I missed out last week on sharing some great products and ideas with you, so here is another week of Monday Must-Haves.
A Christmas gift from my parents a couple of years ago, I absolutely LOVE my long rose pruning gloves! Similar to the ones pictured here by West County Gardener, my gloves are a supple suede that is comfortable and flexible and protects my forearms from the sharp, abundant thorns on my rosebushes. You may also want to checkout these Deluxe Rose Pro gloves that are a little less expensive.
After retiring my dad put in many, many hours of studying and became a California Master Gardener. It's been so nice having his expert skills and advice available for our garden. A quick rose pruning tutorial can be found here and you can buy the California Master Gardener Handbook here and get more detailed rose pruning information here. Also I found this sweet blog this morning, isn't David Austin's 'Darcy' rose amazingly beautiful?
2) Ladybugs -
As Spring approaches you will notice many of these beautiful tiny creatures coming out of winter hiding. Other than being cute and bringing joy and wonder to curious children everywhere, why are ladybugs so loved? Well for this rose gardener (it may be stretching it a bit to call myself that), ladybugs are must-haves because they feed on aphids and other soft bodied insects that feed on plants (and are not beneficial to them). One ladybug can eat as many as 50 aphids a day! Bring on the ladybugs!
3) A Picnic Blanket -
Since we began dating my husband and I have loved going on picnics. To the park, the beach, the lake, it doesn't matter, we enjoy relaxing with some yummy munchies, good books, a fishing pole or guitar. In high school and in college by the beach, our blanket consisted of a cheap tassle embellished blanket from Tijuana, but since we've been married we have been using a quilt I bought MANY years ago at Sears. You can find some beautiful modern handmade picnic blankets here and here , for more vintage feel ones here , here and here and if anyone wants to buy me a "Happy Spring" gift - I'd love this lovely picnic set here!
Can you believe the air Ben is getting as our dogs wrestle on our picnic blanket?
Enjoy YOUR Spring!
Thanks for those links. We inherited a rose garden and I am CLUELESS. I'm already not a fan of pruning because of those blasted thorns!! I am certain I hacked the poor things incorrectly last summer so hopefully i can redeem myself this year. (am i supposed to even prune in summer??)
ReplyDeleteI love roses for their scent and beauty, but I really love them because they're so easy to care for and extremely durable and forgiving.
ReplyDeleteI'd start with getting some long gloves so you have one less excuse to keep you from them. Also it's my understanding the major pruning should be done in January/February before all of the new growth. This gives you the opportunity to shape the plant as well. It's my experience that roses LOVE the be pruned, so I really prune them down a lot (to the lowest new growth nodule - checkout the pruning link to see what I mean) and have been pleased with the results year after year. I can't wait to see some pictures this summer of them!
My mother in law is on medication that thins her blood. As a result she's had to cut back a LOT on her flower gardening (and she LOVED her garden)due to concerns about being cut....those long pruning gloves might be enough to let her get back at it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the idea!
Will - I'm so glad you found my blog and I really do hope your mother-in-law is able to get some long gloves and enjoy gardening once again!
ReplyDelete