At long last, it's April. Here's hoping this month puts an end to the longest winter I can remember. It wasn't the coldest winter here. Most of my tender perennials didn't suffer a bit. In fact, I'll have to cut back the pelargoniums and petunias because they kept growing all winter and are threatening to engulf nearby plants. It also wasn't the wettest winter in memory, although we're certainly in no danger of another drought this year. It was just way too long. Even this past week, at the end of March, I still couldn't go outside without a coat, but I remember so many earlier years when I had a suntan by the end of February.

I usually have some rose photos to show you by April, but the cold and the rain ruined most of the buds, so I suspect it will be a few weeks before I start getting some good-looking blooms. I'm looking forward to spring weather more eagerly than ever before.

The thumbnail for this month's thread is April Love, one of John Clements' pretty roses.

As the weather gradually warms and I organize my garden implements for the annual spring clean-up, I'm struck by the interesting textures and patterns of the most common things... the geometric patterns of a rake, the pinholes on a watering can's nozzle, and the contrast of stripes on a garden hose on stones. Simple things, but I enjoy them.

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This was the coldest winter I can ever remember here, too. Also one of the wettest.
I normally prune my roses the first week in January as they are pitiful looking by then and begging to be pruned. This year I waited until mid February because it was just too cold and wet to be out there hand picking every single leaf. This turned out to be a blessing because by the time I got to them 90% of the foliage had fallen off already which made it infinitely easier and less time consuming.
The soil here was so water logged that I had to put rebar stakes in almost all the roses to hold them up as they were all leaning and flopping around. I though I'd lose a lot of them to drowning but they have all bounced back amazingly well and appear to be no worse for the wear.
All of which makes me wonder if I fuss with them too much the rest of the year ! lol
I now have a much greater appreciation for what gardeners in colder climates go through in winter, even though my climate doesn't come close to theirs.

That April Love rose sure is pretty! I have not seen that one before. Reminds me of a Pat Boone song! Now I will have that one on my mind all day long. Yikes!

I was thinking the same thing ! lol

That April Love Rose is gorgeous! J love full romantic roses like that

Zuzu - that's a lovely picture of April Love! The colors are so gorgeous!!!

Mike - how cool!!! The hose picture is really striking! Thanks for finding the amazing in the ordinary!!

So my family is on the way home from Whistler, B.C.....and they have my roses from Brad Jalbert! On the way home with my family are these roses:
1. Sweet Mademoiselle
2. Mother and Child - Jalbert rose
3. Princess Charlene de Monaco
4. Dee-Lish
5. LIfe of the Party (plus one for a friend)
6. Pinkerbelle
7. Violet's Pride
8. Fortitude (plus one for the same friend)(Jalbert rose)
9. Pretty Lady Rose - A FREE ROSE FROM BRAD!!!!!!!

I'm getting rid of a whole whack of Austins and replacing them with these. I've had tons of Austins over the years...and they just don't grow well for me. These ones do:
- Bishops Castle
- Olivia Rose Austin
So I'm done buying Austins. I've finally given up on them and will enjoy them vicariously through you all!
Carol

Carol,

Great list! I want Princess Charlene de Monaco so bad!!! I drool over all the photos of it. I can't wait for you to post pictures!

I want that rose as well. The pictures I have seen make it look so lovely. I am quite jealous of your little shopping trip. I also ordered a new rose today from Canada, Swan Lake from Hortico. It is one I have been looking for for quite some time. I wanted it years ago but could never find it. But since the wonderful people here have introduced me to HelpMeFind and all sorts of amazing nurseries I was able to locate it.

Lovely rose, zuzu! And mike, you have a great artistic eye! I like to find the beauty in everyday things too.

Nothing rosey going on here yet. Still waiting for some signs of life, the ground to dry out a bit and things to warm up. But it can't be too long now, can it?

Carly - yes! PCdM is gorgeous!! I am worried a bit that it will be too big for a pot. But, I'm willing to take the chance for this gorgeous rose!!!

Anne - I am usually so jealous of Americans, because you can get so many wonderful roses!! For instance, the closest one to me is 3 hours away...and they have nothing that I want. So getting roses from Select Roses is a dream come true!! Unfortunately, since they don't ship...it'll be my last roses I'll get from them. I looked up Swan Lake on hmf...it looks gorgeous!!! Way to go!!

Seil....here's hoping spring starts dancing up and down for us!

Carol, I had to wait to find the time to look up each one on HMF as I am not familiar with any of the roses now in your possession. What a beautiful bunch you have! They are all gorgeous and can't wait to see pictures of them later in the summer when they are in bloom. I understand your excitement--totally!

Which Austins are you getting rid of?

Carol, there are no rose nurseries anywhere near where I live, not even 3 hours away, so I am still jealous!

Well, I am one tired girl. I have been going strong for days and not sleeping well for the past week. Today is a stay-in day and time to get my homework done. We get our final this week. Yikes! It is a take-home two week exam, but the mid-term (a one week exam) took me 10 hours to do and the final is again on everything over the past 15 weeks. So I suspect it will take me some time to complete, plus we will have our "regular" homework--this week it is on citrus. Next week's lecture is on veggies. Just the veggie chapter alone is over 100 pages, plus the veggie homework will be on the final as well.

I have been helping to get things ready for the home garden tour. I worked one garden which had a outdoor bedroom and lots of rock waterfalls. It was quite lovely. It sits on over an acre and I learned that I am sooooooo thankful for the small lot I have. I always wanted five acres to garden. Way too big! I would go nuts!

Yesterday, I pulled out Mexican Primrose that had taken over an entire large bed in the perennial garden at the Master Gardener Garden. My back was already sore from pulling out stubborn weeds in my own front yard. So, I was only able to do that for about two hours and then went and transplanted a bunch of plants into larger pots for the plant sale (we will have over 3000 potted plants for sale during the home tour). Did that for two hours and called it a day and came home and worked in my yard (back yard this time) for an additional three hours.

I built a raised planter for my herbs (it will contain 10 different herbs--all in their own containers) and transplanted into larger pots my three antique roses. This will be their last transplant until they go into the ground. They all started as bands. Portland from Glendora is taking the longest to get leaves (finally--now it is taking off) and it had the smallest root system (although I suspect not for long). Then I redid my drip for the new plantings (raised bed and for the three roses I transplanted). I refreshed several of my existing container herbs and put them in new containers for my raised bed. They really needed the refreshing.

I am thinking of planting buckwheat in a pot in my raised herb bed to attract beneficials. I am trying to remember, however, if they consider it to be an invasive plant in my area. I don't want to be pulling out seedlings forever as a result of the planting. I do that now with asparagus fern (lord I hate that plant). As soon as I find the mother plant, it and I are going to have a little chat. Because the raised bed is not deep, I can't get anything for beneficials that gets too big or needs a bigger container for its roots. I was going to grow bronze fennel, until I saw its size. Yikes!

When I left the Master Gardener Garden, I walked by their roses and they are all in full bloom! How can that be? I have had only one bloom so far (Candice) and there are tons of buds on my roses. Sequoia Gold is just covered as is Peppermint Parfait. My lovely Vick's Caprice has the most adorable LONG sepals you have ever seen. They are so lovely. Plus, I am loving the bright lime green foliage on him. He is gorgeous next to Occhi di Fata which has purple leaves and stems at the moment. Love the contrast.

My citrus trees have lots of new growth (watching out for citrus leaf miner---hate that bug!) and I have buds on all of them except my Yuzu and Australian Finger Lime at the moment. Can't wait until the citrus are in bloom and have that fabulous scent. We grow so much citrus here that when I had someone come from the east coast to do a training for my staff, they stated that the air smelled so good here. We told her that the citrus (oranges) were in bloom and for her to take a drive down certain streets to see them in "action". She was from New Jersey and had never seen (or smelled) citrus blooms before. She loved seeing the orange and mandarin groves. Well, what she could see of the mandarin groves (they cover the trees with a cloth so the bees won't pollinate them--so they don't have seeds--people prefer their produce to be seedless). The mandarin groves look like white long tunnels as you can't see any of the trees that are underneath them.

I still have one more raised bed to build, for my veggies, but that will have to wait until after the homework is done and the rain has stopped. I decided to build a pre-made plant stand for my succulents and orchids on my front porch. I was warned not to try to put it together by myself, but I put stuff together by myself all the time and figured if I went slowly, I would be OK. Well, it came with NO instructions (thank goodness for the internet--although the pictures were awful and it had no written instructions). Took me five hours to put the blessed thing together and I declared that analytical geometry was much easier than putting together that blessed thing! I invented new swear words! I will never buy anything from that product line ever again!

Still have the rose seeds to get down in the raised bed that is finally vacant from my new baby roses (the ones I just transplanted). Also have the seeds to start for my veggies (have to get that planter built first). Plus feed all my plants/trees again--last one until the fall). I want to get some coffee grounds from the Starbucks up the street and put those down as well. Hopefully it will cover the smell of that Neem seed meal. UGH! That stuff REAKS! It smells like rotten burned garlic with a hint of rancid peanut butter lightly laced with cinnamon. The smell gets into your nose and it won't come out. You smell it for at least 24 hours after applying it. It is truly awful. We shall see if it makes a difference or not.

OK, off to get some breakfast and then onto my homework. Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

I'm so excited! Look what I found out in the winter pot ghetto!



It's time to haul those puppies out and let them grow!

Mustbnuts - I'm so excited too!! Thank you so much!!!
- sooo many Austins to get rid of:
- Young Lycidas...floppy small bush
- Falstaff
- Olivia Rose Austin - no scent, no charm
- The Alnwick Rose - no fragrance, few blooms
- Evelyn - 6 inch plant for me
- Munstead Wood - ditto Evelyn
- Princess Alexandra of Kent - wimpy

I'm going to keep these as they were new last year...see how they do.
- Scepter'd Isle
- Lady Emma Hamilton
- Charles Darwin

And I love Bishop's Castle!
I'm sure these roses do fine for everyone else...but they don't for me.

I wish you could send me the smell of citrus blossoms!!! That must be amazing!!! You are one exceedingly busy person!! But, wow, have you learned a lot!!!

Anne- oh I totally understand then!! That's such a shame!! I feel your rose pain!

Seil - oh wow!!!! That looks awesome!! I'm never sure what to do with the garage growth...break it off or see if it will harden when the roses finally go outside. I think I'll have to break them off...as there's a lot of growth...and outside is still a few months off.

Congrats Seil!!!! You are a mom! Awwwwwww.

Carol, my Alnwick is also gone. No scent for me and few blooms as well. I think my Princess Alexandra of Kent is going to make it. I moved her again after promising not to as she does not like being moved. I wasn't sure she would accept her new spot but she is starting to grow again. Sigh of relief! I think she will really enjoy her new spot.

We had quite the thunderstorm this afternoon. Rain, wind, quarter-sized hail, thunder and lightning. Wow! Hope it washed off all the aphids!

Carol, if the growth is red or green you can leave it. I only break off the growth that is white from lack of sunlight. I find it never does well even if it greens up outside. It's usually pretty weak. But the green or red growth does just fine.

Seil - that's good information. The growth is very light green. I don't know...I may break it off, and leave the basals to grow.

Mustbnuts - yeah, I really wanted to love The Alnwick Rose, because of the purported raspberry fragrance. I think I did smell it a few times. I may leave my PAOK to grow...as it was new last year. I'll see. Wow! That sounds like a doozy of a storm! Get thee gone horrid aphids!

My family came home and brought some great looking roses from Select roses! So Brad gave me a free rose - Pretty Lady Rose, a rose magazine (Austin) and a Select Roses t-shirt! He's a saint to put up with my endless questions. All of my roses from his place are budding up all over and look great!