
Any sunny day is the best time to do this, no matter how cold. First, you’re less likely to bother your plants when they are dormant. No broken green sprouts or branches if it’s still winter according to the plant’s bio-clock. Last week was an especially good time for us since we already had to make repairs. An overzealous county road worker with a brush hog pruned away part of my huge climbing rose hedge and damaged the fence when he overran his project. Grr!
Most of these roses were established when we bought the house. They formed a dense hedge that kept out road dust whether they were blooming or dormant.



Roses as they were, an idea of how tall with me as a reference, and how severely they were trimmed with a full-sized wheelbarrow for size comparison.
Ouch! Taking off so many branches looks harsh. These plants went from ten-foot-plus tall and wide blossom beauties to three-foot-tall sticks. They don’t look like much now but they’ll kick into gear in a month or two. I’ll share pictures when they’re in full bloom in June.
So that major project is nearly done (thanks, hubby) and now it’s time to figure out what annuals I want in my vegetable garden. I count backward from Memorial Day weekend (traditionally the start of the no-frost season in my area of North America) and figure out when to start which seeds inside in pots. I’ll put in onions first, then poblano peppers, maybe a few flowers, and around St. Patrick’s Day, seeds for way too many tomato varieties. Oh, and I still buy transplants from the nursery. Yup, I’m a plant aficionado.
Do you have a winter schedule for your yard and garden, too? Do you start from seed or buy transplants? And most intriguing to me, how many (or which) varieties of roses do you grow? Let me know in the comments below.

Check out the story of Tori, the plucky young woman who remembers everything: even her womb mates. Did her botanist parents goof when they didn’t tell her she was adopted? Check out HOW LOVE GROWS as a single or part of THE WHOLE SHE-BANG: Triplets Three Aren’t One Collection.

Dani Haviland, formerly of Connecticut, Arizona, and Alaska, recently semi-retired from selling tractor parts, tools, and roses. She moved to a more temperate climate in western Oregon to pursue her passions: writing, gardening, and photography.
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