As you know I have a broken ankle so I can't even go into the garden without great difficulty. The paths are narrow and the roses are so huge this year that it is almost too tight to walk. Believe it or not, some of them are over six feet (on May 15!) and wide and growing together. This is by far the biggest they have ever been on this date and I would estimate there are well upwards of 1000 buds already some with color showing. This is setting up for an incredible show and I am determined to enjoy it.

So out I went on this beautiful warm summer like day with my walker and folding chair and hobbled around for a couple hours. I found a lot of canes with canker that needed to be taken off and noticed a lot of problems like the incursions of Virginia creeper and wisteria that would like to overgrow and shade everything in the beds along the garden fence. The pond also needs a lot of work including new plants and fish. Last year a heron ate all my fish. This is all maintenance that I wont be able to think about doing for at least three months. Soon it will be all I can do just to keep up with the deadheading.

This coming Wednesday I have my third surgery followed I'm told by three more months of recuperation before I'm back to normal. I will however be up and about a lot more in just 4-6 weeks. Meanwhile, the next six weeks are the very best for us rose growers. This is what makes it all worth it. In a normal year I would be out there as much as possible including at night under the lights. It's going to be a little more difficult this year but I still can't wait.

Henry