Cottage Style Magazine Garden Feature

I am so thrilled! for my favorite European gardener.

That would be Mr. FgH....he is the one who toils and labors to make our gardening dreams come true. Long ago, when having our own home was only a distant dream, I bought him a beautiful gardening book when we lived in Europe, and wrote that someday we would have our own little gardening paradise. Fast forward 28 years, and he is the one who made that dream a reality!

A while ago, the divine stylist Sunday Hendrickson came to take photographs of our back garden. It was so fun working with her and her lovely assistant, it was a gorgeous spring day, and it seemed all the roses were blooming "just right", the birds were singing...perfect.

We truly enjoy our garden, it isn't really big, but there are plenty of areas to sit with a cup of tea, catch up with a good friend, eat a meal, or to quietly read a book. Above you can see my little French Garden House, which is where FrenchGardenHouse got its humble beginnings. The tree bench was a gift from friends who were moving, it's a great place to sit under the shade of our huge gingko tree.

Of all the things in our garden, I still enjoy this old vintage ladder, something I picked out of someone's trash years ago. {as in "stop the car!" I need that in the trash over there!"} It is a perch for our small collection of birdcages, and the perfect way to show off our blooming geraniums, as well as adding some much needed height to that corner of the patio.

The roses are so beautiful in May and June. Some bloom almost all summer long, like the white icebergs and the Eden {there she is, top right}, others don't bloom but once a year, but they are glorious when they do. I have a few old benches here and there in the garden, for some reason I started painting them all aqua, and over the years that has never changed. The aqua is a great color to play against the soothing greens, bright and pastel pinks and creams, and blue flowers we prefer.

I hope that you will get a chance to buy a copy of Cottage Style Magazine, it should be out on the stands right now. It has wonderful interiors, lovely homes that are so inviting and warm. You will find our little garden feature in the very back. {see more of it here.} A HUGE thank you to Sunday, and Harris Publications for including us in this issue.