Category: Planting

Being halfway or more through May, I would normally expect to see more going on in the garden. This is clearly a weird year. With most of my shrubs preparing for their third year since planting, this should be when the real displays begin. And likely they will, but the oddly late onset of spring (after two weeks of it in February) have much in a state of confusion. I enjoy talk of "berries" because at this point many of the roses really do show their shared ancestry with their fruity cousins. [caption id="attachment_3935" align="alignnone" width="640"] An Abraham Darby bud...[/caption] [caption id="attachment_3936" align="alignnone" width="640"] My cluster planted box... Charles Darwin to the left, Claire Austin in the rear, and Lady Emma Hamilton in front. LEH is especially beautiful even before…

Firstly, I must apologize for the lack of recent posts. I returned from a work trip to Asia (which went extremely well -- I could have happily spent six months there) only to end up deeply immersed at work. But at last, signs of spring are upon us. Now that the days are long enough for me to walk around the yard after work/the gym, I can finally inspect the plants on a more regular basis. The last few days have been the biggest change, with nearly all of the roses at various stages of leafing out. Eugene is in the lead, with multiple buds already formed and growing (in all honesty, this is stunning performance, as it had already leafed out three weeks ago with snow on the ground).…