Descanso Gardens believes that the best time to visit the International Rosarium is in April and October. Support for that thesis is indicated by the fact that rose shows in Southern California begin in the last two weeks of April at San Fernando and Pacific Rose Society (at the Arboretum). Given the current weather, right now is not really the best time. I have bloom in my garden, but decent bloom is easily two or three weeks away. JMO, of course.

Judy, Firstly glad you posted the photo of the pond planted. It is gorgeous and the shape is wonderful. You have planted beautifully around the pond, and the entire pond looks very natural. Firstly, our pond is 3 1/2 feet deep in the big section and the rest is about 2 foot deep. None of our rocks are mortared in. We move them around like furniture. :) Especially as the plants grow and cover our favorite rocks....and yes, the heave and hoe through the winter and some fall into the pond. Cliff does spend a day every spring in the pond, arranging them and moving plants around the rocks. You'll need waders for sure, to do this task, as the water is cold in early spring. I don't like mortared rocks, to me it takes away the natural look. You have plenty of room for pond plantings, so on the 7-8" shelves just place big rocks on them. I think I mentioned that we plant a lot of stuff bare root in the rocks (no pot) and they do very well. Just the rocks on the shelves are holding them in place. We plant taro, umbrella palm. water Iris, parrot feather, horsetail rush to name a few, and they are all planted bare root. Actually the only thing we plant in pots (in the pond) is lilies. The other thing we plant in pots is lotus (the lotus is planted outside the pond) Getting back to the shelves. I was delighted to see directly in front of the pond a section that looks to me to be a natural beach section where you can sit and feed and admire your fish. The only problem I see is the walls are slanted in this area. You could place flat slate type rocks up the sides and at the top overhand the big rocks on the ground slightly. The other thing you can do is plant English Ivy in that area next to the beach. That would cascade over the beach wall and look very good. Warning: it can be invasive and doesn't like to share space, so you have to keep it contained and trimmed in the specific area you want it. Another option is Vinca vine, it is another beautiful cascading vine and shares space well with other plants. Here is the beach section. Just use big rocks and get rid of all the small pebbles, as the fish grow the dig in the rocks and move them around. For perspective...Notice the little blue frog on the right, and see the same frog in the other beach section. Here is another shot of the beach, showing the right section. Notice the English Ivy ...I think that would look well on the sloped sides of your pond. If you look on the right side, it is a shelf that goes down about 15" the rocks on the shelf are built up to above ground level a little. This is a blow up of the dog leg section...again the shelves go down below the water level about 15-16" and again we pile up the rocks to ground level and beyond. This is what You can do on the edges of your pond shelves, even the one that is deep like the 40" shelf, build rocks up to the pond edge to create plant pockets, and the rest of the remaining shelf (the part under the water) just place large rocks and stones on it, under the water. I hope this is clear. This is the shelf in the dog leg section of our pond (I blew up a photo for a close-up) It's from this past June. the 'shelf' goes down about 15" below the water line. These photos are from June 08, notice the lotus...it is planted in a big pot that is sunk into the ground, so that the lotus looks like it's in the pond. again, dog leg section. Keep in mind, once you take out all those small pebbles, you'll have lots of pebbles for paths and to fill in areas around the pond. :) Your pond is beautiful, and now you'll have all winter to do some arm chair planning, as well as rock hunting. We bought a few tons of flat rocks, however all the round rocks you see, we hunted for...oh my aching back! Joann

The nutrients in compost are very stable and will not easily be washed out by rain, especially since they require bacterial activity to become available to your plants. Putting compost onto your beds now will allow the soil bacteria to get a good start on moving that compost, and therefore the nutrients, into your garden bed so those nutrients will be available to the plants when they start to grow next spring whereas waiting until spring means the nutrients in the compost probably will not be available to the plants until later in the growing season.

There are always lots of things to do and places to see out there. If you also like dahlias, Point Defiance Park in Tacoma has a dahlia display and test garden along with roses and fuchsias on display. As previously noted, in June there is the Portland Rose Festival, and many rose shows are held in June on weekends. Some are also in July. You may want to check listings on the American Rose Society pages if they have them yet. In August, there is the big Seattle Seafair festival and torchlight parade complete with pirates. Especially these days, if you are going to the PNW, please book your flights early. If you are traveling in Oregon, and you are feeding the car, the gas station attendants are required to pump the gas. Oregon has held on to those gas station jobs. There is also no sales tax as of this date in Oregon, so, shoppers can have a little break with that. Worthwhile stops are the Saturday Market in Portland and the Pike Place Market in Seattle. Also, in Seattle is the much expanded Boeing Museum of Flight. It is well worth the trip to see that. They put a lot of effort into their displays, and they have an old Air Force One presidential plane and a Concorde SST. Then, on clear days, there are the drives up to Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens, the Steven's Pass road over to Leavenworth, WA, and I think there are roads to Mount Hood, Multnomah Falls, some Columbia River cruises, cruises around Puget Sound, and the trip from downtown Seattle to Blake Island for the Native American displays. Some of these are a little pricey, but most are not. The roses in Washington Park in Portland and Woodland Park in Seattle are wonderful. If you go, please take some pictures to post for the rest of us to drool over. Have fun.