By Patti Spezzaferro “You may think that you are nurturing the garden, but of course, it’s our garden that is really nurturing us.” Jenny Uglow   Hope everyone had a wonderful July free of PRS commitments and ready to start the month of August with renewed energy and focus. I spent the last six weeks […]

By Patti Spezzaferro “I spend all my free time in my garden during the pandemic, and it shows.” -PRS member, Lydia Truce On May 11th, Lydia Truce invited Peninsula Rose Society members to visit her beautiful rose garden in San Rafael. Fifteen lucky members, including myself, accepted her gracious invitation. Stepping into her backyard was […]

By Patti Spezzaferro “Mothers, the person who has done more for you than anyone in the world.” – Anna Jarvis Mother’s Day has long been synonymous with flowers. About 69% of Americans will send mom flowers this year, with 36% planning to buy mom jewelry. In 2020, U.S. consumers planned to spend about 2.56 billion […]

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 […]