After a week of birthday celebrations with friends and family it was time to stop and literally smell the roses that are in their full glory in my garden.
Roses have always been a great love of mine , both for their beauty and perfume and for the history of the heritage roses. The pale pink rose behind me is Fantin Latour, one of my all time favourites.
The Summer House at the back of the garden was built by my clever husband , John, about 15 years ago and is the perfect spot to share a glass of wine on a warm Summer evening. The climbing roses are New Dawn, Albertine and Pierre de Ronsard. I have always enjoyed gardening , I think it is in my blood, my mother was a keen gardener as is my sister. Planting a garden is like painting a picture with plants instead of paints.
The cottage , another of John’s building projects, is surrounded by a variety of roses and perennial plants. It serves as both a garden shed and John’s work shed.
This angel , near the Summer House, holds special meaning as she was given to me by a dear friend in memory of my little girl India.
Raffy joining me in the garden, he loves playing and exploring in the bushes.
There is nothing like a birthday to make you reflect on the importance of friends in your life. I had lunch with my friend Didee last Wednesday, we have been best friends since high school, well over 50 years.
Our lives have taken different paths over the years but the friendship has always remained strong.
Over the weekend we attended the MG Car Club State Concourse ( a beauty pageant for cars) , a girls lunch and Presentation Dinner. John has been a member for nearly fifty years , me only three but I have been involved since I met John in 1974. I will admit as much as I enjoy looking at the cars, it is the social side and the friendships that I enjoy.
Speaking of friendships , on Friday evening I enjoyed dinner with two ladies I had met through Instagram. Maya , at the back, was in town with her husband Alan from Perth, Western Australia and Chris , who also lives in Launceston. I had connected with Maya very soon after I started on IG and we hit it off and were thrilled to have finally met.It was a wonderful evening full of chat and laughter and we really felt as if we had known one another forever.
To view nature’s beauty only the best will do , so I chose some of my all time favourites. The vintage silk embroidered jacket is one of my special finds . I found this jacket at local vintage store, Red Fox Vintage , a couple of years ago and absolutely adore it. I know nothing of its origin and wonder of its previous history and owner. I teamed the jacket with a Sarah Paccinni dark olive green skirt , known as the wedding skirt as I wore this to my son’s wedding in 2016. The skirt also holds memories of the shop and its stylish French owner where it was purchased , sadly it is no more as the owner moved to Sydney.
With the outfit I donned one of my favourite hats . This glorious rose and feather embellished hat was a recycled purchase from Return to Splendour. My shoes are black patent wedges from Sonia Rykiel , an extravagant purchase in Sydney over 10 years ago . I have worn these every Summer since and they still look as good as new, money well spent.
Many thanks to everyone for my birthday and blog anniversary good wishes, they mean so much to me.
Joining Patti for Visible Monday, Mica for Weekday Link Up, Jess for Turning Heads Tuesday and Nancy for Fancy Friday Link Up.
Your garden is amazing! Those colors, those fabulous flowers. It looks to me like a English garden which I adore. And your hat is so sophisticated! You would not look out of place in the English countryside as the Lady of the Manor!
Author
Thank you so much Nancy , as you can tell I do love my roses. I will admit to having English gardens in mind when I planted mine as i adore them too. The hat is a Summer favourite of mine.
STUNNING GARDEN!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY…………..I was given the ROSNARD Rose by an AUSTRALIAN but could NEVER get it to do well!YOUR LUPINE are just as beautiful……….again another flower I cannot seem to GROW!
I would never leave that garden…………
Beautiful work by JOHN TOO!
XX
Author
Thank you so much , glad you liked my garden I always admire your beautiful garden. Pity the Ronsard rose didn,t perform well for you, it is a lovely rose and is very popular here. The lupins are self sown and add so much colour. John is a like your Italian and can turn his hand to anything.
What a gorgeous garden! I love your spectacular jacket, too. Happy Belated Birthday!
Author
Thank you very much Susan. This is the best time in my garden and it has been a good year for the roses. I was thrilled when I found the jacket a few years ago, it is one of my treasures. Many thanks for the birthday wishes.
These photos of you in your incredible garden are absolutely stunning and would make incredible paintings. You and John have created a truly amazing space and your statuary tribute to India is beautiful. Lovely to see Raffy making an appearance, too.
I adore your embroidered waistcoat and hat.
So glad you had a wonderful birthday. Great photo of you and your equally stylish girlfriends. xxx
Author
Thank you so much Vix for your lovely compliment on both my outfit and the garden. Seeing your garden mature over time and become what you had planned is very rewarding as you well know, the advantage of living in the same house for many years.
It was so good to meet these IG friends. Enjoy your week Vix. xx
Happy birthday again! What a beautiful outfit and garden! I love the sequins with the embroidered florals on your jacket and your garden is so bright and colourful! 🙂
Hope that your week is going well 🙂 I had a Christmas night out with friends last night, it was a lot of fun! Thank you for joining the link up 🙂
Author
Many thanks Mica, my garden is at its best in late Spring. Clever you noticing the sequin top under my oriental floral jacket , I felt they worked together too. Your Christmas night out sounds a lot of fun . I guess Christmas is a busy time for you with your little ones.
Happy Birthday my friend!
WHat a glorious garden you have! wow. I love roses too and have some in my new space by our deck. Those are beautiful and your outfit is the perfect attire. Love the beautful jacket but the hat certainly caught my eye, love it!
Sounded like you had a great time with the ladies !
thanks for linking!
jess xx
wwwelegantlydressedandstylish.com
Author
Many thanks for the birthday wishes Jess. My garden is at its best when my beloved roses are in full bloom. I do love both this jacket and hat although they are quite different from my usual style. It was so good to spend time with these ladies. My pleasure to join your link up Jess.