The Albas and Gallicas I have growing along the riverbank to our creek, may get some compost tea complete with liquid fish guts, if we are in an extended drought. Otherwise they fend for themselves. On the other plants I use Mills Magic even on Cuthbert Grant which has overgrown it's bounds. Perhaps it gets only 4' X 3' in Zone 3, but in Iowa it is real healthy. It may get put on a diet this year. It might as well join the Fat and Jolly Club. Foghorn

Spring is not slow this year, it's like it's suppose to be. The warm periods in early March of the past few years are not normal. We've gotten use to it and have come to expect it. The slowly increasing daily temperature averages are a good thing and are the way spring should arrive. This way the plants come out of dormancy slowly instead of quickly with a big growth spurt that can die in a late freeze. The longer we get into spring before it really warms up, the less chance we have that a late freeze will occur. Patience my dear, patience! Right now, I'm getting into the yard and just cutting back the winter dieback. I'll go out later and fine prune. I'm watching day and night temps and have brought all my potted roses out of the greenhouse to make room for other more tender plants. Temperatures as low as 28F will not harm them.

I often prune my William Baffin in July, after the big bloom, even though I do most of my other roses in April. We've taken as much as a trailer load of wood off it - it should do just fine. I make sure I water it well after the pruning. Here he is before pruning:

I finally got around to looking at it and it's fine and pumping out lots of new growth which is red. I guess the brown colour really threw me and two of the shoots seemed flaccid. (Maybe it was just the heat that caused it). When I touched the thorns and found them soft, I recalled what people here had been discussing with RRD and panicked! Many thanks for all the reassurance :) Linda