According to WordPress, this is my one hundredth article. Yay.
Oops, I’m going to have to do something about the Knockout roses or they will bloom too early. The Rome, Georgia Junior Service League Garden Tour is scheduled for April 28. I’m in pretty good shape with getting things ready for the tour. On March 28, I took a walk through the garden to see if I was missing anything. I’m glad I did, too, because I noticed that the Knockout roses were covered with flower buds. I want these plants to be in bloom for the affair and it looked like the first flush of flowers would come too early.
I know from experience that these roses will put out a big flush of flowers and then rest before blooming again. I was afraid that this would mean no flowers for the tour. That just would not do. I thought about it for a while and then decided that it was time for what I call “No Guts, No Glory.”
No Guts No Glory means that if you think you need to do something, but are not quite sure, then you go ahead and do it and take a chance. This usually means that if your idea doesn’t work you are a piece of trash but if it does work you get to be a hero.
I decided to cut all of the flower buds from the roses and see if a fresh bloom will show up at just the right time. So we went through the yard and cut off every flower bud from every rose plant. Will it work? I sure do hope so. The buds were cut off exactly one month before the event. The plants now look like this:
As I walked around I noticed a couple of things going on that would be gone before the tour so I took a few pictures. Here’s something nice going on with a pieris at the back porch entrance:
And I loved this picture of a palmatum Japanese maple with azaleas and spirea in the background:
The front entrance looks well tended and inviting
Stay in touch. Will John the plant man get everything done in time? Will the roses bloom just at the last minute? We’ll see.
To read part one of this series, Click Here
For part two of the series, Click Here
To see a previous article about this lovely landscape garden, CLICK HERE
To read about Johntheplantman and the rednecks,
As usual, I would just love for you click here to go to Amazon and purchase the ebook edition of my wonderful book, Requiem for a Redneck to go on your Kindle. I have also noticed that Amazon now has a free Kindle app for iphones and tablets. Is that cool or what?
If you want a consultation in your yard in N.W. Georgia, send me an email at wherdepony@bellsouth.net
johntheplantman--Gardening 
John, I wouldn’t have the guts to cut off the rose buds, but I’m sure that’s the only thing you could do. Let me know if that works – not that I would ever do it!
It’s interesting to see the series; you do work miracles and it will be exciting to see the final project. I’m sorry people won’t see the dogwoods and other early spring blooms, but as you always tell me: you can’t be greedy.