By Patti Spezzaferro “You Americans, you make it all so hard. Growing roses is like growing any other plant.” Michael Marriott Michael Marriott is a well-known authority on growing and designing rose gardens all over the world. For 35 years, Marriott was an integral part of David Austin’s rose team in Albrighton, England, and played […]

By Patti Spezzaferro “It was one of those March days When the sun shone hot And the wind blows cold When it is summer in the light And winter in the shade.”  – Charles Dickens 1812-1870 Charles Dickens was a novelist, social reformer, commentator, actor but many do not know that we absolutely loved gardens. […]

By Patti Spezaferro “The red rose whispers of passion and the white rose breathes of love; O, the red rose is a falcon, and the white rose is a dove; but I send you a cream-white rosebud, With a flush on its petal tips; for the love that is purest and sweetest, has a kiss […]

By Patti Spezaferro Wishing you beautiful moments and all the blessings a heart can know for 2021 and always. As we enter into this new year, I am reminded that it’s a time to celebrate and be thankful for the many wonderful things in my life: good health, a loving family, and my friends at […]

By Patti Spezaferro My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece. – Claude Monet Claude Monet, one of the founders of impressionistic art, always loved the outdoors, and wherever he lived, he planted flowers. So, it’s not surprising to read that it took Monet six years to find the perfect setting for his garden that possessed […]

By Patti Spezaferro “She never dressed down for her gardens.” She might be wearing a tweed suit and Ferragamo pumps, and if it were muddy, she kicked off the shoes on coming back into the house. – E.B. White The above quotation is from the famous author of the beloved children’s book, Charlotte’s Web, speaking […]

By Patti Spezaferro A garden is probably the most pure and spiritual of joys. A communion with nature and beauty in their most simple and fundamental forms. –Oscar de la Renta I always knew that Oscar de la Renta was known as one of the world’s leading fashion designers because of his elegant style of […]

By Patti Spezaferro “The most noteworthy thing about gardeners is that they are always optimistic, always enterprising, and never satisfied. They always look forward to doing something better than they have ever done before.” … Vita Sackville West Last year, I was lucky enough to travel to England with a wonderful group of garden enthusiasts. […]

By Patti Spezaferro “What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer,  the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months,  and with as yet no sign to remind one  that its fresh young beauty will ever fade?”  ―Gertrude Jekyll Gertrude Jekyll, born in 1843, was an extraordinary British horticulturist, garden […]

“I can be changed by what happens to me, but I refuse to be defeated by it.” Maya Angelou I will not lie, the shelter-in-place order has been a real challenge for me. I love being out and about taking classes, volunteering, exercising with friends. The first two weeks, I felt like an unanchored ship […]