Giving Roses

Bushels of roses spill all over our studio garden this time of year.   We plunge them into vases, pass bouquets on to those stopping by to visit, and share them with just about everyone.

They just keep blooming.
Blooming, blooming, blooming...an endless tangle of flushed petals, drenched with the scent of heaven.









The more we give them away, the more they come.
We just can't out-give the roses.



It's as if the giving triggers an unseen force inside their tiny ruffled faces and they explode in pink profusion at the very site of the last cutting...the last giving place.

They seem to whisper one of our favorite quotes, by 
Saint Francis of Assisi, in every scattered petal...
"It is in giving that you receive."


The little roses know a hidden truth. 
Life is enriched, fulfilled, multiplied ... as we give.
Giving doesn't take away from us ... it releases us to be more than we could ever imagine.

Giving, real giving, scatters self-focus to the wind and showers the world around you with grace, beauty and the very fragrance of heaven.

Oh, you are so beautiful when you give.  

When you pour yourself out for others.  

When you live your life to be a blessing.

Inspired to embrace a life of giving more,

The Velvet Lime Girls

"Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity.” 

Luke 6:38 - The Message

Rose Party

There’s a fireworks celebration going on in our garden and it’s way past the 4^th of July. This one is only noticeable if you stop and look real, real close.  It’s in the center of a wild, vibrant colored rose that we named the Roanoke Rose, due to its discovery at the Elizabethan Gardens on Roanoke Island, North Carolina.  It now resides in our garden and lately there’s been a lot to celebrate, considering the battles it has endured.

This rose has a group of deer that love to eat it!  We actually think the deer version of Bon Appetit magazine must have published an article about this rose being a delectable, deer delicacy, with bright colored roses and thorn free stems, because it’s become the latest culinary rage in deer dining spots. Yum!  They love it.

Fortunately, hundreds of new savory selections are growing in the garden now and the deer have moved on to more trendy dining spots. And the rose has bloomed!  We were thrilled and it obviously was too, since a full blown fireworks celebration and dancing is going on in the center of each rose.  The celebration is so noisy the deer probably won’t ever come around again. And if they do, they'll just have to dance.

Celebrating does that.  It just kind of chases away all those things that eat at you.  It creates a force of joy that simple repels any little spoilers.  Celebrating changes the entire atmosphere. And it’s good for the soul!  Listen to how one of the wisest men in history reflected on the importance of celebrating:

“I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice (celebrate!), and to do good in their lives, and also that everyone should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor – it is the gift of God.”  King Solomon 

So, take a tip from a little rose that’s had its head bit off every day and a very wise king.  
Celebrate!  
There’s actually “nothing better” for you to do. And when you let a celebration begin in your heart, the music from your soul will change the very atmosphere that surrounds you.

Dancing with the deer,

The Velvet Lime Girls

Elizabethan Gardens - Original home of our rose.