I can't believe that today's May 1st! Wow! Doesn't really feel like spring here in my part of Colorado.. not with winds & highs only in the mid 40s to low 50s.. but it's supposed to be 83 by Sunday? Yea, that's Colorado for you..

One of my favorite roses.. Koko Loko!

Here's a wanna-be rose for May Day!
It's an Itoh peony, but I can't find the name.



Another Itoh:


And to fill your May Day basket, a clematis and a Sensation lilac:

I have 2.5 lilacs out of like 17 blooming right now. Everyone's pretty much loaded with buds, just waiting for this insistent wind to die down & to warm up. I'm expecting next weekend to be Lilac heaven in my place. I have Ludwig Spaeth, Mount Baker, & like 2 sprigs on one of my Charles Jolys. Mount Baker is loaded, as is Primrose.. hoping that Primrose looks more yellow this year than last. Last year was just a creamy white.. talk about a disappointment!!! But I will finally get to see some of my lilacs that haven't bloomed (got them as teeny babies and they have to be a few years old before they'll bloom as they bloom only on "old" wood).. Wedgwood Blue, President Grevy, President Lincoln, James MacFarland, and Wonderblue have never bloomed for me (I got blooms when I bought the 2 Presidents but nothing last year because of a late cold snap, same with James). It should smell sooooooooooo wonderful.. can't wait... and need to check to see if Austrian Copper has any signs of buds as she's always always always my first rose to bloom. She has leaves all the way from ground to the tips of her canes (I just let her ramble), so need to check her out. Also Theresa Bugnet.. see if she has anything. I saw that Charles de Mills is starting to send out leaves.. I *REALLY* need to get him moved and moved quickly before he wakes really up and starts thirsting for my blood again..

Charles de Mills, the vampire! Maybe if you gave him some blood meal he would back off humans.
Edmunds sent an email today with some roses I still want at 30% off, and now they have the lilacs on sale too. I can't find these lilacs here. A few nurseries have new short lilacs in 5 gallon pots for $59, but I want the big blousy 12' lilacs in $7 pots!
I'm trying to grow a lilac hedge and, amazingly, I'm having some success. Who knew lilacs were xeric? I think all of mine are blooming now, even those that I just planted last year from teeny quart size starts.
Same with the peonies. They bloom their little hearts out whether I water them or not.
Tomorrow is our rose society sale. I work the early early shift, and most years we are mobbed by customers at 6:45. I plan to buy just one myself. Just one. No matter what.

Cindi - Lilacs are VERY xeric.. that's one of the reasons why I love them so much. I love pretty much anything that blooms without me giving it a million gallons of water.. water's too expensive! I, too, am making a lilac hedge, to block out my next-door-neighbor who's a nosy-body and MUST watch everything I do when I'm in the front yard. Drives me INSANE. None of his friggin' business what I'm doing in MY yard, as long as I'm not encroaching on his yard. CdM has got to be the thorniest rose on the planet. I will take some pictures tomorrow before I dig him up.

Pretty blooms...I can't wait for the lilacs to bloom. I love the fragrance. We won't have blooms for a while. This morning's picture, with snow fall warnings for another 5 to 10 inches It's a good thing that the trees are not leafed out. Very heavy & wet snow. Temps are just below freezing

Ah that snow looks lovely.
We hit 90 today which seems way worse than it is because the trees aren't really leafed out yet, so there's no shade!
Kansas goes directly from winter to summer. No spring allowed here. It's either bitter cold winds or hot dry winds.
We do have 2 good weeks in October, though. Some years we do, anyway.

I sure hope our well water lasts. I watered everything yesterday and this morning. Forecast for today is 100 degrees, winds at 40 mph and humidity of 7%. Yes seven. Fire danger is extreme, and with less than 2" of rain so far this year, water sources are down.
Our yearly rose club sale was yesterday. I love working this sale. I can usually talk people into buying more roses than they planned to buy. If they were buying Julia Child, I talked them into planting Ebb Tide next to it. If they came for 1 drift rose, I told them to plant a whole area with them. We had Bucks, Earthkind, a few minis, Drifts, and a few easy care climbers.
We had Harison's Yellow this year, and a couple of people bought it because it reminded them of grandparents' homesteads. They were able to overlook the monstrous thorns. Nobody wanted New Dawn, and Zephirine sold out, as usual. We order the roses from Chamblee and High Country. HC sent them in liner pots, and they were small, without blooms so that was kind of a hard sell for $16. Lowes and HD have gorgeous roses for $10, if you don't care about accurate names.

Weeks generously sent us a nice box of bare root roses. We only sold 1...to me. Nobody but nobody is interested in trying to grow a dormant bare root rose when temps and wind are this high. The club gifted me with a few after the sale, so I'll pot them today and try to keep them misted. They are soaking now. I wish Weeks had sent them to us 6 weeks ago instead of Friday. We had a speaker from Weeks at a meeting this winter, so that's why we had the bonanza.

Ok, this is why I need to move Charles de Mills. This is the rose that Roses Unlimited sent to me a few years ago as CdM, so it's not like something I bought at a big box or a body bag. LOOK AT THESE THORNS!!!




Cindi - Wow... 100 degs already! YIKES. And that dry, desiccating wind.. yuck yuck yuck! It's gonna be a bad year I think.. :(

No buds on anyone yet.. but I don't think I lost as many roses as I was first fearing. I pruned all my mini roses yesterday (ouch) and uncovered from the mulch probably 20 or so.. not a single dead! Even some that I was terribly afraid that I had lost, like Moonlight Magic & Novelty that I got from Armstrong (THANK YOU ZUZU & SUE!!) are still alive (green canes down next to the dirt). I need to start pruning again.. just get so depressed when I have to prune down to the dirt on every single rose. Bleh.

I did get in my order from Palatine and WOW!!! Some of those roses were HUGE and I mean HUGE. Luckily I was in the process of digging a massive hole to remove a fence post & ended up digging a hole about 3' deep and about 2' around and that was barely big enough for the root system on one of them (which one I can't remember.. I think it was Grimms Fairy Tales). I lost Moody Blues from Palatine last year, so I put Lady X in that spot. I'd picked up another bodybag Blue Moon that was VERY well leafed out and plopped it in the hole where I had lost a LoveSong (it was shipped to me dead, so I already had gotten a refund on it). Picked up 3 roses from HD.. a Chicago Peace, a Fragrant Cloud, & a NoID, but I think it's a blue.. it *might* be Mutablis, but not sure. I'll have to wait until it actually opens. it has a bud that is going to open soon and that's why I think it's a mauve rose. But I had to water yesterday & will be watering today too. No rain!!

Toni, just HOW do you plan to move that rose?

PPal - Painfully. Very very painfully. Unfortunately, I don't have a suit of armor or full-length leather gloves.

Cindi - Barely into May and already like that? Yuck!!!

Now it's 102, 37 mph winds, humidity 7%. We broke all kinds of all-time records today.
The revised forecast shows temps in upper 90s for a few more days until hopefully we get a storm on Wed or thurs.
I really wouldn't mind having some of Joanna's snow right now.
The wind has knocked the satellite off line and the internet is at a crawl so it might be a good day to try out my new paperwhite kindle. I love my kindle fire, but this one is supposed to be easier on the eyes, and the price finally dropped to $99.
Or I could spend the day unpacking the summer clothes and packing the sweaters. The ice scraper is still on the floor of my car which seems ridiculous, but 2 days ago, i had to scrape the frost off the windshield!
Home Depot has 1 gallon pots of Homestead Purple verbena, dianthus, and creeping phlox for $3.33. All of those work really well under roses, so I stocked up this morning. I'm keeping them indoors today.
They had Kordes roses Kardinal and Milano Kolorscape. I had pots of the two kinds next to one another and could not tell them apart. They are both beautiful.

Still rain snow mix here. Snow melted on the pavement, but the grass & flowerbed are snow covered. Weather should change by Wednesday. Near freezing temp until then

Joanne, with this heat and wind, should i give up on starting seeds outdoors in the ground? I can sow seeds in big pots and group them all under a mister. Normally I start seeds a lot earlier, but our soil stayed too cool until just a few days ago.
I didn't winter sow this year because it has been so windy I figured all the containers would blow off.
Space indoors is limited now because of other projects.

I'm not sure since I have never dealt with that temperature.....we consider it HOT when it is 80ºF
What does your long range forecast say? Usually the weather changes at the full moon (May 14 )

Is you introduce moisture to the seeds and they start to germinate and then dry completely out, you may loose them. You sow them, water well and cover with plastic to keep the moisture in. Once sprouted, they should be ok

We are supposed to change back to upper 80s right around May 14, if the El Nino gets a bit stronger.
I'm thinking about putting the pots I was going to use into a clear plastic rubbermaid tub, then putting the lid on the tub, and leaving it outside.
That might also keep the birds away.
I was very successful with body bag roses this year using rubbermaid tubs.
I planted 6 roses per 18 gal tub with good potting soil. No lid with the roses, but on a cool night I did cover with a blanket.

That's a great idea

Cindi ...

I used the clear rubbermaids start rose cuttings when I lived in Socal. I usually had an 80 to 90 % take. It doesn't work quite so well up here because of the constant temperature changes.

I do wish Lowe's or Home Depot were closer. I'd love to get some bedding plants.

Which Kardinal were they selling at HD ? I have Kardinal 85 and it holds up to high temps quite well.

My roses are covered in buds. I may get a full first flush before the curculios find my garden and I have to dis-bud the roses. Here's hoping ...

Smiles,
Lyn