Rose Pruning Begins

 Today I began my rose pruning jobs.  If you've been following along, you know that this is my busiest time of year(yay!).   Every year I prune about 2500 rose bushes between the last week of Dec(a few of my clients want it early) and the end of Feb. Last year I was still pruning in March!  And these are not just whack whack jobs!  I prune correctly above a bud eye facing outward on every plant!

For those who don't know, we prune roses to:
1.  Get rid of diseases
2.  To make the plant a manageable size.  
3.  To encourage new growth because roses bloom on new growth. 

Thought I'd share today's before & after photos at a job in Arcadia.  Granted that these are scrawny because of too much shade. But this bed holds 93 plants. 

Watch my progress this season as I post my weekly pruning numbers. 

Happy gardening! 

New Plant

In my experience I've found that you should buy the unusual plant when you see it. If I don't, I'll end up pining for it and then it won't be available next time

I was at San Gabriel Nursery today and found this unusual Heather, Erica speciosa. It is from South Africa, wanting mostly sun and well-drained soil. Yay! Hopefully it will like my super sandy soil. I love that red with the green edge! I bet the hummingbirds will love it too!

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Just a small bouquet of flowers to wish you all a Merry Christmas from my garden to yours. The roses are Robin Alonso with white Tulbaghia fragrans, Gomphrena Fireworks and Eucalyptus. Happy holidays to you all and thanks for following my little garden blog.

December Tiny Bouquet

At last nights SoCal Hort meeting there was a Holiday Arrangement competition. I didn't have a lot blooming since my Mums are almost spent. But I did have two micro miniature roses; Jolly Cupido (red& white) and Cinderella(palest pink). I added some sprigs of variegated Myrtle and put them in a tiny antique bottle. The whole thing is about 3". I joked that you'd need binoculars to see my entry. I tied for the win with another woman. We split the prize basket of wine, sake, chocolate, cheese, etc. I let her have the book The Drunken Botanist by Amy Stewart because I already own it. Yay!

Do you grow tiny micro mini roses? You should. They're way too adorable an great for tiny bouquets. This is now on my skinny kitchen windowsill.

More Wine Bottle Edging

Sorry that I haven't posted in a month. There seemed to be nothing new.

Yesterday I added more wine bottles to the south side of our north walkway. We live on a corner and have 2 ways to get to the front door. The soil and water was rushing off when I hand water(as I do the whole yard). My friends have been saving wine bottles for me.

I finally bought some annuals for the border. I'm late because it was hot in Oct, we went on vacation in Nov, some of the Profusion Zinnias still looked good and I had no money. With a little money I bought 2 flats of orange Calendulas. But I had to fix the edging first.

It'll hold the soil for awhile and I think looks pretty. The Calendulas will begin blooming soon

The cobalt blue bottle is my favorite Moscato. I did drink that one :-)

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