I did locate the picture of Connie Sandstorm that I took during my visit this past summer. The blooms are open a little more than when at their best, but still lovely. I noticed that Grace Rose Farms Instagram has a new video showcasing Connie Sandstorm. I’m going to ask Burling about the correct name of this rose. In every email Burling writes, she says “Connie Sandstorm”. Now I’m seeing Grace write Connie’s Sandstorm. Either way, she’s beautiful. My picture doesn’t do her justice, but Grace’s sure do!

They are just a little past their prime in my picture, but this is how Connie Sandstorm looked the day I fell in love with her.

Meanwhile, things look good at home. It’s much safer to leave a son in charge of rose care now, than during the hot summer!

Boscobel is doing great, and I found a dianthus that goes with it perfectly. The dianthus aren’t planted yet,(story of my life:) but I moved a container of one closer to Boscobel for this picture. It’s a pretty close match, I think.

Violet’s Pride is still blooming her heart out!

Baby Molineux is loving these cooler temperatures. The blooms are much more color saturated than during the super hot summer.

My two baby Bolero’s are doing great, especially since they were planted as tiny bands just as our summer heat kicked in.

Baronne Prevost keeps surprising me one more “last bloom”, and then one more.....

Even the bud in the distance is Baronne Prevost. I’m loving all BP’s unexpected “one last blooms”. Lisa

Lisa, I've been hesitant to ask, but did you ever get Yvonne Rabier and if so has it grown at all for you? I still love mine.

Just a quick post to say, Diane, I'm so glad you're feeling a bit better. It must have felt so good to get out, and it sounds like you made the most of it. Two nurseries! Glad your garden is looking ok, and you've got time to get it ready for winter.

Have loved reading everyone's posts today, but no time to comment much now.

Great photos, Lisa, and so much still going on in your garden!

Jim, your snowman is a hoot! Clever,

flowers, sitting through the races isn't so bad since I have my laptop on my legs and my mind can escape to other worlds. Plus I know how much Cecil enjoys watching, and he is such a wonderful husband. He's struggling with autoimmune encephalitis and deserves any pleasure he can have. We as a group seem to have so many health issues (me with fibromyalgia) and I thought it's because we're all getting older, until I took a gander at Jim's calves. He's not old! Cute pup on his pillow, by the way.

Lisa, if that's how you look after getting up at 2:00 a.m. I can only congratulate you. That is not a bad picture! I hope the rigors of the drive and wedding don't have any aftereffects now that you're home. So glad that your roses are looking good after your absence. I notice that Burling's roses also look happier now than they did in your summer photos. That horrible heat this summer was hard on everyone. The roses in your pics look wonderful. I don't think I've seen Violet's Pride before, what a beauty. Baronne Prevost must like your soil because I saw one in Rancho Bernardo where the soil is rocky which did not look nearly as happy and did not bloom as much. I'm so glad you have that going for you since your health challenges don't make gardening easy. It's funny how gardening is a strain for many of us and yet we keep at it because at the same time it makes us so happy.

Flowers, trust me, no one knows what covfefe is.

I've read snippets on other threads about your husband's illness, Ingrid, and wasn't sure exactly what he is dealing with. I'm so sorry to hear this. Neither did I know you have your own difficulties with fibromyalgia. Life sure throws us some curve balls. No, these things don't necessarily come with old age. We all have our crosses to bear, some more than others, but never more than we can handle. Jim is one of our youngsters here. He and Justin keep us seniors entertained with their youthful exuberance.

Sheila, is Diane up to her shenanigans and toying with us again?

Yay. Justin is back !!

Justin, I am so sorry about your health issues. I had migrains years ago and terrible vertigo. So horrible when it came on. Mine finally went away, thank goodness. Hopefully you will find relief.

Reading this post made me realize what a mess we are. Lol. Not really but we are all dealing with so many issues and yet everyone has such beautiful positive attitudes.

Today, I am thankful that I can still see. that I can still garden and that I have so many wonderful, compassionate gardening friends.

Have a blessed day everyone

Happy thanksgiving everyone. Wishing you a wonderful day of love and happiness.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We have rain in San Diego County to be thankful for today! We sure need it, and more is forcast for next week. Have a wonderful day with everyone and everything you love! Lisa

What lovely flowers, Svetlana. I assume these are from your garden. It goes to show that Sweden is getting warmer too.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'm thankful for this site and everyone here. Off to cook the Tofurkey! ; ))

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'm so behind on this thread but enjoyed catching up with all of you. I'm grateful for the stories, photos, jokes, advice, and chit chat! You are all much appreciated every day but just wanted to express sincere thanks today!

I finally went outside for about an hour this morning. After two and half weeks of unhealthy air we finally had some wind and a strong storm come through yesterday and early this morning. I can finally see a sky that's mostly blue! While Weather Underground says it's about 60 outside, it feels like 68. I had to remove my jacket and still felt too warm. But I walked around, took a few photos, and cut some flowers for the house! Here are a few pics for you.

Peach Swirl

Double Delight

White Lightnin'

Ann

After my little pity party of one this morning because it's just the two of us this year with no big family to cook for, no little grimy hands to hold or sticky faces for kisses, no pranks my kids play on each other and no family walks in the woods after dinner, I clicked on here and find kindness and friendship. You all add something wonderful to this site and to my life. Wishing each of you a blessed day.

Svetlana and Ann, your beautiful roses will be my virtual centerpieces today.

What lovely people are on this forum. Happy Thanksgiving all!

Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

I trust everyone had a great Thanksgiving! :-)

Cold here yesterday where temps never got up past 25 degrees then last night temps dipped to like 14 degrees... so alittle chilly...lol...But had a great Thanksgiving!

I got into the festive mood and even turned the Christmas lights on a bit early last night...lol

I was born in 1961 ingrid...

WOW! Such wonderful photos everyone! :-)

Jim, just a youngin with a cool tat, even if it is a Steelers tattoo

lol Kristine! Thanx...

Your welcome

Auggie Doggie

Those puppies are cutie pies Jim and Kristine!

Wow Ann, your roses are going strong, they are gorgeous!

I hope everyone had a most wonderful thanksgiving:). I got to spend it with my in laws this year and my husband’s grandparents. His grandfather has had heart surgery and we are very thankful to have him with us and doing well. We just arrived at our house (they live only 4 hours away), and I am very excited I get to plant my Pomponella sand Ascot tomorrow. I also have some roses hanging on even after being in the 20s recently.

Lichfield angel is doing so well.

Darcey and Raspberry Cream T are amazing. I can’t recommend these enough to everyone I meet. Sorry I probably shouldn’t have tried when it looks this dark.

In two years this rose has grown to the top of the arch and has bloomed all the way.

CHRISTMAS MIRACLE

We have a much debated area of our yard

My husband has been insistant that it would be a fire pit

I of course wanted another planting bed. Heres the thing, we would absolutely never use a fire pit, well, at least not enough to take up a huge potential planting bed

Today my husband generously agreed to let me plant that area

Whoo hoo, let the planting begin.

I guess I can't call him the Grinch any more

YAY!!! Good for you, Kristine. I can’t wait to see what you plant! Lisa

Nice roses, Dianela! RCT looks wonderful on that arch! I agree that Darcy is amazing. She just doesn’t quit. Here’s mine this morning. Lisa

Kristine that is wonderful news =). A new rose bed is always a wonderful present.

Lisa I want to plant other red David Austin’s, but it is difficult to imagine a better red than this one. I did plant Ascot today =), I really hope it is good enough to make it difficult to choose in the future.

Wonderful photos everyone! :-)

Ice storm here!

Jim that picture is just amazing and terrifying. Stay warm and be careful if you have to go out to town. Hope it goes away soon.

That's terrible, Jim! We just got rain this time, but recently an ice storm knocked out power to half the city. For once, I wasn't affected. I hope you don't have to go outside.

Kristin, that is just THRILLING! How are you going about prepping the area? Tell your DH we're all very impressed with his decision! ; ) I mentioned yesterday I needed to get my ARE order together and with my guilty conscience I swore I heard my DH say, "Do you have enough roses?" I interpreted that as being facetious and felt so hurt. Only later did I find out he asked if I had enough room ready for more roses!We lucked out, didn't we?

Christmas miracle ! yea! Awesome v cKristine !

Gracie and Auggie Doggie look contented. They must have each just had a nice doggie bowl of left over turkey and gravy with a little dressing to top it off.

Dianela, your photo speaks well of Lichfield Angel's hardiness. She looks great after the freezing weather. Your RCT has grown beyond it's stated size. Mine is waiting for spring in the garage. She won't get that big here. Your home is so warm and inviting. A cozy setting. Grace Roses has Lichfield (and 4 other white roses) on special just for today, I think. I'm torn.

Kristine, your Mr. Wonderful sounds very understanding of your addiction. You should keep him. You, too, Vaporvac. These guys are coming around to the rosy way of life.

Jim, are you having an ice storm? Cold, but so beautiful. We had one our first winter here. What a rude awakening to a couple of Californians to living where there are seasons. Power was out for a full week and I stayed curled up on the couch with every blanket I could find, 24/7. Jim, stay safe on the icy roads.

Diane, I am afraid you over extended yourself and have had a relapse. Trusting you are just resting a lot, which would be a good thing.

You know what they say about be careful what you ask for? This new area is a weed patch, full of crepe myrtle starts. I will have to really work on it.

I would like a bench and a solar water feature.

But, It will be a fun area to work on and I am feeling blessed.

I would give just about anything to grow crepe myrtles, but alas, too cold.

A bench and water feature would be heaven. I garden in a weed patch too, so fully get what you have before you. The big plus is the huge difference when it's all done.

When we moved in there was the

Most gorgeous crepe myrtle

It was huge but old and diseased

We had a big storm and several branches broke off. It was a hard decision but in the end we removed it. But it is still sending up starts everywhere.

I liked the crepe myrtle so much that I planted 2 dwarf sizes.

I can work all winter to clear the area.

Now, what to plant.

I saw some dwarf purple salvia that would be cool in the front

Diane, I hope you're ok? I heard a piece of choral music I thought Claire? (not sure I have got the right granddaughter) would like. I wish I could do links, but if you google the theme music from Home Fires, you should get it.

Jim, I think our doggies would have a great time playing

Is he a labradoodle ?

Catching up on this thread...I hope everyone is doing ok...

Wonderful photos and conversation!

Raining here today but what's new...lol...We actually got to 48 degrees yesterday! And today looks the same...I'll take it!

Gracie is actually A Goldendoodle Kristine....She loves to play...lol

Cold, snow/sleet & windy today here...lol...

I hope everyones doing well! Nanadoll, how are things your way?

Ezra putting up and tearing down tree...lol

What a cutie he is! Such fun!

Wet and windy here today....

Nice pic titian1!

It snowed a bit here last night...windy and cold today...Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Nanadoll, I hope your doing ok... Please let us know when you get the chance...

The Bloomstrucks have been crushed with snow & ice...

Burrrr!!

To make it easier on everyone I just started another new FALL THREAD...PART 4

See you all there!

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/fall-is-upon-us-seasonal-thread-part-4-dsvw-vd~5551667