We had a dry, warm and very windy day today. When I got home from work tonight I took a broom handle and lifted and shook the canes gently. It did help some, especially on the Champlain roses. The Morden Belle not as much. The MB canes are long and naturally arch downward. So that is not much help when trying to lift them. But the good news is the MB bushes are already throwing long new canes skyward which will help to fill in the "empty in the middle" look. So....not all is lost. Also lots of buds on the MB low canes and they are turning upward toward the sun. No time to deadhead tonight, but that is the plan for the weekend. Also lots of petals fell off when I shook the canes with the broom, so I think that helped too. I think you can see the new canes here and maybe some of the buds turning upward on the low canes. What this bush seems to do is throw long canes that then arch, then on the somewhat lateral/arched canes other shoots are again produced growing upward. Almost like pegging without having to peg the canes.

nhbabs, when I've seen them in my gardens doing the thrashing, it's more of a display.....'look at me, I'm bigger, tougher, stronger, and have the best genes'...in other words, beginning of mating season. I don't know if the does are impressed or not, we did have many fawns running through here, and still do now this month ;) I had just told DH earlier in the week that I hoped the bigger, heavier males weren't going to be hanging out here so much this year, we've taken out some larger things that gave them protection and some of their favorite foods too, like the ivy, laurel, blackberry. A three point walked across the front and through the island bed just yesterday, up the stairs (they do use the stairs) of the hillside, crossed the street to the neighbors apple tree.

In late fall, maybe the end of September here in zone 7, I now go through and trim all my iris flags/leaves back to about 5" while completely cleaning out the beds of all old iris debris and dead leaves. This is one of those essential steps in helping make sure you don't have iris borers the next year, as they lay eggs in late summer on iris debris and leaf tips. If you remove all of those things from your yard entirely, the likelihood of borers is reduced significantly. After having my iris attacked by borers badly a couple years ago, this spring everything is looking great, blooms everywhere, enjoying it immensely, and there has been no impact from cutting back just before winter sets in.

Tx. ahelaumakani. Unfortunately my kitchen sink (which is near the back door to the garden) doesn't have a normal faucet....only a hose...so I can't hook up a garden hose to it. I finally decided to try the basement sink, sending the hose out the back window and under the deck to the yard. But alas, it seems the small window in the basement has the kind of screen that doesn't pop out. So frustrating! So I finally sent a note to my LL, telling him that for years I've had to haul buckets, and couldn't he figure somethihng out for me so I can get water out back? We'll see what he says.... :-(