Looks great! Can't wait to see it in bloom!

wow. I'm positively green with envy. Here in NY I'm dreaming of spring & planting bare-roots. I can't wait.

What did you plant?

These were all planted last February except five that I just planted to replace ones that were being murdered by powdery mildew. There are 46 in all. Roses here can bloom and do well 12 months a year as opposed to six months back in CT. Look on the gallery for a picture of some blooms from the floribunda garden that I just finished pruning.

Hi Henry...this looks wonderful. The work all done, now just waiting for bloom! You have used my favorite mulch. It is hard to find here in Louisville. Can`t wait to see it in full bloom. Lesley

Everything looks good. You think they're big now, wait until next year. Those canes will almost double in size. You'll get use to it. So tell us, what doesn't get mildew in the HT/Gfl section.

Looks great. Missing CT at all? ;^)

The palm is planted too close to the structure for long-term health.

Hoovb, you are probably right but I have so little space. That palm is a Kentia, one of four that we have, and is 18 inches from the house. They are slow growing and do well in less than full light which is why I have it there. The house blocks the afternoon sun. We have 22 major palms with two more Kentias and two Kings adjacent to the back yard rose garden.

Did you strip the leaves off of them too? I've heard that some people do that to make them go dormant but here in zone 5b, mine don't lose their leaves so much..

Maude

Here we strip all the leaves but since it is my first year doing this I'm not sure how dormant they will get. The days here have been in the 70's. I have a feeling that I will see new growth next week.

I read not to pull the leaves, just cut them off and let the little ends dry up and fall off. You can damage dormant buds if you pull at leaves. I like to put a layer of compost and/or horse manure down and then add a layer of bark or shredded mulch over that. It keeps the soil rich and the roses love the horse manure. Bark over it all keeps the scent down. If you want to you can seal the canes with white glue or paint to keep any boring insects out. I have noticed these on the rise lately in Orange County so I have been sealing all my canes.

Everything looks great. Can't wait to see the pictures of everything in bloom. Wasn't it nice weather lately for pruning? I'm going to stop by the Huntington soon and look at how they did the roses this year.

I have not found where to buy horse manure but I have used steer manure mixed with what passes here for compost and it seems to have worked. I also keep two barrels of steer manure mixed in water - about three shovelfuls per 32 gallon barrel. I water with this at least once a month in addition to the regular watering. I haven't seen any cane borers or any insects at all except for the occasional grasshopper. When I started I don't think there was a worm anywhere but now the soil is alive with them and the moisture level is staying very well. One problem I do have here that I didn't have in CT is skunks digging up the garden. There is damage to repair every morning.

Looks great Henry! :)

I hate the skunks!!!!

Palms are fairly easy to dig up, surprisingly, but the wrong palm in the wrong place can do some serious damage.

Off to work on the old garage....that used to have a palm right in front and now has a cracked wall and other foundation/wall damages from the palm tree (different kind of palm)