Flower explosions in the garden

My mother-in-law gave me a cutting of this antique cabbage rose many years ago and my husband planted it in our back yard, right next to the front backyard gate. There it has thrived and grows plentifully and happily each spring and summer, generous with its lovely blooms and scent.

I used to have "peony envy" and have worked to have a patch of respectable peonies in our backyard, which has meant replanting after rookie mistakes of not knowing that they are dry-soil sun worshippers. Now that the plants are more established, I can enjoy my own peonies and need not envy anyone else's.

My husband built me a "rose patch" where we relocated the rose plants I had all over the place. These are the first offerings this year.

Gardening, something I didn't have any exposure to while growing up, is one of the blessings I've come to have in my life because of living in Ohio. My Abuela Jo (for Josefina) was a famous gardener, who had the loveliest pink roses in her garden as well as many other flowering plants. And my mom just told me that her mother, my Abuela Hebe, also had lovely gardens in her homes and even won a prize for them! I like to think that I inherited their green thumb and while I'm not a very hardworking gardener (my husband often remarks on how little weeding I do!), I really enjoy having and tending to flowering plants (though I don't want anything too fuzzy).

My father used to call our house's garden El jardín mágico and I guess it's still very much magical to me.