When nature holds it's breath

(Doesn't everyone have a boxwood trimmed like a rooster in their back yard?)

Almost all the leaves have fallen off the trees, the grounds crew has raked, blown, picked up and otherwise disposed of the leaves, the lawns are so wet they are beginning to squish when you walk on them, which you better not do unless you are wearing waterproof boots, and when I go out in the morning to get the paper out of the paper box there is that slight chill in the air that promises old man winter is gathering his forces and is on his way.

This is that brief time of year between the seasons when nature just seems to be holding it's breath.

Which means it's time to trim roses. That's right, I trim roses right after the 1st of December. Just down to a point midway between my knees and hips. I wouldn't trim the roses at all except that it keeps the winter wind, ice and snow from breaking the canes down right to the crown of the plant. And along with trimming the roses this is a great time to clean up any old leaves, weeds and what not from under and around the roses. Bugs and disease organisms love to overwinter under dead leaves, so if you remove the old leaves you will be going a long way toward controlling pests next spring.

This is an example of how short I trim, although the ground still needs a bit of clean up. The story behind this particular rose is that my dear sister, who lives in Plymouth MA. used to have a catboat named Marmalade. Thus when I ran across a rose named Marmalade Mist I couldn't resist bringing it into the Rose Villa rose garden. And it has proved to be a remarkable rose. Blooms freely all season long, and very nearly disease free. Pink blooms.

I should also mention that if your roses live in an area other then the hillside here at Rose Villa it may be a good idea to mound up mulch of some type over the crown of the plant. To a height of about 12 inches. This will protect the crown and the lower part of the canes from freezing cold. Many years ago at Rose Villa I used to use composted chicken manure. One half a bag per rose, and by spring time any 'heat' from the manure was gone and it could be pulled away from the rose and mixed into the soil as fertilizer. However, it's been a long time since there was any really dangerous cold weather here so I just let the roses tough it out.

My last word on 'winterizing' roses is about dormant spray. I don't use any. A thorough cleaning up now and again in spring takes care of most of the insects and disease organisms that are tying to make it through the winter by living under leaf clutter. Sure we have a few insects and bit of disease come springtime but it's an acceptable amount, easily delt with by some mild organic methiods of pest control. (More about this as the season progresses) Of course I also don't allow roses to live in our rose garden that have serious pest problems. The roses in the Rose Villa rose garden are tried and true survivors.

And that's about it for what I do during that brief time between the seasons when nature holds it's breath. I'll leave you with a few photos, any ideas what these are? Answers in the next post from Sedgewicks Garden.

This last photo is titled "Sedgewick and Friend". One of the grounds crew found this cute guy while hanging up christmas lights. After introducing him around to the people in the main building (and getting some great reactions) I put him back where he was found.