My garden flowers and gardens as autobiography

"A garden wall without a climbing rose, or a well-trained peach, is as meaningless to a gardener as a blank canvas is to an artist." Daniel Frogg, garden designer, 1955.
Or, I might add, a climbing flowering vine such as my purple clematis.

I planted this two inch tall Jackmani clematis in February 2018 and it is 5 feet tall now.

The same day I planted a periwinkle blue clematis, which remains 2 inches tall and has not had a flower yet. I have hopes for next season for it.
I have long thought that the books on our shelves and the plants we choose for our gardens have a touch of autobiography in them. For example, my gardens and stacks of books are not very neat, which expresses something about me. I prefer the creative and artistic aspects of gardening to house cleaning, which continually needs to be repeated. I have a book in my collection with a title I love, "A Gentle Plea for Chaos".
I have a statue of the Virgin Mary in my garden which I bought years ago with money I earned from my writing, a treat for me. My younger son gave me a Buddha statue so Buddha and Mary reside in my garden in peaceful harmony.

I like plants that birds, bees and butterflies like. Yes I do like all creatures great and small. Except for gophers and snails and slugs. Even garden snakes and bats are welcome in my garden.
Here is a quote to this point: "A garden that one makes oneself becomes associated with one's personal history and that of one's friends, interwoven with one's tastes, preferences and character, and constitutes a sort of unwritten, but withall manifest, autobiography. Show me your garden, provided it be your own, and I will tell you what you are like." From "The Gardens that I Love" by Alfred Austin, 1835-1913.

Above is my orange clock vine, a vigorous vine which quickly reached six feet tall on the fence and ten feet wide, and then spreads along the ground covering an additional five foot square area. I do love flowering shrubs and trees, including my lilac, 3 hydrangeas, 3 clematis, Strawberry tree and Red magnolia, soon to be joined by one or two camellias. I have a large old Cantua, the national flower of Chile, which my friend who moved here from Chile ordered for me. When she was a child in Chile a Cantua bloomed outside her second story bedroom.

I have small sculptures in my garden, yes, I like happy and pretty things. Smiling stylized suns hanging on the fence, including the one in the above photo, with jasmine growing up to it. Of course a bird bath and bird feeders. I could go on but don't want to bore you. Do you think your garden expresses a bit of who you are?

Pink Roses and Our Lady

I wish I knew the name of this rose but I don't, so to me it is my Mary rose, since it shelters a statue of Mary in my garden. I bought this rose about 20 years ago at a rare and heirloom plants sale at a university, and I lost track of this pretty rose's name. It does well in part shade, thank goodness, as the gigantic tree behind it grows ever taller and casts more shade.
I earned some money from writing a gardening article about 15 years ago, and treated myself to the cement statue of Mary, and put her in the shelter of the roses, since roses are considered a Mary flower and there are many links to Mary and roses over the centuries.

Each year as it blooms this rose bush looks like a full bouquet to me. Do you have roses like this?
Or a favorite rose in your garden?

My Mary With Her Roses

This photo is of my Mary garden, with the beautiful pink roses sheltering Mary.
I bought this rose bush long ago at a university plant sale, and don't recall its name, but it flourishes in very little sun. Hurray. At her feet are primroses and a prostrate rosemary.
There are 100 plants with Mary stories, including roses, primroses, rosemary, marigold, calendula, forget me not, snowdrop, carnation, clematis and so many more.
I love to see Mary at the back of the garden, with some sunlight shining on her, and when I see her statue she inspires me to pray in my garden.
Do any of you have a Mary garden?

Name your must have plants

Hi gardeners,
Do you have any plants you consider essential?
Post them in a comment if you are so inspired.
For my vegie patch, tomatoes, basil and cilantro are must haves.
I have 4 roses that I am fond of. One multiflora pink rose arches over a statue of Mary, so is the focal point, with her, of my little ol Mary Garden.
Rosemary also graces her garden, and it is super to have fresh rosemary sprigs available. Just put a few sprigs in the oven when baking chicken or roasting beef.
The branches are also fun to add to charcoal briquets, for outdoor grilling.
I also admire my two cantua plants, which are about seven feet tall, and have splashy red trumpet shaped flowers most of the year, that hummingbirds like. The cantua is the national flower of Chile, and my friend from Santiago told me about its beauty.
Any favorites you want to share?