NJ is yellow!

Now is the time. NJ is in full forsythia bloom! It feels like every house has this fabulous plant growing. It grows along every highway and along every road. Here's my own piece of yellow heaven in the backyard.

It will only be yellow for a few more days and then will turn green. We usually have about 5-6 days of lovely yellow.

It really is the perfect hedge and absolutely no maintenance needed. Just let it grow!

It's all about layering...

We planted a few Blushing Bride Hydrangea the first year we moved here and I love them! They have grown big and lush in front of the house. Since planting them, I have sprouted a few new plants by layering and have since filled the hydrangea bed without buying additional plants.

In anticipation of this year, I prepared for another new plant last August. I just bent a branch down and put a brick over it. I did this in the back so you can't see the layering process. See that hole in the above picture on the far left. Yep, need to fill that in. I checked today and the new plant looks rooted and ready to move!

The branch has already started to bud around the brick.

I lift the brick off and voila! You can see that the branch has rooted.

 

But surprise, I have two different plants rooting. I usually only get 1.

I snip the branch off of its mother....

.....separate them and then gently dig up the twins and move them to where they are needed.

With a little fresh water they are good to go, will triple in size before the year is out and give me gorgeous blooms like this....for free!

Spring in the east vs. the west

It may be 75 degrees here in NJ with blue skies and birds chirping...(here's a shot from my front yard).

But not so back home.....(here's a shot from my parent's front yard).

My parents in Northern Arizona are experiencing the kind of weather we usually have here around this time. They lost power for hours. What a crazy Spring so far....!

6 signs that Spring has arrived here

1. The hose trolly is brought out of the barn

2. The Iris bed starts to wake up, slowly but surely



3. Blushing Bride hydrangeas show buds

4. The bikes come down for their Spring check-up at the bike shop....

5. Tulip/Daffy bed almost in bloom

6. Pansies available at the nursery

Forsythia will be full bloom in a few days..hurray Spring!

Even dormant, I can't stand them

Goodbye Mayflowers. In my garden these 3 David Austins were small little pink flowers that ball in the rain and don't open. When I pruned them last week I thought maybe I would give them another year. But no! I just don't like them so they got shovel pruned today and replaced with some of my new Austins.

Yanked out and looking sad

Here are the replacements....

I put in Winchester Cathedral, far left. Then, Pat Austin, Eglantyne and in front a very healthy The Prince.

These are some of the Chamblees Roses that I got a few weeks ago and have been hardening off outside in their original pots. For me, own roots do better when I take my time to do this versus just putting them in the ground. When I buy bands (which I hardly ever do) I just leave them in pots for a year.

Slowly I pushed these babies farther and farther out of the shade until they were completely in the sun for about a week. They started out on the window ledge of our living room. I also made sure to cut off all new buds so they could focus on growing roots instead of early tiny flowers.

Healthy and happy little Prince

Something green for St. Patrick's Day

Busy today getting the lawn ready for Spring. If you're into lawns...here's what we (I mean David) does every St. Patty's Day weekend. I'm really not into lawn care too much but David sure is.  I love how it will look in a few months. Green and lush.

Out came David's best friend the lawn tractor from the barn....

The first step in the process is to aerate....

This is starting to look like a John Deere commercial...

Then fertilize....

Broadcast spreader set at 3.5 to give it a little extra food.

Luckily we can depend just on the amount of NJ rain to keep the grass green and don't have to worry about watering. Whatever he does...it seems to work! Here's a shot from last May.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Is this the funnest time for a rose grower?

Is funnest actually a word? Anyway...I just love this time of year for growing roses. The anticipation is a killer while I wait for everything to wake up. But, it's finally starting. Isn't this new growth a beautiful sight? There is nothing like all these fresh leaves at the start of Spring. Everything looks fresh and healthy. It's just around the corner now! Our 70 degree days are making everything sprout.

Cinco de Mayo doing its thing...

The smell of hyacinth in the air!

The Fairy looking fresh and green...

She throws out really long canes along the ground. Hadn't realized how long they got last year until I took these photos. They extend across the entire back garden! The thorns on this rose are the most painful in my garden, ouch!

I'm excited to see my side rose bed really perking up. I don't think I killed it last year after all. Hurray!

Hope the great weather holds. Daffies are just about to bloom....