My Rose Tree made it through the winter !

You may remember I had a Rose tree for the first time last summer with gorgeous blooms.

When the fall came, I had two choices: bury the whole tree or dig it up and put it in a pot to overwinter in the garage.

Well, I have no garage, so my only option was to bury it and you can see how I did that in my blog about overwintering a rose tree. (remember it needs extra protection because the graft is about 4 feet off the ground!)

When the earth was warm enough (how does one know that? well a well-known gardener says that if you can sit  on the earth with your bare bum and not feel the cold, then it is warm enough)... Now I know my neighbours well, but not THAT well... so, I waited until I could scoop up handfuls of soil and my fingers did not freeze.

It was finally time to unbury the rose tree. We took off the layers of leaves, then carefully lifted the frost blanketed rose from beneath and stood it upright...  you will recall that we only dug behind the tree and did not dig it all the way out, so it stood up, unwrapped ! and behold the small stems were GREEN ! Hallelujah ! and there were tiny buds beginning.

Needless to say, I was overjoyed and thrilled.  My friend who put hers in the garage, was also thrilled hers survived as well and with a winter like the last one (worst 'they' say in 35  years) we are very lucky.

Here is the rose tree about a week ago.... You can see we have installed a weeping hose designed for the base of a tree.... we think it will keep it from drying out and help the water situation to be more consistent.

I will post more photos when it blooms again.... there are LOTS of buds.....

Is the Forsythia blooming?

It is early Spring... well, it is almost the middle of April and here in Ontario, there is still snow on some of my flower beds.  I am not too pleased about that... but we just finished holding our local Garden Show; an incredible amount of work that kept me from thinking about my gardens, still buried.

Today it is warm and the snow is reluctantly giving up.

I took a tour around  my gardens - finally could walk near them ... just a note of caution, DO NOT walk on the soil in your beds.  The frost is not completely out, and the top is moist and gushy.  When you walk on that, you compact the soil and those tiny wee roots that will be pushing out soon, are like hairs.  They cannot push through the soil if you tramp it down.  Sure, I know you are anxious, as am I, to get in there and clean up.... wait for a dryer day, or use a long-handled rake and BE GENTLE...

My roses are greening from the ground up... and I want to get out there  and start pruning off the dead wood.  But.... my neighbour's Forsythia is not in bloom.  What is the difference?  Well, as warm as today is, tonight, "they" are calling for temperatures dropping to below 0C.  If I start to prune today, those tender green stems could freeze.  If I wait and we have more freezing temperatures, the frost will hit those deadened ends and the green parts will still be okay.

My secateurs (really, my pruners, clippers or whatever I choose to call them on any given day) are sharp.  By the way.  Make sure yours are sharp enough to slice a piece of paper easily and use those
BY-PASS pruners... NOT anvil pruners.  Anvil pruners are better for dead wood as they can crush the stems.

There are some who say that if anvil pruners are sharp enough they will not crush the stems.  But if you are like me, and get busy over the season and forget to sharpen them often, you will have jagged ends and not clean cuts like by-pass pruners give.

Jagged cuts are an open invitation to disease and we surely do not want that.

So, wait till you see the Forsythia bloom, then prune your roses. 

Here is a site that shows you how.

www.lush-gardens.com

Sleeping roses...

Visually, my roses look like they are sleeping.  But I know from researching them, they are busily forming wee little roots beneath the snow and frost line.

There are some who say that March is a good time to prune roses.  I say not.

There are good reasons for pruning and they have to do with more than shape and size.  What  you cannot tell yet, is that some of the older canes (or branches)  may need to be cut back to near the ground. But you cannot tell if they are until the  'sap' begins to rise  up into the stems.  You can then tell by colour.  Darker green or brown indicates they are older.  That gorgeous spring light green, is usually a sign of a newer cane.

If you are not sure when to prune your roses, wait until the Forsythia (x intermedia) is in bloom.  For some reason, Nature has decided this is the best time. More later - but keep those secateurs in your pocket for now.