Spring Emerges

It's been a LONG winter! But, as we all knew it would eventually come, Spring is finally here. I've had a particually hard winter, and I am most certainly ready for some playing in the dirt! As I take a stroll around the gardens, I see much work that needs to be done. I guess garden work is never really done, now is it?
This time of year seems to go by so fast, it's hard to get everything done on schedule, so I'll atempt to do a little bit every day.

A walk through the rose garden assures me that most all is well! As long as I see some green on the canes, I know the plant has survived the winter. It's still to early to cut them back, we could get some really cold weather yet, you never know. I will rake up between the plants, and move back any soil that I mounded up.

I see plenty of green canes on this plant, it looks like it did just fine. There was plenty of snow to keep the plants protected. Hopefully I won't have a lot of winter kill this year.
I cut back the tall grass, a chore I don't particulary like. I like to leave it through the winter, because I think it adds some winter interest to the garden. But if you waite too long in the Spring, it starts to break up and blow all over the lawn and garden.

Here it is before I cut it:

and now, it's cut, and hauled away to the compost!

Once it starts to grow, it will fill in quickly, and hide all the dead part.


It's important to have other flowers/shrubs/trees in the garden to give it structure. Each year I try to add something new to my garden. It might be a tree, or a shrub or two, or even a perennial plant.

Today I purchased a rose "Chuckles" This is a low-growing bushy Shrub rose. It has clusters of single,deep rose-pink blooms all season. I have it soaking in a pail of water, and will plant it tomorrow.
I will give it a season to grow, watch it and see how it does, and if it is a rose that I really like, I will take cuttings from it and make a whole row of them.
Want to learn how to take cuttings from your roses to multiply them? Learn about propagating roses


The daffodills have not only poked up their heads, but they are growing so fast, I swear if you stand still and watch them you can actually SEE them growing!

I have large clumps of them throughout the gardens, in many different colors. I think they are very beautiful flowers, perfect almost. They are easy to grow (plant in the fall) They return every year, you can pick them and bring them inside, or leave them in the garden to add beautiful color. What more could you want in a garden flower?

Back out to the garden, more raking to do......

I heard a bird sing

In the dark of December

A magical thing

And sweet to remember

"We are nearer to Spring

than we were in September."

I heard a bird sing

In the dark of December.

-Oliver Herford

Planning Spring Projects "Flagstone Walk"

It's hard to think about projects for the Spring with the chance of a winter storm headed this way, expected to dump a foot or more of snow, but, it is actually a good time to plan.
By the time Spring rolls around, there will be raking, and mulching, planting....etc., etc., etc. and little time for planning.

Even though my rose garden looks like this now,

and the roses are sleeping with their heads sticking out of the snow, the garden will soon awake and look like this:

The birds and butterflys will return, as well as the fairy princesses who come to the garden to play and have a tea party!

By tea time, there is NO time for planning....

So I thought I would get you to put on your thinking caps and think about changes for the coming year.

One thing that might be of interest to you is to put in a new Flagstone Walk. Take a look at this one, installed by one of my website visitors. Didn't she do a terriffic job!!! Wouldn't you like that in YOUR garden?




See how one lady took on this task, and beautified her garden!

Visithttp://www.allaboutrosegardening.com/Flagstone-Walk.html

for the Step-by-Step instructions on how she built it.

Walks, or garden paths add so much to the garden. They define the walk space, and serve as edging for the flower beds.

If done correctly, you don't need to worry about weeds. As beautiful as this flagstone walk is, you can make walks out of  a number of different materials. Bricks, pavers, flat rocks, cobblestones, gravel, even simple mulch paths all work.
 You try to define the planting bed from the area to walk on, and make it nice to look at!

I would love for you to share your comments on building garden paths or walkways. If anyone has built one, please share it with us! Any tips or tricks you learned along the way to benefit us would be especially helpful

Thanks for sharing!

Keep those thinking caps on!



The Winter Garden

Welcome my gardening friends! Here in  Northern New England (zone 5) the snow has covered the ground and it is Winter! The nursery catalogs are pouring in, and I am making some final decisions on which roses to order for next year. Looking at the catalogs gives me hope that Spring is right around the corner, and will be here before we know it.
I have a ton of new ideas for the garden, and am already designing a new fence section that will hold some wonderful Ramblers.
I also have plans for making a concrete garden bench or two. See the "How to" videos: http://www.allaboutrosegardening.com/Concrete-Garden-Bench.html
I have discovered a place to order the molds from,  and have listed that information for you.

If you haven't started planning your "new" plants for next year, I suggest you order some catalogs and make your selections before they sell out!
The catalogs are a very valuable source of information. You can look-up specific roses, and find important information such as planting zone, variety, size, fragrance, and any specific growing information you might need.