Tags
A Groom for Mama, A Rose Garden Tour, A Writer's Garden, Catherine Castle, flowers, roses, Sweet romance
Welcome to A Writer’s Garden where writers who are gardeners or just love gardens will be sharing their garden and flower stories, as well as a bit about their writing.
Today’s writer/gardener guest is, me–Catherine Castle.
A ROSE GARDEN TOUR
I found myself with an empty slot on this week’s garden blog, so I thought I’d fill in.
Readers often want to know if authors insert themselves into their books. I’ve noticed that there are a few things that always seem to slip themselves into my books. Flowers tend to be one of those things. That’s probably happens because I’m a gardener and I love flowers.
My sweet romantic comedy, A Groom for Mama, is no exception. At one point in the story, Allison, Jack, and Mama visit a rose garden. So I thought it would be fun to show you some pictures of the rose gardens I’ve visited. Next to day lilies I think I like roses best. Especially a dozen red roses in a flower vase. I haven’t had much luck growing roses, except the hardy knockout rose n (pictured above). I do have a couple of them in the front yard.
But, enough about me. On with the garden tour!
Columbus park of Roses, Columbus Ohio
Isn’t this bench inviting? This garden has hundreds of rose bushes. The minute you walk into the park you’re surrounded by the heavenly scent of roses. I imagined the garden Allison, Jack and Mama visited smelled as heavenly as this one.
Innswood Metro Gardens
My husband took the shot of the roses through a circle opening in a lattice gazebo. I just love the juxtaposition of the dark and the light.
Kingwood Center garden
This as another artistically composed shot from my husband’s camera. He was an art student, so naturally he looks at the composition of a photograph when he shoots.
The Roses at Disney World
This picture was taken during Disney’s Flower and Garden Show. Every year in March-May they display hundreds of beautiful flowers. If you’ve never been, and you love gardens, you really should try to get there. It’s fantastic. I think this shot was probably taken in mid to late April.
Catherine’s garden
And of course, I couldn’t show you the lovely pictures of gardens I’ve visited without including one of my own award-winning garden. This is the view out of my office window. I planted knockout roses and ribbon grass around the ugly transformer box in the front of my yard. I got tired of looking at the hulking green metal box all the time. The power company came once and cut the roses back to the ground. They sprung back up, shooting new branches from the stump. Gotta love a hardy rose like that!
I hope you’ve enjoyed my little trip through the roses.
What about you? Do you love roses?
ABOUT THE WRITER/GARDENER:
Multi-award winning author Catherine Castle loves writing. Before beginning her career as a romance writer she worked part-time as a freelance writer. She has over 600 articles and photographs to her credit, under her real name, in the Christian and secular market. She also lays claim to over 300 internet articles written on a variety of subjects and several hundred poems. In addition to writing she loves reading, traveling, singing, theatre, quilting and gardening. She’s a passionate gardener whose garden won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club. She writes sweet and inspirational romances. You can find her award-winning Soul Mate books The Nun and the Narc and A Groom for Mama, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
Follow her on Twitter @AuthorCCastle, FB or her blog.
A GROOM FOR MAMA
By Catherine Castle
Beverly Walters is dying, and before she goes she has one wish—to find a groom for her daughter. To get the deed done, Mama enlists the dating service of Jack Somerset, Allison’s former boyfriend.
The last thing corporate-climbing Allison wants is a husband. Furious with Mama’s meddling, and a bit more interested in Jack than she wants to admit, Allison agrees to the scheme as long as Mama promises to search for a cure for her terminal illness.
A cross-country trip from Nevada to Ohio ensues, with a string of disastrous dates along the way, as the trio hunts for treatment and A Groom For Mama.
A Groom for Mama is available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
My latest book just released September 9th is called Parent’s Treasure Box of IDEAS and the subtitle is Tips To Help You Teach Your Child. It’s quite a stretch from my mystery novels and mystery fantasy books for children but I felt it was timely. Parents have had to become more involved in their children’s education than ever before with the changes in school routines.
June has always loved flowers, plants, and trees. She credits her extraordinary Grandma McCrary for inspiring her love of nature at a very young age; a love that includes animals.
It’s the summer of 1968 in Sonoma County, California, and eleven-year-old Weston Gregg and his nine-year-old sister, Wendy, are looking for fun things to do during their summer break from school. When they discover some abandoned rabbits, they hatch an idea to make a positive difference for animals and people in their small town of Tyler Stop.
Carol lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where her love of flower gardens has been reduced to easy-to-care-for pots and an overgrown rock garden. (Not shown because that’s a whole other story!)
When Audra Knight’s gynecologist says, “I need to do a biopsy,” it numbs her to the core of her being. She’s young, single, and suddenly a potential cancer victim. It’s really not the time to notice Dann Day, the handsome new band-orchestra teacher at Chandler’s Grove Academy—and Audra’s new co-worker. And why should he want anything to do with her? With her unresolved anger issues, the way she’s strayed from God, and the fact that Heather Easton already seems to have claimed him for her own, getting involved would be stupid. Even if he was able to see past all of that, it could too easily end in heartbreak if she does end up having cancer. She doesn’t want to put a man through that. But when Dann asks Audra’s help on a school project, Heather’s jealousy flares. It’s the catalyst that amplifies Audra’s anger, sending her back to God and church to find peace and the courage to truly live. However, there’s one thing that can’t be stopped—Audra’s growing feelings for Dann. But how can she tell a man who wants a family that he might not be able to have one with her? As the pressure mounts, it becomes clear that the only one who can answer the question is God.
Stately white Queen Anne’s lace and wild, orange-coated, freckle-faced Tiger lilies grew side by side, best of friends. In the spring, miniature purple violets grew in profusion along beside the colonies of daffodils, their heads nodding like pools of golden butter.
Among all these, closer to the ground, grew the Black-eyed Susans, looking like senoritas in yellow shawls, demure Buttercups, the milk maidens of the field, and the favorite Daisy, lending its petals for my childish chants of “he loves, he loves me not” and giving me hours of delight in weavings chains and rings. Overall sprang the heady smelling tangles of honeysuckle.
As I lay in in the grass staring at the bunnies who played close by or listened to the frogs croaking in a nearby pond, and watched the stars in the heavens wink at me good-night, no wonder my imagination grew and expanded as I imagined tiny fairies and Tom Thumbs peeking at me from beneath dandelion plants. With a beautiful, exotic world such as I grew up in, how could I not allow the talent God had placed inside me develop into a writing career where I could use my imagination to my heart’s content?
Besides being a member and active participant of many writing groups, Carole Brown enjoys mentoring beginning writers. An author of ten books, she loves to weave suspense and tough topics into her books, along with a touch of romance and whimsy, and is always on the lookout for outstanding titles and catchy ideas. She and her husband reside in SE Ohio but have ministered and counseled nationally and internationally. Together, they enjoy their grandsons, traveling, gardening, good food, the simple life, and did she mention their grandsons?
Mr. Michael, Destiny Rose McCulloch, and Hunter have a mysterious history. Why were three fathers, all business partners, murdered under suspicious circumstances while on their quest to find gold?
Another gift from Aunt Mary is in bloom right now, but I have no idea what you call it. In the deep south, it will take over, but up here, no problem. I can easily keep it in check by growing it in the small space between the driveway and the house.
Because of all the rain, the fire and ice hydrangea grew taller than normal, well over seven feet tall, and bloomed late. I’m enjoying the flowers, especially since they attract more butterflies and hummingbirds.
Betty Thomason Owens’ love of flowers began at an early age as she toddled around in her grandma’s garden filling her little fists with pretty blooms. She writes historical fiction that always includes a sweet romance and often hints of suspense. She and her husband, Bob, live in Louisville, Kentucky. They raised three sons, and now have eight grandchildren. A part-time bookkeeper at her day-job, she writes for Write Integrity Press, and has eight novels in publication. You can connect with her on her 
Amy Juliana Emerson might be a cultured debutante, but she is doing her best to follow her mom’s rebellious footsteps. Her desperate attempt to escape her father’s control, however, comes at the worst possible time. 
Gail Sattler lives in Vancouver, BC, Canada, where she and her husband are recent empty nesters and greanparents. Gail Sattler has over 40 published novels and novellas, plus a few works of non-fiction. When she’s not writing she plays bass for an Elton John tribute band as well as a community jazz band. Gail is a workshop leader, public speaker, and the OCW critique group moderator. When she’s not at her computer or making music (or at her day job) Gail likes to sit back and read a book written by someone else, accompanied by a good cup of hot coffee.
Cheryl Richardson doesn’t know that her landlord who owns the other half of the duplex where she lives is plotting to build a bomb—but the FBI does. In order to discover what her landlord is planning to blow up, agent Steve Gableman moves next door to get closer to Cheryl to learn what she knows, namely the target and motive, so they can stop it. But when Steve involves himself in every area of her life, including her dog, will Cheryl be the one to explode?
Four years ago my son gave me a calla lily for Mother’s Day. I placed it in the ground in May. Each year since I’ve waited with anticipation for this special lily to produce white blooms but nothing but green leaves ever appeared. Then to my joy and surprise this week there were two white lilies. A lesson for me here—where there is a little bit of life there is still hope.
Pat enjoys flower gardening, genealogy research and traveling with her British-born husband. 
After fleeing impending war in England, nineteen-year-old Abby Stapleton works to correct her stammer and to become a teacher in America, only to discover this conflict has no boundaries and that a rejected suitor is intent on destroying her name, fiancé, and fragile faith.
Now in my early seventies, I live in central Arkansas, where the temperate climate is less challenging. I have Multiple Sclerosis, a progressive auto-immune disease, so I tire easily and rely on a cane or a walker to get around. My garden here is dramatically different from the gardens I had in Arizona, but it’s still my retreat. A dear friend, a master gardener, has filled my back deck with ferns, vines, elephant ears, jumbo varieties of philodendron, and other foliage plants I’m still learning about. She also supplied flowers in pots so something is always blooming. Red, pink, and white dianthus bloomed early in the spring, followed soon after by two varieties of clematis. Now lantana provides a splash of yellow, a miniature bush is filled with red roses, and two giant begonias are covered with pink and yellow blossoms.
To my delight, central Arkansas is a wonderland of birds. My garden retreat has become an open-air aviary. Cardinals, blue jays, chickadees, titmice, wrens, seven species of woodpeckers, along with three species of nuthatches visit my four feeders regularly. Orioles, indigo buntings, and three varieties of grosbeaks stop by as they migrate through. Goldfinches and juncos spend the winter and spring here. Ruby-throated hummingbirds and tanagers arrive for the summer. I also keep a birdbath filled with clean water for drinking and bathing.
I love relaxing and reading in my lounge chair, but my garden retreat also has an important role in my writing life. When I was working on The Silver Lode, the second book in my Jerome, Arizona mystery trilogy, I ran headlong into writer’s block. After trying freewriting, outlining, character dialog, and every other trick I could think of, I went out to my garden retreat. After getting comfortable in my lounge chair, I began praying for guidance. I wound up falling asleep, but God offers grace freely. When I woke up, I knew the answer to my dilemma. I had tagged the wrong murderer!
Professor Emeritus, Northern Arizona University, Suzanne J. Bratcher now lives in the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains in central Arkansas. A lifelong gardener, she has created an open-air aviary on her back deck filled with foliage plants, a recirculating fountain, and multiple bird feeders. A reader and a quilter, she takes orders from her two rescue cats, Scamp and Mini Pearl. She writes inspirational romantic suspense and fantasy with a twist of mystery set in the majestic, mysterious Southwest.
The mountains near Jerome, Arizona, guard a secret … an unsolved mystery that intertwines a young girl’s future, an old man’s past, and the fate of a teenager’s life.
Linda Shenton Matchett will travel far and wide to catch a glimpse of a beautiful garden. She has visited Kew Gardens in London, Leu Gardens in Orlando, and The New York Botanical Gardens, just to name a few of her favorite destinations. She writes Christian historical romance and mystery fiction.![Murder at Madison Square Garden: A WWII Mystery (Women of Courage Book 2) by [Linda Shenton Matchett]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41BXRzWzybL._SY346_.jpg)
photo spread with Charles Lindbergh at the America First Rally will salvage her reputation. After an attempted assassination of Lindbergh leaves another man dead, Teddy is left holding the gun. Literally. Can she prove her innocence before the police lock her up for a murder she didn’t commit? Private Investigator Ric Bogart wants nothing to do with women after his wife cleaned out their bank account and left him for another man, but he can’t ignore the feeling he’s supposed to help the scrappy, female reporter who is arrested for murder at the America First rally. Can he believe her claims of innocence and find the real killer without letting Teddy steal his heart?