Austin roses in the past but I find them too relaxed and easy to shatter, perhaps I was not cutting at the right time. Related question for you, do you have a particular plant food that you like to use for your roses. All your blooms are so lovely, tight and with great consistent color. Thanks for passing on any information. Kat

Hi, Kitkat--

Thanks for the correction/reminder: it's Heirloom Roses, not Heritage. I have yet to see Irish Hope. You're right about Austin's blowing soon and having a droop factor. But I find that if you cut them before they're open--and even if they *are* open, and *immediately* put them in water, they tend to hold up pretty well; of course, not like a hybrid tea, but hey, their flouncy, delicate beauty makes them worth it.

As for plant food, at the time I took most of those shots, I was into the rose addiction heavy, and trying every darn mix and brand and method the 'experts' recommended--most some version of expensive organic this or that. In that period, one product I liked a lot is Neptune's Harvest.

Since then, I was tragically beset by the nastiest of all rose pests: the Rose Weevil. Looks like a ladybug without spots but with a snout, which it uses to pierce the buds; so, when they bloom, you have swiss cheese blossoms. Or, they suck juice from the stem below the buds so they droop and die. They are horrid critters, and I was forced to turn to liquid systemic Bayer All In One (food, blackspot & insect control). It works fine and makes life easier when you're getting older, lazier, and more slothful (especially with 70 roses to deal with).

Long story short, I've learned over the years that roses are tough cookies and don't much care what you feed them. And they keep blooming well even if you forget to be prompt; they just bloom BETTER if you're regular and disciplined. I've seen roses just as beautiful fed with regular Miracle Grow as with any fancy organic approach.

I do, however, replenish the soil each winter with good organic compost, epsom salts, alfalfa meal and whatever else I have on hand. Once feeding stqarts, I don't think it matters a whole lot what you give them.

My current rose tragedy is an infestation of botrytis blight--a fungal illness which only a very expensive product works on, called Decree; and, thus far, I'm only having limited results with it. I'm about ready to throw in the towel if I can't get rid of it, and get rid of many roses instead. It originated on my most beloved scent rose: Yves Piaget. Smells like roses are supposed to smell.

Sorry for going on, but your question got me going over my live with these wonderous blessings.

Karen

Karen, very sorry to hear of your latest rose affliction. I find myself feeling distracted and disconnected when my flowers are under siege from something nasty, just as I do with my children. My mother grew Yves Piaget, in England, many years ago, a lovely romantic creature and, just as you say, a rose that smells like a rose should. I try to be as organic as possible with my roses and they seem to do fine, but they are not spectacular, and I want them to be. My sisters neighbor uses a commercial product called Triplex or something like that and her roses are UNBELIEVEABLE, but at what cost to the water table etc? I worry about such things, we all seem to be at risk of losing our most precious resource, water. I shall try Neptunes Harvest. I hope that you do not need to relegate your beauties to the burn pile and that better rose health finds you soon. Thanks again. Kat

Karen,

I just re-stumbled upon this old post. I never tire of looking at the photos of your beautiful garden and bouquets.

Nancy

I am blown away with jealousy! This is my first year to buck the HOA and sneak in some roses and dahlias. I have sweet peas planted now, and also Iris bulbs. Your photos are stunning and I doubt even a florist could match you! Thanks so much for sharing!

Thanks, desertdance--Nancy, too.

What is HOA? I should say that since these photos were posted, I've removed most all my dahlias, and pared down my rose population...The work quotient outstrips my energy level at this point! I was definitely suffering from the gardener's version of having eyes bigger than my stomach at the time I created this garden ;)

Ah, how live evolves.

Karen

Please look at Karen's links. She has a web page and a story. I love her garden and her flowers, but there is much more there.
Suzi

Good Morning Karen! Sorry I missed your question. HOA means Home Owner's Association. They are a bit "unAmerican" and consumed with their perceived "power." I miss the days when I had freedom of choice in my garden. Still, I'm pretty sneaky!! And I am thankful for a nice sized courtyard that "they" can't see!

I will say that I love the fact that the gardeners take care of everything, and they provide the water.

I live on a golf course, so it's important that we all look neat and tidy. Palm Trees and bouganvillas abound. As long as I stay in their chosen color palette, I'm OK. They don't like blue for some reason. So my blue posies will hang out in the courtyard with my herbs and peppers.

I aspire now to have some beautiful flowers like those in your pictures and also some wonderful dwarf fruit trees, and I'm willing to sneak around to do it!!

Karen, I looked at your garden images, so lovely. What a beautiful place to be. There is a photo of an apricot orange azalea and a bright blue flower that looks like a Himalyan poppy, is it? If not please could you let me know what it is? If it is a Himalyan poppy, please give culture information as I would love to grow some. Thank you in advance for your input. Kat

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