It's been a whole year of isolation and anxiety, but things are starting to look up. I'll get the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine in a couple of weeks and I'm already starting to feel invincible. My fingers and wrists are waking up and gaining some strength. I actually succeeded in opening a jar this week without much pain for the first time in more than a year. Best of all, we're finally getting some sunshine. In keeping with the sunshine theme, the thumbnail photo this month is Sunny Side Up, a pretty little floribunda.

I have been waiting for hours for the March thread to go up but you were all still in February.

Heritage


Golden Celebration


Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Pesky time zones, Lola. It will still be February here for another 20 minutes. Your photos are gorgeous, as usual!

Lol, Lola, I never thought about the time zone thing. Lovely roses!

Heard good things about that rose, Zuzu. Great shot!

March 1st is the start of meteorological spring. Happy Spring Everyone!

Beautiful roses Lola and Zuzu.

Nothing much to report here. I have a million chores to do in the yard and have zero motivation to get any of them done. I have been catching up on all of the Christmas movies I wasn't able to watch during the end of last year.

Glad to hear about your second dose. I have two more weeks to go for immunity (at least 94.1%) from my second Moderna shot. It was a doozy. So happy and grateful to have been able to have gotten it.

Maybe tomorrow I will start on my fertilization....although I only have 4 more movies to go.

Two vaccination shots and an additional two weeks later and Donna and I were off to the "Big City" (Kona) for the first time since last March. After stocking up at Costco, off to Home Depot we went looking for roses. I was surprised to find two roses, Marc Chagall and Forever Yours, in three gallon containers for 22 Dollars each. Good grief! I can't purchase bands from mainland nurseries for that price. Apparently, they come from a wholesale nursery, Certified Roses. The roses appear to be well established and are 2' tall.

That's great news!

Dennis, congrats on your shots and on your new roses! Those are pretty ones!

Got my roses planted today. Was able to rip out the shrubs that were there since the soil was the perfect consistency. The small one is a viburnum and I moved it to the corner behind the shed in the pic. The other was a Nanking cherry and it's companion died so no need to keep it. I cut it down and ripped it out.

Mr Lincoln on left and white lightning on right.

Great job and lots of work I'm sure. Can't wait to see them in bloom!

I checked my local Lowes, Walmart and Home Depot yesterday. Lowes is the only one with roses so far. They were in little square pots outside the main front entrance. I only remember a few names Mr Lincoln, Lagerfeld, and Westerland. I didn't buy any, if I didn't already have one that I planted last fall I would have bought Lagerfeld. I noticed bulbs are disappearing fast at all of the stores. I managed to get 2 2 root packages of Bleeding Hearts and 2 10 bulb packages of border/patio dahlias.

We did buy a couple of sorry looking bagged roses at Ollie's Discount last week, Perfume Delight and Intrigue. I really didn't want them but his nibbs did so I said OK. Any time he shows interest in the roses I try to encourage it, lol! I seriously doubt they'll survive.

And I got bad news from Edmund's. They cancelled my little group order for Ring of Fire. Don't know why but that just means I can buy something else locally when they come in. The other two people I ordered with are more disappointed than I am.

I went to a different Lowe's today to buy more stones to frame things up, and some cedar mulch. It will take a few more trips to get all that I will need to finish. I looked at their little potted roses, and made note of more that they had - Intrigue, Angel Face, Iceburg, John F Kennedy, and Don Juan. There are still a few more that I can never seem to remember. I already have Intrigue and Angel Face ordered from J&P and I'm hoping I actually get them.

New roses from Hawaii Island. I have pruned 90% of my roses, but there are still a few in bloom.
Biedermeier

Clotilde Soupert

Enchanted Peace

Forever Yours

Fragrant Hour

Gemini


Glowing Peace

Henri Matisse

Ingrid Bergman

Marc Chagall

Our Anniversary

Seil, the only thing I can say about your group order of Ring of Fire from Edmunds is that maybe you dodged a bullet. I wanted it from my local nursery (high quality bare roots in bins at the beginning of Jan), but they didn't get it in. I ordered it from Edmunds on 1/31 as part of a random on-a-whim order. Arrived on Friday 3/5. The Ring of Fire had 3 medium-sized canes, all thrashed like they had been bumping up against a lot of other roses since they were harvested. Roots were so-so, and the shank was really long. The tag did not indicate where the rose came from.

Dennis, absolutely gorgeous!

I was out in the yard today and finished up fertilizing the front yard and only getting down 2 cubit yards of mulch. I have a lot more to go and hope to get it all done tomorrow. We are supposed to get rain on Tuesday/Wednesday, so I want Mother Nature to water in everything in only the way she can.

I made a lot of changes to my yard this year. Took out a lot of roses. Moved roses around. Added more structures to the yard and moved my big fountain. I decided today to take out the rest of my day lilies. White fly just love them plus they just don't bloom enough. I may plant mini buddleia in their place. Those should bloom all summer.

My aching back is telling me it is time to call it quits for the day. Hope everyone has a very nice week ahead of them.

When doing some landscaping on the north side of the house, I ended up with a space for an extra rose in the garden at the front of the house.

I currently have nothing planted in that garden because I just ordered it all in the last 3 months. So far I've got The Lark Ascending, Lichfield Angel, Munstead Wood, Eden, Ambridge Rose, The Lady of Shalott, Benjamin Britten and Roald Dahl ordered.

I am thinking of a mid-dark pink for that extra space, which will be beside of Eden.
I'm looking at Boscobel, Princess Alexandra of Kent, Gertrude Jekyll. I want something very full with a decent scent and a nice pop of color. Any suggestions? I'm leaning toward Princess Alexandra of Kent.

I'm also thinking of squeezing Golden Celebration or The Poet's Wife into that garden.

I also have a question about Benjamin Britten. Is it more red or dark pink? DA has pictures going both ways. So anyone in 6/6b that can give me an idea of what to expect?

My Benjamin Britten. It's more red than purple.

I remember seeing a BB in a local nursery last fall, and it was dark red, and seemed to have fewer thorns than most DA roses.

Thanks Dennis and Rosemary! I'm sure I will love it either way.