Yesterday evening I spied a female cardinal on the gate under the rose-covered arbor. As I watched, she flitted into this rose, but I couldn't see what she was doing there. A little later on, when I walked outside, she left the area in a startled huff-- and that's when I found the very beginnings of a nest, right by our main gate. Not a very private location for a nest, with people passing just inches away multiple times a day. I expect she's now decided to keep looking, though I can't blame her for dreaming of a rose-covered bower...
On the other side of the arbor, 'Joseph's Coat' is still not looking its best, but the smattering of blooms are pretty, in themselves.
The Knock Out roses would have benefited from a pruning, this year, but I didn't get to it in time... I might still do some lighter pruning, but maybe it's better to just wait and do a hard prune next late winter/early spring.
'Nearly Wild' is another that needs something-- not sure if it's pruning, fertilization, better sun, or what. Maybe a combination of things.
The earliest-pruned unknown pink shrub roses are covered in candelabras of buds. The first flush of bloom should start any day now...
The unknown pink climbing rose isn't blooming as much as it has in some years. I think it needs a little pampering...
What blooms there are, are sweetly fragranced. I'd like to take cuttings of this and 'Peggy Martin', but I have only limited success with rose cuttings. Though some seem to think they're the easiest thing ever, I believe I've had the most sporadic luck with roses, of all the things I've tried to propagate by cuttings.
...But it's always worth another try!
