January magic

The Abracadabra rose continues to be the best performer in my garden.  The only other rose in bloom right now is Mr. Lincoln, but poor old Abe came down with a case of rose rust.  Abracadabra produces year round and seems resistant to disease.

I planted the four new roses today, and moved the four roses that weren't so fragrant to the back patio, where they now make up my newly created "Colorful Rose Garden".

Shovel pruning

Today is shovel pruning day. Those roses that don't belong in the "fragrant" garden are being moved to containers to make way for some new acquisitions.

We will see "princess of monaco", "bewitched", "California dreaming" and "Tahitian sunset" relocated. The new roses are "sugar moon", "stainless steel", "just Joey" and "ebb tide".

Prior to planting the new roses I'll remove a large amount of soil and replace it with fresh commercial rose mix, as I am told new roses don't do well in soil where the roots of previous roses were left behind.

All cleaned up

January is the dormant time for roses, however both my "Abracadabra" and "Mr. Lincoln" are in bloom.

For everything else, I trimmed lightly and removed all the leaves, which on many plants showed blackspot or rose rust.  I also removed all the debris and even a little excess soil from the surface, hoping to reduce sources of re-infection.

Soon I'll have a delivery of some new bare-root roses I have on order.  I shall be replacing the aroma-free roses with more roses that are noted for their scent.  I expect I'll find another place to replant the other roses, or I'll put them in containers on the back patio.