Comment and pictures from the gardener - Christine Reno NV.
Hmmm, this shot makes me want to get out the Felcos. Taken on June 1, the bloom has just barely started in most of the garden. On the left is a dead bud which was stopped in its tracks the previous fall and at the very bottom on the left is a new shoot which is clearly hosting the larva of the Raspberry Stem Sawfly. Center right is a winter killed late shoot which desperately needs pruning out. Oh how I wish I could reach into the photo and trim away these annoyances.
Imagining now that this has been done, I can move on to more interesting musings. The featured rose here is Priscilla Burton - a healthy horse of a rose which is almost invariably one of the first to reach full bloom. Half way back to the gazebo is the blooming mound of Sally Holmes. So this photo - taken in 2006 - shows the usual state of the garden at the beginning of the rose season.
However 2007, because of a much more harsh winter, has been completely different - Priscilla Burton is evidently relatively tender. Spring 2007 found Priscilla dominated by numerous canes like the one seen in the center of this photo. I could show you, but then I would REALLY want to get out those secateurs.
And where it usually is one of the earliest to bloom, the winter damage changed that scenario completely. Full flush was delayed by three to four weeks relative to the rest of the garden. True for Sally Holmes as well - the delay in the bloom, though fortunately not the winter damage.
Priscilla Burtom close-up taken at Parnell. File #1479
