We all have our failures, especially as gardeners. We plant the wrong plant, at the wrong time or in the wrong place. We ask Mother Nature to just bend the rules a little bit and help us out, and sometimes she complies, and then sometimes..like below...she says "Nope, you shouldn't have planted that there." I have been pruning back my vinca for the last several evenings. It is on the north east side of the house and it has performed beautifully for the last five years or so. It fills in the entire 15' quite nice now and in the summer it welcomes people up to our front door with it's little purple flowers. I have a VERY LARGE beautiful red climbing rose "Blaze" that drapes over an arch across the sidewalk too so I thought, well if that rose does so remarkable well, then I am sure that a few more would also, and who couldn't use a few more roses. Well this is where Mother Nature came by to tell me "Nope darling, those just aren't going to be happy there." Guess it was the lack of full sun, or maybe it was because of how wet I keep the vinca and by the time it drains down to the climber it dissipates....but this last year I lost....not one, but two roses.

Chihuly

 

and one of my favorites, Miami Moon

So what's a girl, a gardening girl, to do you ask? Why plant more this year of course. Just maybe in a slightly differant location. One with more sun, and less water.

 

The Miami Moon showed a tiny tiny piece of green, so when I dug it up I pulled it off the rootstock and moved it over to my "Wild Area". Hopefully it will take off and be happy there.

Success stories for this long winter....the crab apples are waking up quite beautifully. We had a fellow gardener in the other day that was worried she hadn't actually planted a crab apple last year because there were no flowers, only leaves....."It's OK" we reassured her. Crabs are one of the spring flowering trees that leaf out first, then flower. As opposed to the plums and pears that you are seeing around town now that are starting their show in full glory.

The rhubarb is up and doing beautiful

 

as are the pink peonies that I transplanted from ones that I had planted for my Mom many years ago.....

and of course the onions.....ahhhhh smell the onions......Happy Gardening and Many Successes to you!