oooooooooh...why don't you rub it in, while you're at it? lol.

We've got at least six more weeks of nasty weather, at least. And 10 more weeks of possible frost.

I'll take consolation in my narcissus that are showing color in the bud already.

John

I would do anything to have your problem of roses coming back to life!!! I have my fireplace on this evening because the house was sooooo cold!
I'm too jealous for words.

I am excited for you!!

I saw our first crocus yesterday.
The winter aconite is in (almost) full swing and the snowdrops are close behind.

The daffys are half up, one or two w/ a bud forming. Tulips just breaking ground.

Of course they all were covered with a light blanket of snow fall this morning! :) The snow was quick to come and quick to go, but I think there is still more to come.

Right behind you, Kitty. The first couple of buds on prunus blireana have opened, and there are a boatload right behind them. Roses are just beginning to leaf out--well, some of them, anyway--this is my weekend for laying down some Mills Mix. I could hope for rain to water it all in, but it doesn't look promising. Probably it will be just me and the hose.
To those of you who may be envious and reeeeeeeally tired of winter, I get it. Climate envy is all relative, and February may be one of the cruelest months of all. Having grown up back east, I remember fervently wishing for winter to be over. That said, I still covet the flowers I remember in my mother's garden. Here in southern California, I would be thrilled to grow a lilac, or a peony, but I can't. As good as we have it now, when February is mild, remember this as you consider our plight in mid-September when it's 100+. . . .again, as it has been since early to mid-August, and will be for another three weeks.

Kay

My roses have had a better than usual rest this year with the cooler temps. Sometimes it's so warm when we prune that they seem to start growing again right away. There's a small amount of growth at this time, not much. I love that tender maroon growth some bushes get when they first leaf out. The new bushes look good too (Julia Child, New Zealand, Betty Boop). The crepe myrtles are still snoozing.

I'm also starting to see growth and buds on about 20% of my roses. But we're not past frost stage yet. We've had unseasonably warm afternoons for the past few weeks, and all the rain we got in N. CA during early winter seems to have come to an abrupt end. No telling if our spring like afternoon weather will continue, or we'll go back into winter again for another month or two.

Oh, you lucky dog! Nothing to look at here but snow.

Mine are trying to wake up. Hopefully they are just turning over in their sleep. The past several mornings have been in the low 20's but by early afternoon the sun warms things up. But then again the daffy's are starting to bloom. The weatherman said Feb is suppossed to be warmer then normal. If my roses start to push new growth down low, I'll take that as a big hint. I'll go out this afternoon and really check. If they are starting to wake up, I'll throw some Milorganite down in the middle of the month.

"On this February 2nd, 2013,
the One Hundred and Twenty Seventh Annual Trek of the
Punxsutawney Groundhog Club at Gobbler's Knob.

Punxsutawney Phil, the King of the Groundhogs,
Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of Prognosticators,
Weather Prophet without Peer,
was awakened from his borrow at 7:28 am
with a tap of the President's cane.

Phil and President Deeley conversed in Groundhogese
and Phil directed him to the chosen Prognostication scroll.

The President tapped the chosen scroll and
directed Phil's Prediction be proclaimed:

My new Knob entrance is a sight to behold
Like my faithful followers, strong and bold

And so ye faithful,
there is no shadow to see
An early Spring for you and me."

Soon, everyone, soon!

Phil says so! :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Punxsutawney Phil's Official Site

As I look outside, it's snowing on my daffodils :P

John

Just beautiful. It has decided to SNOW!!! I mean really snow. Not just a few snow flurries. BIG fat snow flakes coming down hard. If this keeps up for a while, we're going to have a little (?) on the ground. Nothing last winter but we're getting some now. I don't think it will bother my roses. Very little wind with it. My wife is like a kid. It is kinda pretty.

I wish I could send you some spring weather. I haven't been able to enjoy it while I had the bad cold. I feel like it's a race against the clock to get them pruned, fed and mulched. I ate my lunch under rooster yesterday and listened to the hum of the bees.

I would love a flowering cherry but it's too warm here for that. Rooster makes some pretty flowers.

One last bloom from Gold Medal before I pruned the bush.

Prettiest "rooster" I've ever seen! And his method of "crowing" sure beats the way my neighbor's roosters do it, lol.

And I'm not sure I could bring myself to cut that Gold Medal bloom, even for pruning, even to bring it in the house. Beautiful. But if ya gotta, ya gotta.

Thanks for the pix, Kitty. Brightened my dreary day.

John

Kittymoonbeam, what kind of tree is Rooster, exactly?

Kay

Well, I guess I learn as I go. When I first moved up here I was told to wait until the middle of March to prune your roses. While the daffodils are blooming. Spring of 09,10 and 11 I waited. Wasn't to wild about the spring flush ( already had new growth and cut it all off) but by summer and fall everything looked good. Last year (12) we had a mild winter and the daffodils were up by early Feb. Decided to prune mid February and my early spring lush looked great. Even with a late freeze (2 nights in the low 20's) the bushs weren't bothered at all. Some of the blooms turned to mush but that was it. My daffodils are blooming right now. My roses have new growth all over. The snow and cold mornings haven't slowed down anything at all. With new growth showing at the bottom of the bushs I'll start to clean the leaf cover out of the gardens and start pruning. When I lived in Fl. I had no problems with early spring pruning. Nothing shut down. Just slowed down a little. Up here I can get things shut for cold weather but I have no control over the position of the sun and how it warms up the soil. I just go along with what mother nature gives me and I don't try to tell the weather what to do. Early spring for me this year :)

It was cool and cloudy today so I took that as a sign to go out and move some roses around. I read here about Lasagne beds and I tried it in an area that I didn't intend to plant anything. All year I layered on the goodies and soil until I had a nice sized hump by summer. I took out all the soil from the planting holes and replaced it with the lasagne soil. I liked it much better than adding bagged ammendments and it cost me nothing. Some of the roses had huge rotted remnants of multiflora rootstock so I cut that off and preserved the own roots coming off the canes. It's hard to tell how big they are going to get when they are just bands and so I always have to do some moving every year. I put Queen of Sweden back in a pot. I don't know what to do with this rose. There are 3 long skinny fishing rods and I don't know if this rose should be shortened or pegged.

I don't know what kind of peach rooster is. My best friend's mother planted one in the late '80s and I got a piece 6 years ago and grafted it to a baggied gold mine nectarine. BF says to call it Cogburn's peach. If we get the usual warm spring, the peaches are very sweet. Last year it was a cool spring and there was no sugar in them at all. But I love the flowers blooming right around Valentine's Day. It's possibly an early form of Elberta.

Quinces are starting to bloom here. Some rose bushes have signs that they are waking up too. Even some hydrangeas show leaf out. These up and down temps are going to be a killer one of these days. We normally prune by Valentine's Day but I may have to start yesterday.... sigh...

Kitty, about that Queen of Sweden, I don't think it is a good candidate for pegging. Its canes are too upright and not flexible. My experience withs her Highness is: Leave her alone. Don't prune (or only very lightly at most). A number of Austin's resent heavy pruning or frequent pruning. Just let her do her thing on her own for a couple years. I'll bet that will fix her problem.

At least that has been my experience. : )

Kate

Thank you Kate.
I'll just put her on the wall with the rest of the tall DAs and let her grow how she will. I was not expecting anything so tall when I saw the picture in DAs catalog of this rose growing in the natural setting. I was expecting Glamis Castle or Sharifa Asma growth.

I am just a few hours north of you Kitty. Can't wait for spring. However, this weekend we are expecting snow at the 1200 foot level! I see the trees starting to get buds on them. Haven't been to the back yard (working too much and too late this week) to see if my nectarine and plum trees are starting to bud. It should happen in the next couple of weeks or so. Need to get out this weekend and feed everything. Your pictures are beautiful!

For me its the clematis that woke up! The roses too, but at least I know they are alive and will always wake up! With a Clematis...I'm always wondering....are you dead or alive!!!!! Finally success!!!! Happy dance! Now I'm waiting for the Weigelia.....I THINK its alive! haha