Ruth Marlene Friesen: Welcome!

This site is like Ruthe, the heroine of my novel, Ruthe's Secret Roses

Ruthe is . . .
intimate with God,
prays a lot,
a bleeding heart for the hurting,
a big sister,
rescues friends,
has creative ideas,
likes to give surprise gifts,
loyal to friends,
dreams of love and marriage,
dreams of writing a book
goes the extra mile

So this site offers;
good books to read!
help to become Friends with Jesus,
The One Ideal Real Friend
a cure for loneliness
An Older Sister's Coping Secret
how to pray Panic Prayers,
& regularly/daily
devotionals,
how to grow in faith
Christian mentoring,
how to share your faith
character development
how to become a writer

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"Ruthe, Ruthe, how does your garden grow?"

It has been thriving this past month! You know, so often when I would rave about my garden friends would say, "Well, I'll have to come around to see it sometime." But they never do. I decided to pick a Sunday and invite everyone I talked to for a week or so, to drop by for a Come n' Go Garden Tour. Sunday July 31 suited me nicely. (It happened to be my birthday, but I planned to keep smugly quiet about that).

Although I didn't invite everyone I know, I thought I had invited quite a few. Mostly as I met friends. They didn't nearly all come. But 13 souls did, and I enjoyed their visits. They came in twos and threes, and sometimes met the ones just leaving or arriving, but it worked out great for me. (Except that my feet got tired in the sandals I was wearing and I changed them towards the end).

Some of these photos are from a week or two earlier, but the later half or so are from this weekend just past.

I'm glad I took this photo of my daisies in their heyday. By this weekend they were rather ragged and spent looking so I trimmed off most of their heads to save for seeds. I'm hoping they will bloom again.





The peonies were at their peak too, a few weeks ago. You should'a seen them!

They seem to have rooted down now since I moved them there from Hague in 2007. The plants are getting bigger each year.






Yes, I finally got my circular flowerbed dug up and seeded. I put dahlias in the center, surrounded by a ring of zinnias and then an outer ring of French marigolds.



Here is what's coming up now.



Look, my circular flowerbed in the front is greening up as - mostly the marigolds are popping up. I hope in a month that wll be a lovely riot of colours! Something to look forward to yet.






I must say, I like this airy look in the front flowerbeds with the daisies and the peonies! Don't you?

I think it does quite well, despite the fact that this area is in the shady north side, with little sun most of the day.

Let's move to the back garden now and see how much growth has happened in one month.

Isn't it great how it has filled out? Especially the last few weeks as we've been blessed with some hot and sunny days.



Back here, a bit west of and in front of the shed is this new flowerbed I dug up in May. Those lacy green plants in the back are the cosmos coming up.

In the center is suppose to be Asters, but I'm not sure what they should look like, so I'm leaving the weeds there in the center row too until I can tell. The front row is zinnias and they are looking good.

Say, do you see those white flowers by the fence, beyond the squash? Can you tell me what they might be? They are a mystery flower to me. I thought I had sown yellow painted daisies there.

The squash is volunteering all over the garden too, by the way. I didn't sow any!


There is my bank of raspberry canes against the fence.

When I moved here in 2007, I brought along six or seven of Dad's raspberry canes. Three survived, but now they have multiplied quite a bit.

I've been picking and eating a number of times out there, but since there are many new canes, I know they will be bearing heavily next summer!

These yellow-orange flowers are calendula. They are part of the marigold family and have healing properties, so I let them pop up wild all over the garden. Later I will harvest them to dry for things like my ointment for skin problems.




Notice these pink morning glories? They are volunteering here. I didn't sow them. Nor the tomatoes that they are climbing all over. Things just want to grow in my garden. I haven't got much heart to stop them (tho' I have been cutting back on the squashes this year).



Say, do you know what those white mystery flowers are there by the fence? I thought I sowed yellow painted daisies last year. They are not bad-looking, but a surprise on me!

Over to the right on the fence you'll notice some more morning glories.

When a friend at the office wanted to give away some potted plants she received for mother's day, but which were then dying, I rescued them and planted them south of the zucchini. This last week I saw them start to flower. One is white and the other mauve.





Just two or three steps further along the path, we see these red flax flowers bordering the potato patch. Next is a row of watermelon that is in full bloom, and on Sunday we noticed a few tiny watermelons, about the size of your smallest fingernail. After that is the row of cucumbers, and I've been watching one grow!

In the middle of the east side garden are some volunteer squash that are hard to keep back. I trim back armloads of excess vines at least once or twice a week this summer. But see that squash there in the middle beside the flower? I may get larger squashes for all that.

Ah-ha! My largest tomato plant is filling up with green tomatoes! I can hardly wait until I can start picking the ripe ones off the vines. Short of blight, or other problems, I should have a bumper crop of various kinds of tomatos - red, yellow, and cherry tomatoes!

All right one last look at the garden while it is being watered. This is the stage of being most lush. In a month's time things will start dying off and turning yellow.

You are welcome to come again then!

Ruthe's Secret Roses available in softcover! Purchase it at BookLocker.com and it will be in the mail to you within 48 hours!


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