{Weigela florida 'Polka' in Our Garden}

• The Weigela florida 'Polka' is an exceptional spring-flowering shrub, covered in attractive pink trumpet-shaped flowers with yellow throats, attracts hummingbirds. We have ours in the wood garden, let's have a look, join me on a Garden Tour.

• Pieter took these photos on May 6, around 11:00 AM.

• Our hummingbirds will love those trumpets!

{Our Backyard Wildlife HABITAT Certificate from August 1997} my previous post explains more about the reason we plant such type of shrubs.

• This is the shrub as it grows in our wood garden.

{Philadelphus 'Mont Blanc' - mock orange}

• In April we had so many shrubs blooming in our garden, that it was impossible to keep up with posting about them. So here I will show you our Philadelphus 'Mont Blanc' - mock orange. There are numerous varieties of Philadelphus, just have a look at this Dutch nursery for some double species as well. The first hyperlink reads that it is fully hardy till a minimum of 29°C but of course that should read 29°F.

• Are they not beautiful? That was at the end of April. Perfect Garden Tour time!

• This is the shrub itself.

{LOOK who's in the French Style of May/June 2011}

For quite a while I've wanted to introduce you to the romantic blog Roses Pour Toujours from Janny van der Vliet about her fabulous, like real paper roses! She has been perfecting her art over the past ten years, by studying and observing the real roses, especially the old roses. English and French bourbon roses are her favorites.

Since 2005 she's living in the south of France and that's when she started her workshops. Still she is giving workshops in The Netherlands, her native country. She just got back from a workshop in the town where my husband Pieter is born; in Groessen. The world is small isn't it?! Let me show you some of her creations right here below. It is part of the May/June issue of Belle Inspiration - French Style - Celebrating La Joie de Vivre.

Janny's roses in the Days of the Roses held every May in Avignon, France.

Isn't her work incredible?! And so real looking... 

Belle Inspiration Magazine

CELEBRATING LA JOIE DE VIVRE

May/June 2011 issue by Belle Inspiration, where Janny is featured.

Roses en Papier

The Art of Creating Paper Roses

Text & Photos by: Janny van der Vliet

Introduction by Janny van der Vliet in English

By the way, this magazine is available through Mimi Bleu, on her Bonjour Romance blog -check it out.

Janny's next workshop is in Paris and you can get information on her Roses Pour Toujours blog.

Also visit Janny's website Des Roses de Papier for more info in French and English.

I will leave you now with the video that is on YouTube about Janny's feature:

Wishing Janny lots of success with her fabulous Paper Roses!