Sorry Oursteelers, I got nothin.

I am so bored that I went out and pulled leaves off of all of the roses on my deck. I even took a couple of snipes at Darcy and then I got control and left her alone. Good thing because it all of a sudden got really cold.

Almost prunning time.

At least my orchid is in bloom.

What a score on the fountain.

Birdhouses are very cool!

Lily I love the dove house. Never heard of that before. Will have to look for one. So what is the 4th clematis you'll get, or is it a surprise? I have 2 in my cart but really not sure I have room for any ore. trying to be good lol.

Chris the fourth clematis will be a surprise! I hope he chooses a blue or violet for me . I don’t like reds much but I think he’ll pick well .

Here is a link to the birdhouses . They are local to me and I really love them so asked for one for Christmas. I do have doves often here and last year a pair made a nest in my gutter under the full blasting sun , I don’t know why they chose that area! So I hope they use this instead . I don’t think the eggs hatched there .

https://www.etsy.com/shop/threesistersharvest

Jen, is your Evelyn fragrant? I bought a bouquet from Grace Rose Farm in hopes of experiencing his fragrance but they had zero scent. Maybe my nose just doesn’t pick up the fragrance molecules of Evelyn? I really hope they use the dove house too. I had a nest of house finches under my covered patio and watched a scrub jay eat the eggs one day. I tied up a birdhouse right by that spot but they didn’t use it last year. Maybe this year. Descanso Gardens camellias are in full bloom right now.

Here is a fairly recent bloom of the generous gardener. I have two framing a window but I have serious remorse over this rose . It’s not pink like the pics show advertising, for me . It’s cream and just fades away on my home . I wish I had chosen better . I ordered a pair of tall trellis ,for it , and hope this spring it knocks my socks off. If it dosnt I hate to do it but I need something pinker so I’ll be removing it even though I love the rose itself !

Cluster of versigny

Young lycidas

Oh man I can’t wait for scentuous to come back . That’s a winner to me .

Cluster of Bathsheba

More Camellias

Oh Stephanie that is so sad the bird ate the eggs. I absolutely hate that part of nature!! I really do .

My Evelyn fragrance isn’t the “ omg “ experience people say but it’s only a year old . I wish I could give you a bloom! I sure would still like to take you up on the Huntington meet up if they are open in the spring . If so I’ll be sure to bring some beautiful roses for you to enjoy . I see descano Is 74 miles for me . Not bad but I’d prefer to see the roses !

holi wow beautiful camellias !!!!

@oursteelers 8B PNW thank you for starting this. I keep looking at the moss and lichen in the trees for beauty right now. And looking through all the old photo galleries on here and the same photos on hmf over and over!

Beautiful orchid @Kristine LeGault 8a pnw!

@Stephanie, 9b inland SoCal I love your camellias. I should probably plant some but I've given up my space to roses!

@Lilyfinch z9a Murrieta Ca your garden is so lovely both with plants and the fountain! I look forward to seeing the birdhouses in their spots. My neighbor has a Generous Gardener in full PNW sun that I fell in love with. Its light pink in cooler weather and blush in sunnier warmer weather. Good luck with yours I hope you find a place it fits into your design. The shape of the blooms and the scent are so lovely. I planted an OR GG this fall in a half shaded spot so we'll see what color mine is most of the time.

Jen I also had some remorse with the Generous Gardener. Not with the rose itself but where I put it. Since so many roses bleach out I figured for sure this one would bleach to white but it is very much a heavy cream color-looks awful in the white garden area I planted it. Totally dirty and dingy.

Ive moved it between The Alchymist and Princess Charlene de Monaco. I think it will look MUCH better there

I planted some hellebores last summer and my first bud opened yesterday! Hoping to buy more varieties next month at a local nursery that sells theirs once a year. I have 5 varieties at the moment at various stages of buds. Definitely helping me through our gray and wet winter months.

Stephanie your camellias look great! I think mine are a solid three weeks from blooming especially since February is usually our coldest month.

Kristine, it’s so hard not to go prune! I know the coming weeks will be our coldest but my fingers are getting twitchy....

I wish I could do birdhouses but I try not to encourage birds to come into the yard. The cats just lick their chops😩

@oursteelers 8B PNW oh your GG is lovely. It sounds like your new spot will be perfect.

@oursteelers 8B PNW: are you in Seattle? Do you prune your roses by mid Feb?

htracy, near Seattle, about an hour away in suburbs. If you’re familiar with the area we have a Kent address but it’s more like Maple Valley. I used to prune midwinter break but this year I’ll probably start a little earlier...it’s taking longer and longer for me to get anything accomplished!

@oursteelers 8B PNW: we are close to each other. I’m in Renton next to Kent. I usually prune by early March but this year I will start earlier, around Feb 22.

Oh man is it ever windy.

I keep looking at the dead trees nextdoor. The neighbor passed away and the house is empty ( probably in probate )

Hopefully new owners will deal with those trees. They are big and mostly dead and really close to my fence and shed

Stephanie what gorgeous camellias!

I wish that I had room for one or 4

Isn't that the house I want?

Lily thank you for the link! I will check it out. I had a mourning dove nest in my Mel's Heritage last year. It was a pretty exposed spot too, and I think the blue jays got to it. That nest box looks somewhat more protectve. Hopefully they choose to use it!

I went ahead and ordered 2 clematis from Brushwood: Filigree and Purpurea Plena Elegans. They're out of stock on other ones I wanted, so just kept it at the 2.

-Chris

It's been very chilly and bleak lately, so these pictures are great to see. The only signs of life around here are some very early rose seedlings I have in my winter sowing cartons. I think these 2 are teasing georgia × carefree beauty. Tags got a little mixed.

Today I drove to a nursery to grab a rose for a friend , and of course found one for myself! This is called redoute .

I’ll be going back to get this one next . Money was a little too tight to splurge on both . This is labeled as Irene watts but it seems there is some debate and it’s actually pink gruss ? The blooms are so big

I don’t care what you call it I love it .

Sea of roses

My spirit of freedom today

hmm wait a second . I have two spirit of freedoms and maybe if I really wanted I could put them where generous gardener is ! I wish it was as easy as moving an app on my phone .

Boo ! Scared ya didnt I ? Guy de Maupassant looking terrifying .

Now you are just showing off oh, Lilly Finch! No complaining about Tennessee when one has Rose nurseries like that! LOL! Of course the problem is where to put it. :-( I guess no place is perfect. Now I am super sad that my Reddit a cutting failed. It is a sport of Mary Rose I believe. Such a pretty pure pink color. I may have to try that again because I think it might be a good substitute for Summer Romance that's a huge monster. I think they're both pretty thorny though? Does it smell strongly of myrrh? I'm still dying to smell that fragrance. Do you have brother cadfael? That might make him a substitute for the generous gardener although I did just order GG for my friends Arbor.

Vapor , I am more than happy to get you one next time I’m out that way. They have plenty and they are only $17. They also have tamora and belle story .

It is kinda thorny ! The smell is interesting today . I don’t want to judge it . :) they are smaller plants , as its a landscape company who just hacks them back to keep them small on the lot. Message me if you are interested.

I don’t have brother cad. I would like it some day ! I really really hope I’ll be moving these roses to a new garden with space someday . Wont be here in California but maybe back to the south .

I can’t turn off the collector part of me.

Jen, does the humidity wipe you out ?

Lilyfinch....get 'Belle Storey'!! I was just going to post about it on IG. I've had it for almost 15 years and it's one of my favourite roses ever. It just needs some creative staking late in the season, or something to tie long canes to.

Here's a few blooms I have in my garden now. The hellebores are just beginning, and there are still a few roses trying to bloom. I found this 'Abraham Darby' on the bush looking very sad with rotten outer petals. I brought it in and peeled them off and it bloomed beautifully! It really made my day :)

I'm certainly not a warm climate gardener, but may I share the hope of spring ahead?

I have an early volunteer...

Hyacinth, anyone?

Steven

Lilyfinch what nursery is that a picture of??

Kimberly, it is waterwise botanicals ! It’s delightful. Tons of everything! And so cheap.

Kristine , the humidity stunk but I was so used to it ! I had never not lived without it . Lol

rosylady , I have belle story ! It is beautiful ☺️

My garden is still in sad shape from the flooding... but slowly, what did not die is starting to put out a few blooms

Osira

Love Song

Beverly

Vincent Godsiff

Sharifa Asma

Francis Dubreuil

Earth Angel

And Tomatoes.... First ones to ripen

What you can see on my roses right now 😅 Gosh, I'm like a kid waiting for Santa!

Though Italy does count as a warm climate, we are far away still from seeing spring-and I am very grateful for this, because we NEED our traditional, wet, chilly winters,and this year we are having one (so far). True, I'm rather fed up with being stuck at home. My garden is in a woods, a 20-minute drive from home,and the only shelter out there is my car, so I can't just "pop out" for an hour or two to get some work done between the bouts of rain, but I'm far too grateful for said rain to be willing to complain about it.

As for pruning, I'm behind schedule-not that I actually have a "schedule", lol. I started months ago- I was out of commission due to health issues for a couple of years and have so much catching up to do. Some areas of my overly large garden have been sorely neglected for too long,and I'm finding a couple roses that will have to be removed . Don't think I'll be done by Valentine's Day, that's for sure.

@Lilyfinch That Generous G of yours IS beautiful; that is always a drag when one finds that a good rose is just in the wrong spot. Might it be possible to "correct" the colour issue simply by adding a couple deeper-pink-coloured clematis to grow through the roses?

Bart, yes to the rain! We got a couple inches a few days ago but the total for the season is only 4.4 inches. So hopefully we will keep getting rain for a few more months. You have a lot of dedication going out to your garden 20 minutes away. I pruned my Moore miniature Softee yesterday.