The thumbnail photo is Valentine's Day.



I hope everyone had a more productive January than I did. Cold and rainy weather, combined with a variety of physical ailments, kept me out of the garden for most of the month.

I'm looking forward to February. Time to prune the fuchsias and finish the winter cleanup work. I'll wait until March to prune the camellias because they're still in full bloom.

I do not like to prune my roses anyway, but this year they are nearly all still blooming well. Even though some are becoming obstructions, how can I cut them back now?

Hi every one I"m back !! computer fixed and retired since I was here last !! now to catch up on every one and all the roses !

Welcome!

Gloria, welcome back! It's great to hear from you.

Pruning my roses makes me both sad & hopeful, all at the same time! Good thing I've got climbers & minis I trim when they need it to keep me smelling the roses...

JulieB said:Pruning my roses makes me both sad & hopeful, all at the same time! Good thing I've got climbers & minis I trim when they need it to keep me smelling the roses...

I like pruning my roses as that means they put out lots of new growth afterwards. In the early spring I prune them really hard and in June they bloom like crazy. Crazy beautiful.

The Valentine's Day rose that Zuzu posted is under-appreciated, and deserving of wider promotion. I have 3 of them, and they have continual bloom. Mine are away from other roses so I neglect them, resulting in growth topping out at 4' instead of the 8-10' they should have. No pruning, no food, no spray, no mulch, no water, nada. This year I plan to extend the drip lines to that area, so I'm excited to see just how good they can be!
The only blooms we're seeing right now are the mini roses in the grocery store for Valentine's gifts. When they go on sale, I'll buy a few of the red and white ones to grow in pots, to eventually be planted at the base of the Valentine's Day rosesI
I have a group of Charlie Brown minis in another bed bordering a Red Drift and a sprawling red mini from Ralph Moore...Red Rambler? The name is something like that...mine crawls along the ground, growing 8' long canes in just 2 years. I've seen it grown upright and it was HUGE! Wish I had a tag on it and could remember the right name. You guys know the one...
Anyway, we did get 2" of rain this week, no snow, but the rain came the day after I planted the last of my bulbs. THe ducks and geese on the pond are separating into pairs, telling me spring is not so far off after all. I have a long list of indoor projects and tax work to do, but the warm weather and crumbly soil calls my name and I find myself outside pulling weeds, just like Neal.
I have a lot of catching up to do on the weed department because my knee surgery put me behind last year. Native Big Bluestem grass invaded one of my daylily beds, and 7 foot tall grass has roots 7 foot deep! I did manage to get some chopped out, and used the grass to mulch some bare roses.
So far, no drastic dieback on canes that I've checked, even Red Impression looks like it will have some cane left. Crossing my fingers. It would be nice to have a year where I'm not pruning so many back to the ground to find live canes.

So far, so good with cane die back here too- fingers crossed! Hoping I won't have much pruning to do this year. Getting excited about the new roses to arrive at the end of next month!

Been so busy working and sewing on my off days, I didn't get out and prune the roses end of the year like I usually do but the weather has been nice the last few days so I finally got most of them done. Got the scratches that goes with that job, at least nothing as bad as Zuzu, yikes!
I have about 6 more to go, the biggest ones, 2 large climbers and the rest large 5-6 ft shrubs, not looking forward to tackling those. Green bins are full so it will have to wait until they get emptied.

Part of the gang, love having these girls clucking in the garden as I work.

Calif_Sue said:Been so busy working and sewing on my off days, I didn't get out and prune the roses end of the year like I usually do but the weather has been nice the last few days so I finally got most of them done. Got the scratches that goes with that job, at least nothing as bad as Zuzu, yikes!
I have about 6 more to go, the biggest ones, 2 large climbers and the rest large 5-6 ft shrubs, not looking forward to tackling those. Green bins are full so it will have to wait until they get emptied.

Part of the gang, love having these girls clucking in the garden as I work.

Love that picture of the girls. Love that you caught them walking. They look like they are on a mission. Marching to get whatever done.

Sue: Your "girls" are all grown up now !

Coral Drift


Red Drift


Cream Veranda


Black Forest

Lovely! The Texas "winter" seems to really agree with the roses.

Wow Debra, you have color all winter! Since I just cut mine back, I won't have bloom until around April, although I left a developing bud on one rose. We don't really get a true dormancy so many of them would probably continue blooming but with our heavy winter rains, most look awful.

Yes, all 5 girls are all grown up, only two laying so far. As soon as they hear our voices they come running. We have to escort and stand guard over the Yorkie Kasey out to do her business as she's scared of them and prefers peeing in the house now rather than face the big birds.
The middle chicken, Violet, took a disliking to Kasey early on and will chase her. None of them bother Penny the poodle though.

Very handsome hens! Do you know who is doing the laying?

It's so funny to see a chicken chase a dog or cat! Sorry to hear about the peeing in the house though

I feel badly for your poor little Yorkie Kasey being picked on by the chickens. But I do love the looks of them and think it is great that you can have them.

I so often miss recent photo uploads to the data base, but have been trying to pay closer attention. Suppose that has been easier since its cold outside and I'm in particular need of the flower- pick me up. This photo and this rose made me linger for a while

And then this perfect specimen made me gasp.


@sunnyvalley for sharing!