Potting Bench

The weather was beautiful over Thanksgiving weekend so I sanded and painted the potting bench. I want to protect it from the heat and sun and a little rain this winter. It's good to get that project out of the way.

There are still a few roses in bloom but the garden is becoming a bit ragged this late in the year. I always like pruning the roses to give the garden a new start.

Wind storm

We had a bad wind storm yesterday. In the early morning Mr. W and I went out to rescue our 3 iceberg rose trees before one of the trunks snapped. We cut off most of the branches to eliminate the sail effect and used velcro tape to rewrapp the trunks to the stakes. We saw that the Double Delight rose tree was not being blown around even though it is in the center of the garden and not protected by a wall. It has a metal stake instead of wood so Mr. W went out and bought metal stakes for the other rose trees.

After the storm the garden looks OK, no real damage is evident.

Last rose

Today I planted a Disneyland rose. Mr. W and I were at a home improvement store to purchase mulch and I saw a pretty deep pink rose with touches of yellow deep in the petals. When I saw the name I couldn't resist. It really ought to be the last rose added to the garden unless something else dies.

Roses

Here's a photo of the Moondance rose in bloom.

Today I fertilized the roses on the east side of the garden and the Spellbound roses in front with Bayer. I'll need another day for the rose garden but it may have to wait until after Easter. I spent a few days this week weeding the garden and mulching. Also planted six mail order replacement lavender that arrived this week. I moved two this morning that did not look well in hopes of saving them. I tried one in a pot and the other in a dryer place in the garden. It will be interesting to see if any survive and if the company replaces them for a 3rd time (or is it the 4th?).

Finally Spring

A really good gardening day weather and time-wise. I spread weed & feed on the front lawn and sprinkled cayenne pepper in the front rose planter. The four Spellbound roses seem to be doing well there despite the cat that digs around them and leaves little gifts. The cayenne seems to deter the cat somewhat but there is still digging going on. Buds are forming on the Spellbound roses so I am looking forward to blooms soon.

The new Moondance rose and the Bella Roma are in bloom in the rose garden. Something has eaten one of the Bella's buds and I hate to spray that bush. The hummingbird made her nest there last year. I have seen two hummers in the garden recently, a male and female but no sign of a nest. The Double Delight tree rose had one mostly white bloom and now is putting out a lot of buds. The iceberg tree roses should be covered in flowers in two weeks, just in time for Easter. One Veterans Honor near the back of the garden has buds but not the one in the rose garden. I did some weeding and separated some of the daffodils that are multiplying. I moved the freesia from the front to the backyard where they should suit other plantings and fall over the sidewalk and not the driveway. Perhaps I'll plant more daffodils in the front along the drive. Finally I need to move a lavender that is too close to a sprinkler in the front yard. I think I'll look for a rose or one of those pink flowering shrubs I see all over town to put there.

Pre-spring rose gardening

Moving the four Spellbound roses took a lot more work than expected mostly because of problems preparing the front planter. I moved all the plants to the backyard garden except one small carousel rose. I couldn't get it dug out. There were lots of roots in the planter from the tree in the front yard. DH came to the rescue but the little rose had to be cut apart from the tree root and could not be saved.

Then it was discovered that one of the sprinklers was leaking and needed repair. Finally the soil could be prepared and yesterday the four roses were moved. I had soaked them a couple of times during the week so they came out of the ground easily. The new soil in the front bed was also easy to dig. After they were transplanted I fertilized with a mixture of Alfalfa Meal (full box), SulPoMag (1/2 box) and iron (bag), sprinkling about a cup around each rose. This was covered with Rose Grow and watered in. All the roses in the garden were given this feeding. Today we mulched and now we wait to see how these roses do in their new bed.

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.