My 4-rose J&P order arrived yesterday afternoon while I was pruning. I opened the box, checked the roses and they were wrapped in a big plastic bag with (paper) grocery bag-type wetted paper. This setup seemed to retain moisture well. I poured in a little more water over the paper and closed it up to sit overnight in the garage. First thing this morning I prepared the plants for soaking in water - inspected the roots and pruned all the roots slightly - and also pruned the canes down looking for an outward-facing bud-eye. I'll let them soak for about 10 hours, and then pot them into 5-gallon plastic nursery pots. I love this type of planting as it's so easy compared to planting in the garden. These 4 bushes do not yet have a garden spot reserved so in effect these represent my "bullpen." They will be available to replace anything that needs replacing (i.e., doesn't grow well this year) and if that does not happen, they will over-winter in the unheated garage. I did this two years ago with 2 Ring of Fire bushes on Dr. Huey and then planted them in the garden in late May last year. They grew like gangbusters last year and have come through winter strong.

The new roses from J&P - Simply Magnificent, Elegant Lady, Soft Whisper and April Moon - all look good. Green canes, not too much white growth pushing out, and very good root systems. There were very few broken roots. I am very happy with the condition of these new roses and I give J&P a solid 'A' for this order. Now, let's hope (pray) that they are true to the variety named on the tags as J&P has let me down 3 times previously in the past 4 years with a mis-labeled rose.

Pruning update: completed 18 more bushes today. Now I have 149 to go - I'm not quite 30% done. I went out at 3:30 pm to do more but Mother Nature intervened and brought some rain to the party.

19 more pruned today - 167 to go.

Started the "real" pruning yesterday - completed 23 bushes - only 186 more to go!

It's a pleasure to prune this year. Lots of green cane to work with. I'm pruning down to where the pith is pure white with no brown coloring. Typically, that is just below the 2nd or 3rd bud-eye (from top to bottom) which has pushed out. With some like Sexy Rexy the pure white pith extends out to near the tips of the canes.

Decent (if not warm) weather is expected over the next few weeks, so I'll continue to plug away. The forsythia is not quite in full bloom just yet but it's close. But the roses are ahead of the forsythia this year and are ready to start growing (or already ARE growing).

I have to mention Darlow's Enigma. Last year no pruning at all was required but this year some canes in the middle of the shrub have not budded out at all. So I took out these winter-killed canes. On balance, Darlow's Enigma has fewer thorns/prickles than the average rose. But don't let that fool you. What thorns/prickles it does have are the sharpest and most devastating I have ever encountered! They are somewhat on the thin side, but the point is just so sharp. Marilyn Monroe is a picnic compared to Darlow's Enigma!

April 8th 2024
L 48 H 68
It’s suppose to be in the 60’s today. March was warm the 1st two weeks
then cold last two weeks. Think it’s time for the 1st lawn cut of the season.
Daffodils are blooming crocus are finished. Forsythia is in full bloom. Just some
warmer temperatures and I can finish the spring cleanup.