A Writer’s Garden—A Spring Harbinger Garden by Carole Brown

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A Writer's Garden, books, Carole Brown, garden pictures, romantic mysteries, Spring garden. flowers, The Golden Touch

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 author Carole Brown, who has loads of spring garden pictures to share with us today! Welcome, Carol!

Let me be honest. I love flowers and gardens. All kinds, all shapes and sizes. They make me happy, infuse peacefulness in our busy lives and encourage me to relax and enjoy the life around me. I have a lot of Spring-type plants, and today I want to share with you a few that are Spring’s harbingers.

But they do take work. Plus we have lots and lots of trees around us, so I have to make sure to find the right spots for the plants. Right now, we’re remodeling several parts of our land and property. Our gardens will get some make-overs, and I plan on adding a few more.

Here are a few of my favorite late, late winter, early spring flowers and trees that never fail to give us a bit of sunshine even though the cold lingers.

The first one is an Irish Lenten Rose. Loves the shade and is always the first to bloom!

The second ones to burst into bloom, as if they can hardly wait, are the Ornamental Pear Trees and the Redbud Trees. Some of my favorites! It’s almost as if they’re promising that better (warmer) days are coming.

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Soon after, the Lily of the Valleys show their stuff, shyly, of course, along with our Bleeding hearts.  They’re such a “hanging back” type of plant that you almost have to search them out amidst all the other more showy plants.

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I’ve babied a rhododendrum that FINALLY bloomed this year. The blossoms are outstanding, and I’m so happy I finally was able to see it bloom so beautifully! I’ve bragged on it quite a bit because I want it to continue to do well, year after year! 🙂 

Finally, I’ll share a couple of pictures of things that give these flowers an extra touch of specialness. One is of an old wishing well that I inherited from my aunt. It sits comfortably among the overgrown Snow on the Mountain vines, never asking for much, but a reminder of how fragile life is and to enjoy every moment. 

Last is a sweet little girl sitting on a bench with her little basket. She’s adorable, and I love glancing at her when I pass by. A reminder that there’s always hope.

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As Spring flows into summer, these flowers will be gone, but there’s a promise in them. That there will be another Spring, another year, if all goes well. Hold tight to that promise.

About the writer/gardener:

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?

 Connect with Carole on her Personal blog, Facebook Fan Page, Twitter, or Bookbub

The Golden Touch

By Carole Brown

Not again… Ryle Sadler stared down at the financial statement lying on his desk. His investment firm had just sent him another record of overwhelming success. Time to sell his share in this stock. Ryle came from the poor side of the tracks, but that had no bearing on his success in life—which he keeps hidden from everyone, especially those in Appleton. But when he buys the local, rundown bed and breakfast, mysterious revelations from beneath the site are suddenly threatening to ruin his good standing with the citizens. Then along comes Jazzi Sanderson. Jazzi has a reputation of being wild, but Ryle sees more than is on the top layer of this woman. Beneath that tough, wild streak lurks a woman who wants to be loved by the right person, a woman who is tender-hearted and who is just finding out that God is real. Are Ryle and Jazzi’s worlds too far apart or can their differences help them solve the mystery that lies beneath Ryle’s bed and breakfast? Will the evil person behind it all be able to silence them, or can Ryle’s golden touch prevail in this endeavor too?

Want to read more? You can find’s Carole’ Romantic Mystery The Golden Touch on Amazon

Carole Brown Talks Mystery at Wednesday Writers

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Carole Brown, cozy Mystery components, Knight in Shining Apron, romantic mysteries, Sabotaged Chrismas, The Appleton, West Virginia Romantic Mysteries--

Today Wednesday Writers has the pleasure of welcoming fellow author Carole Brown back. She’ll be telling us a bit about her West Virginia Romantic Mystery series.

Country road, take me home . . .

Warm, fuzzy feelings. Friendly, nosy neighbors, Friends who are loyal. Families who stick together through thick and thin. Sometimes: gossip, backbiting, jealousy, theft and murder.

An editor described to me a long time ago, that all these things make a cozy mystery.

In this series–The Appleton, West Virginia Romantic Mysteries–I chose West Virginia for several reasons:

• We’ve traveled through and visited within the state multiple times. It’s almost a second home.
• I’ve researched the state online, interviewed WV-ians and traveled specifically for that purpose
• I love the land, the mountains and streams, the country and equally important, the towns, the culture.I created the small town, Appleton, so I could play with the setting as much as I wanted. Appleton has a pompous mayor, a handsome banker, a pastor and youth pastor who are spiritual and encouraging, a café owner who’s just a bit over-the-hill, but who thinks she’s still God’s gift to men, and several others who live in the small town atmosphere.

In Sabotaged Christmas (Book One), Toni DeLuca, owns a construction business she inherited from her father. She also inherits his love for wood, the art of creating structures and individual pieces of furniture. She has a friendly, confident, happy personality with just a bit of the Italian temperament her father gifted her. I brought in a disillusioned, bitter college professor sans author along with his young son to throw some romance into the picture, and some construction sabotage, threatening notes and an inheritance to add mystery into the atmosphere.

Knight in Shining Apron (Book Two), is due out soon! Starli Cameron’s story revolves around her restaurant business that she began with the insurance money from her husband’s death. Still hurting from his abuse, she finds it hard to trust any man, particularly good-looking men who find her attractive. She can’t cook, but that doesn’t mean she’s not a business woman, and even though she wants the best chef available, Sir Joel Peterson-Blair, with his sanguine personality and reputation of one of the best chefs in the world, is not her choice. Throw in a brother-in-law who feels called to shred her confidence with his hassling remarks, a long-time banker friend who wants their relationship to go much farther, a childish employee who insists she deserves more from Starli than she’s getting, and random acts of violence against her beloved security blanket–Apple Blossoms–and the romance and mystery set the stage for hometown action.The setting not only includes the places of business in this series–where many of the scenes take place, but also includes the people and their personalities. Each of these things, in the first two books of the West Virginia Romantic Mystery series has helped set the reader firmly into the novel, giving them the sense of belonging and experiencing both the romance and the mystery.

 

 Knight in Shining Apron:

Starli Cameron gave up her career plans to be a concert pianist to marry the man of her dreams. He turned out to be a nightmare. When he dies in a car accident, Starli takes the insurance money and builds a successful and upscale restaurant: Apple Blossoms in rural West Virginia. Threats from someone determined to ruin her life and the suspicious romantic advances from her new chef force Starli to search her heart and finally turn to God for real healing.

Sir Joel Peterman-Blair, top notch chef from England, is roped by his uncle, into filling in as head Chef at Apple Blossoms. Joel, with his sanguine-personality, has always laughed and flirted his way through life. But now, confronted with and attracted to the most beautiful woman he’s ever met, Joel has to prove his sincerity and depth of character to his icy-cold employer. Can his love for God and for this woman reach out far enough to rescue her from her own mistrust and bitterness? Will he learn that life is not all play?

And can they both work together to find the source of threats that seem to be coming from Starli’s past?

Buy Link:

About the Author: 

Besides being a member and active participant of many writing groups, Carole Brown enjoys mentoring beginning writers. 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 grandson

 

Contact Links:

Personal blog: Facebook: Twitter: Pinterest: Goodreads: Linkedin: Google+:  Stitches in Time: Barn Door Book Loft

 

 

A Writer’s Garden–Through the Garden Gates with Tina Susedik

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A Writer's Garden--Through the Garden Gates with Tina Susedik, author/gardener Tina Susedik, daylily, fields of daisies, lupines, romantic mysteries

One of the things I remember about both my grandmother’s was their love of flowers. They both grew vegetables for the table, but their passion was their flowers. My maternal grandmother’s bridal wreaths were so large and hung so far over her sidewalks, you nearly had to crawl to get between them, something that was an adventure for young children.

 

lupines

I believe this love of flowers skipped a generation or two. My mother never had an interest. We always had huge vegetable gardens to feed our large family, but never flowers. I love flowers, but my daughter could care less. I see my grandchildren enjoy helping me plant flowers, and they are always asking me what they are. Last year my five-year-old grandson planted a planter full of blue flowers, “Just for you,” he said.

 

One summer, when I was a teenager and making my own money, I spent my precious coin on flower seeds. I diligently dug up the weeds around the house, planted and watered the seeds, and was excited when the first sprouts showed their faces. Two days later our dog, Heidi’s, pups, found the freshly dug garden and decided to use it as their playground. I cried.

My foray into gardening was interrupted with college, marriage, and many moves. It seemed every time I got flowers started and a garden developed, we moved. When I could, I dug up plants to take with me. At one of the places we lived, I found some daisies. Not too many, but when they seeded out, I pulled the tops off and spread the seeds. The following year, I was happy to see more plants. This went on for a few years, and when I knew we were going to move again, I collected the seeds and took them with me. I felt like Johnny Appleseed, only I was Tina Daisyseed.

 

We finally lived at one place long enough for me to create fields of daisies. I loved it. Now we’ve moved again and I’ve started over. It’s only been four years since I began this project at our current home, and I look forward to seeing them this year.

 

 

Gardener/writer Tina Susedik has been gardening all her life in pots, plots and wherever she can find dirt. Her favorite thing about gardening is watching the brilliant colors as the flowers bloom.  When she’s not gardening, she writes sensual romantic mysteries and has developed one that involves flowers – of course. You can learn more about her at tinasusedik.com