Although the cold nights have not hit the metro area yet, the rains/winds have been typical of early November. The garden is finishing with the growth battered downward at an angle, the leaves from the Alders and Maples everywhere. The roses had reached skyward one last time in October and were slow to bud out. The last efforts at blooms seem lost until late Spring. Time to “cut them back a bit.” The cold temps are closer.

Rose Buds too late SB“Cut them back a bit” was a term my Dad used around the yard. It was a term my Mom didn’t care for because it usually meant a careless, overdone pruning. My wife knows of this familial term and enjoys using it against me when I supposedly over trim back the growth. Everyone’s a critic!