In the Spring Garden, Finally!

My tiny backyard garden was peaceful yesterday.  No lawnmowers roaring, no powerwashers blaring.  Only the sound of birds, chickadees mainly, going about their Spring business.  I had planned a day to work in the garden, thwarted initially by a torrential downpour.  Luckily for me the sun came out in the early afternoon.  Life seems to have been too hectic lately…I haven’t had much chance to take stock of the garden.  As usual, I’m behind on rose pruning, and there are a million tiny weeds to contend with.  I saw plenty of earthworms as I worked on the weeds.  I (mostly) finished up the rose pruning.  With the exception of one or two of my roses, I’m not someone who worries about how to prune. They’re plants! They’ll grow back if something goes awry during the pruning process.  I have found that roses take to pruning in unique ways.  The floribunda Floral Fairy Tale resents a hard pruning.  I pruned this rose quite lightly a few weeks ago, and now it is the first rose to have a bud.

Floral Fairy Tale rose thinks it's June.

One of the perks of rose gardening in Spring is new foliage.  One of my very favourite roses, Simply Marvelous!, has wonderful dark new foliage, which shines like a mirror in the sunshine.  Why don't more people grow this rose?

The stunning foliage of Simply Marvelous! floribunda rose.

The new foliage on Work of Art has a red cast to it.

Work of Art climbing miniature rose.

I haven’t had time to shovel compost onto the garden or fertilize yet.  Ever vigorous, Hot Cocoa is one of the first roses in the garden this year to show signs of a new basal break.

Gotta love basal breaks!

I'm looking forward to more stunning blooms from Hot Cocoa this year.  The foliage stays very healthy in my no spray garden.

Blooms of Hot Cocoa in 2012.

Blanc Double de Coubert is already suckering along the edge of my driveway. These suckers are growing about 7 feet from the rose!  It's a bit of a battle every year, but this rose is worth it for its scent alone.

Bothersome.

Well, still lots more work to be done! Happy Spring Gardening.