Early Spring

The weather recently in the 909 has been beautiful and spring-like. I went to a class on rose care at Armstrong and found this is the time to move roses so I've been preparing to move 3 Spellbound roses that aren't doing well. One is overwhelmed by the giant lavender and the other two may not get enough sun. I moved one last year and it did better but not great. So far I have pulled all the bulbs from the front planter and dug out the sprinklers to replace them with longer stems. If it's not too windy today, we'll change out the sprinklers, move two azaleas to a shady corner in the back and add soil to the planter. I may save the actual move of the roses until next weekend as it's pretty windy today.

Moondance

I planted a new rose today; Moondance. We bought it driving through Santa Barbara at a nursery with a huge variety of roses. I had seen it in the Jackson Perkins catalog but this was easier than mail order. It replaced a Weeks rose that never did well. I also pruned all the garden roses and just have a few left to prune in the front yard.

I'm going to try moving 3 Spellbound roses next weekend. They are not doing well where they are so I'll try them in the front planter which needs to be redone.

The photo shows the Moondance rose just a few weeks after planting.

Hummingbird again

I pulled out some geraniums that were taking over the sidewalk and a rosebush whose buds continually shriveled. It has a Weeks tag on it and most my others are from Jackson & Perkins.

As I walked along the sidewalk to the patio a hummingbird flew past and hovered near one of the potted lavender in bloom. Then it flew to the large lavender. I must have watched it for a full 5 minutes. This bird was particularly beautiful with red markings on each side of its head. It's such a treat having the humingbirds visit the garden.