Spring in the Garden — Organic Gardening Tips

Wrestling with a Monster Rose

I spent a couple of hours this afternoon fighting with my monster rose. I call it a monster rose because it’s absolutely HUGE.

The rose in question is a William Baffin Canadian Explorer Rose. It’s about 10 years old and it’s oh … 16 feet tall and maybe 12 to 14 feet wide.

It’s just finishing it’s spring flush of blooms so all of it’s many branches are full of rose blooms. Thousands of them I believe! It’s absolutely gorgeous – all pink and unbelievable. I can’t believe how big this rose is and how many flowers it actually produces when it first blooms each spring!

Unfortunately about a week ago there was a big rain storm and the rose being so heavy with blooms half the branches fell to the ground. The rose looked like it was split in half!

So … yes, that’s what I was doing this afternoon, wrestling with my huge rose, trying to lift all those big heavy branches and make them stand upright again. I was out there with my husband pounding stakes into the ground and tying branches up with heavy twine. Oh and losing skin … all the while doing this with a hand that very well might be broken!

I sure hope that all the tying up and staking we did holds those branches up for a few years! That rose really is a monster!

The butterflies early arrival in Toronto

by Tricia

In the last week I’ve noticed quite a few butterflies in my garden and around the neighborhood. Normally I don’t notice butterflies until at least May and certainly not in these numbers but there are so many that they’re even talking about it on the news!

Red Admiral Butterfly by Luc Viatour / www.Lucnix.be

All over Southern and Eastern Ontario butterflies like the Red Admiral and the Monarch are being seen in large numbers.

It’s thought that the warmer than normal temperatures in the Northern US combined with the high winds that we’ve experienced in the last week or so has contributed to the early mass migration.

As I said in my last post it was a warm winter and an early spring so there’s quite a bit of growth already, but I hope there’s enough food for the butterflies to eat considering they’re here so early.

Have you noticed butterflies in your area earlier than normal as well too? Isn’t it a little strange?

Warm Winter, Early Spring

by Tricia

We had an amazingly warm winter here in Toronto this year. It’s said to be one of the warmest winters we’ve ever had.

I suppose I shouldn’t be all that surprised then that my crocuses were popping up out of the ground by the 10th of March and that I had Daffodils and Hellebores in full bloom before March was over, let alone most of my roses fully leafed out!

Looking at photos that I’ve taken of the garden in previous years it looks like my garden is about a month and a half to two months ahead of itself. The only year that it was close to having this much growth in March and April was in 2010. That was another warm winter, one which was also said to be one of our warmest ever.

Everyday I go out and see what new plant is blooming or growing and I really should cut the grass. Normally we don’t have to cut the grass until mid May or so. The only thing missing this spring is the rain. I’m sure most wouldn’t complain about that, but as a gardener I need it for my plants to grow. I’ve actually watered a couple of times already. The first was at the end of March. Believe me, I’ve never watered the garden at the end of March before – well if I have it was in an effort to melt the ice off it, not to actually water it! LOL

How is your garden this Spring? Was it warmer in your area than usual as well? Is your garden well ahead of itself this year too?

Here’s a peek at how green my garden looked on March 28th of this year. See how many of the roses had tiny leaves forming?

The lavender was growing, the Honeysuckle was fully leafed out and even the clematis vines were starting to get leaves. These are all things that normally don’t happen until mid-April onward.

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