Thursday, April 2, 2026

Starting April

 

Dr. Huey Roses

The Dr. Huey rose plants are among the most commonly used rootstock roses to graft hybrid tea roses on to as they are very hardy.  In my garden, I have at least six Dr. Huey rose plants happily growing after the hybrid tea roses died out.  M doesn't much care for them and they bloom only once in the year, but, I love them because they are so hardy!  

Being the first of the month, I made milkrice and seeni sambol (a spicy onion relish) for brunch.  I also dusted the living room and picked some fresh flowers to bring indoors:

White Gladioli

M was here to tend to the garden in the afternoon.  Even though we had a shower of rain on Tuesday night (the forecast had said 0.1 inch of rain was expected, but we actually received 0.31 inches!), he watered the garden as the rain hadn't been enough  He also did some weeding and I asked him to prune some of the euphorbia tirucalli plant that was crowding out the nectarine tree.  Finally we transplanted one of the gazania plants that was growing in a pot in the backyard, to one of the front garden beds.  I am hoping that it will grow well there and I'll get more gazania plants in the front.  I used to have gazanias growing in the parkway at one time, but, they died over time.

M enjoyed a slice of the banana bread I had baked on Tuesday evening to use up some very ripe bananas:

Banana and Walnut Bread

Daughter and I had already enjoyed slices of it on Tuesday night while it was still warm from the oven.  We had more banana bread today, too.

In the evening, after a cup of tea, I drove daughter to the Mall where she was meeting two friends to see a movie.  I just dropped her off and came home; one of her friends gave daughter a ride home afterwards.

I spent a quiet evening, watching the news and a few online videos.  After dinner (rice, beef curry, cucumber salad), I did the dishes, wiped down the kitchen counters, and ordered groceries to be delivered on Thursday afternoon.  This time, I was careful to specify which items I didn't want substituted and on those items that I OK'd for substitution, I chose the specific item with which to substitute.  Let's see how that works out.

On the first day of April, I was grateful for:

- The start of a new month
- M's help with the garden
- Water (and some rain) for the garden
- Daughter was able to get together with her friends
- Being able to order groceries online

Wednesday's joyful activities included spending time in the garden.

How was your Wednesday?  Are you excited to start a new month?  

Dr. Huey Red Rose

14 comments:

  1. Those roses are lovely. Some of the old fashioned or stock flowers are very pretty too. The banana bread looks really good!

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    1. Thank you, Celie. I like easy to grow plants. :) The banana bread turned out well.

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  2. Your flowers are gorgeous. I had a rose bush like that at our first house. I did not think the roses were individually pretty be as a cluster they were beautiful.
    What I really want is a bite of warm banana bread. I detest bananas as a fruit, but baked in a bread . . .yum!

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    1. Thank you, Anne. Yes, this variety of rose blooms in clusters and they look lovely. Warm banana bread is delicious! You might have to make yourself a loaf one day. :)

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  3. Bless, your garden sounds so lovely. And the roses - rose is my favourite scent. I use the petals to make rosewater

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    1. Thank you, Ratnamurti. I've made rose syrup with my roses; haven't tried rosewater. :)

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  4. The flower photos are really beautiful! You have such a variety in your garden.
    Banana bread looks delicious. I haven't made some for so long!

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    1. Thank you, Sharon. It's been a while since I last made banana bread; we are enjoying this loaf. :)

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  5. I love hardy roses for myself, and I enjoy other people's tea roses! The latter probably have to be dug up and buried until spring in our climate, but my hardy rugosa rose seems to survive.

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    1. Tea roses are lovely to look at but they require some extra care, don't they? Hardy roses do well and thrive in harsh conditions.

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  6. The banana bread looks delicious. It's making me want to eat some now, as I haven't baked any in ages. The gladioli are so pretty. Xx

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    1. Thank you, Jules. The banana bread turned out really well, this time. The gladioli are making me want to buy and plant a few more bulbs!

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  7. Your flowers are pretty. Especially the white gladioli. I always comment on your white flowers but really don't have many white flowers in my garden. Maybe I should change that. But I'm not feeling the gardening bug this year. I'm not sure why. Probably laziness. lol
    I would've put some butter on that banana bread had I been eating it warm from the oven.
    Did you?

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    1. Thank you, Debra. The white gladioli had been growing in the side garden by itself and neither I nor M remembered planting it there! It looked very lonely where it was, so we transplanted it in the "bulbery" in the back (by the patio), and it produced its best stalk of flowers yet!
      Maybe you'll feel more like gardening once all the snow has melted and the days warm up. Maybe get some white flowered potted plants and enjoy them with the option of planting them out in the garden if you feel like it?
      I just ate the banana bread without any butter! I generally don't put butter on quick breads for some reason.

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