I don't have time to say too much except that it has been way too long, Susan. How about your family?
I would like to see pictures of your garden too.
Sammy

Good to see you posting, Susan. Does your Golden Celebration seem to be okay with being cut back? Mine is still tiny, but I know someday I'll need to know how to handle GC when it gets large. And the picture I've seen of yours is so happy looking. At least I think I remember the video clip of GC as being yours.

By the way, when I saw my first bloom on my 'Heritage' this spring, I thought "this bloom looks like something I'd see in a Susan Kitchen Designer photo." It was that good.

Randy

Good to hear from you Susan!

I've been enjoying your old pictures all winter long.

Can't wait to see any new ones.

Hoping all is well with you and yours,
Rob

Hi Randy...my GC was too so big, like 8' tall, maybe more, and maybe 6' wide, way too big for the spot, or the spot was way too small and the spot wasn't THAT small. So, I experimented with cutting it back to about 3-4', so we'll see what happens. A lot of twiggy stuff went away because I cut lower. I pruned many of my Austins that height. Let's put it this way, my fantasy is to have the bushes be shorter, beautifully rounded and full of blooms like they are in DA's catalog, so I thought I'd experiment. I will be going to the nursery in upstate new york, where there is a big DA garden and will observe how those are pruned. I pruned them by 1/2 to 2/3.

My kitchen designer photos...part of why I haven't been around is that I started a blog! Let me tell you, there's another universe out there of blogs, I never realized. It's just amazing. Very time consuming to do one, but I thought I'd try it. I'm trying to figure out now how to integrate roses with a blog entry....something about viewing them through the kitchen window, yes, that's it!

Hey Bro! Awww, glad you enjoyed the images. Same for you, hope all is good. Any great new acquisitions?

Sammy...yes, all is good. My one son just got into the NYC electrical union, which he's happy about. The other son is still bike riding/college/part time engineering job, and my daughter/her new husband are great. Is your daughter home now? I think I remember she was.

Susan, I have been away also and it's nice to be back. I have missed you. I am in a whole nuther world of gerdening and rose growing here in Denver and in Wyoming so no roses to show yet - I need to see some of your wonderful pictures to get my fix.

My daughter had been deployed, and is home now. To us home is the U.S. She will really be home - in our house in less than a month.

I think part time college and part time work is a good way to go. When you can get it, what a good way to reinforce what you are studying.
Sammy

rozanna, I knew you were in Denver. You'll make those roses work for you, that much I know, I have no worries about you having a lack of roses. Good to hear from you.

Sammy...full time college, finally truly living up to the potential I always knew he had as far as grades (yes!), plus hours of bike riding every day and a really responsible part time job in a small engineering firm. He says it's good to be busy. And, a major health nut who cooks from scratch every night. I'm not kidding. He and his girlfriend. I said, you can't do three things well, maybe two, and he's proving me wrong.

Hi Susan, good to see you posting again, I so love your pictures of your garden.

Welcome back.

Valerie

Susan, you have been missed. Good to see you back. Stay put as much as possible. I know that your career and blog keep you busy, but we missed you nonetheless.

Hi Susan, glad to see you on here. I haven't been active on the forums for a long time either. My garden is doing well also. My husband put up fencing which created a whole new full-sun area in which to plant more roses. The fence also has a huge arch over the gate that will, hopefully, be smothered in blooms one day.

Yesterday I pruned the few tea roses that I have...all tiny ones planted last fall: Lady Hillingdon, Mrs. BR Cant and Baronne Henriette de Snoy. I found it hard to figure where to cut and I didn't want to prune very much as they are so young. But there were definitely dead twiggy stuff that I wanted to get rid of. I hope I didn't cut anything important. When they talk about the Teas having a lot of twiggy growth, I assume it's still live wood and not like dry twigs. Am I making sense? Also, the growth of teas is so different than shrubs and HTs. Oh well, I did my best.

Anyway, good to talk to you. I always enjoy your posts and pics. Shelley

Great to hear from you Susan. I plan to get to Long Island and see your beautiful garden one of these days.

Susan-----so happy to see you posting----AS a matter of fact just the other day I thought I should send you an e-mail and find out what happened to you and this morning there you were.---

I think of you and your garden often and what a lovely time we had a couple of years ago.

great to see you back.

Florence

Hi Susan! I'm back too.

MichaelG

Hi Susan, Great to have you back. I'm intrigued with your thoughts on blogging. Would you share access to your blog?

Speaking of your view through the kitchen window, your photos were the highlight of the Winter issue of ARS' OGR & Shrub Journal. I've had lots of wonderful feedback on them!

It will be interesting to hear what happens with your Austin pruning experiment. I'm looking at scraggly growth on some of mine and thinking about similar options. Let us know what you learn at the Austin gardens.

Sue

Hi Susan, so good to hear from you. I had the same idea as Florence about e-mailing but never did. Hope everything is well.

Carla

It's good to see you back.

It's so nice to see old rose buddies! It's such a great time of year...everything looks promising at the moment.

Valerie, good rose buddy, hope you're doing well and your new rose garden is working hard for you! Hope Buddy is good too. :-)

Patricia! Missed your snappy sense of humor. Last I remember were images of your garden. It must be full of roses at this moment, right?

Shelley, so the DH did the right thing, it sounds like! Yes, I don't do much to my Teas. I may trim a wayward branch or cane if there are enough of them so it doesn't sacrifice too much. But, yes, from what I know, the twiggy stuff is all good, to put it simply. I've heard controversy on pruning or not pruning back Mrs. B. R. Cant, and I just thought I'd try it, so I did, but I guess I just cut off about 18" from a 6 or 7' high bush, so we'll see about that, if she sulks. The others, I was just conservative and did little.

Harry! Anytime. Bring that sense of dry humor, would love to have you! Wishing you a good midgeless year (it was midge that did you in, right?) That was LAST year. Over and done with, hopefully.

Florence!! So glad to see you here. I'll bet you can't wait to see your beautiful climbers with their new haircut. We pruned all our roses down but decided to let our New Dawn be a jungle to enjoy this year.

MichaelG, oh thank goodness you're back, I'll be needing you, I'm real sure. Wishing you a great rose season.

suz - you're a peach. That was enjoyable to do, glad I could be of help. Sure, my blog is thekitchendesigner.org and it owns ME, I think. I enjoy it but it's a whole lot of work since I try to update it every day. I miss here and there.

Hi Carla...hope you're good. Bought any roses lately? You're always getting something! Wishing you a pest free season, that would be nice. Thanks for the hello!

Ann...miss your interesting titles...besides the great advice, your titles are always so good. I need title lessons from you. I thought I read somewhere about a real unfortunate freeze down your way. I hope your roses were not affected, I'm almost afraid to ask. Hoping for the best.

Thank you so much for the hellos. I go out in the garden now with spring springing and just would like to reconnect again.

Susan, George has indicated he may squire Carol FM and me to see your garden when we visit him in New York come June. I would love that.To see what I've been up to there is a post at the top of this page alluding to scandalous amounts of buds which should be over on the gallery with its predecessor...but heck.
Good to see you back.
la

(note to self...learn to photoshop live bushes)

Oh, hi luanne! I'd love to have you visit and of course Sandy too, and Carol! Keep me in the loop and I'll keep myself in the loop as well. Hopefully, I didn't cut all the productive stuff off, but then I didn't prune all that low, it only seems like it. The garden looks great and I can nearly promise a show with MIP, pegged against the hot tub fence. MPO is gorgeous, but usually finishes the flush near the beginning of June. New Dawn should be all over itself, we allow this rose to be a jungle over the shed, and hopefully on and on. Fingers crossed! Just tell me where/when and maybe I can get a group formed, we'll see if timing permits. Spring is great!

Hi Susan -

You were much luckier with your teas than I was - I lost 1/2 completely, 1/4 died back to the ground and I'm keeping my fingers crossed. The survivors did well, though: Mrs BR Cant and Mlle Franziska Kruger (4' after pruning), Maman Cochet, Marie van Houtte, Marie d'Orleans, Perle des Jardins (3' or so).

Looking forward to your glorious photos.

George

PS Still working on the logistics for June.

Susan,

So good to see you back. I pour over your rose pictures during the winter months to keep myself sane.

We got hit with the late freeze here in SC and it seems many of us will not get a spring flush. Strange weather we had this year!

Glad you are back...I sure missed your posts and sage advice. Do stay with us!!!

Ronda

George, that's very interesting information, and, of course, I'm really sorry you lost so many. I wonder why? A good number of my Teas are in a raised bed that is either against the house or 3' in front of the house in that same bed on a western exposure. I don't understand how 3' from the house wall could be "protected". Do you have any reason yours were lost? Could it have to do with wind or location? I didn't lose any Teas or any significant dieback in my Teas. Some of yours are a year or two behind mine, and I will say, for the first couple of years, they DID die back quite a bit, to the ground, but I thought your timing was beyond that initial young period. I don't think I get much wind at all in that spot, maybe that is a factor.

Ronda...thanks for the compliment, good to see you. I'm very sorry to hear about that late freeze. Not getting a spring flush? I don't know what I'd do. It's the life of a gardener, but it sure is hard to just say that. That's a huge deal. I'm very sorry to all who have had losses.