Garden

[Kachina624]

I was out in the yard today and notice all my roses are putting out new growth due to the warm weather we've been having.  It's still about 6 weeks until our last average freeze.  @JustJazzmom  Do you think I should prune them now or wait awhile?  Doubt if I should fertilize them now. 

[Brooklynny]

@Kachina624,  I don't know what region you live in, but if it's a climate like NYC where I am, I wouldn't prune yet.  We hit 70 degrees yesterday, and it was 45 today.   We'll have snow squalls tomorrow.  (We had a very late April freeze last year.)  Go figure.  I have only one rose bush, "Julia Child," and I won't prune it until mid-April or thereabouts depending on the weather.  As for fertilizing, I've always heard that roses should be fertilized after they begin to leaf out and not before.

[Kachina624]

@Brooklynny  I'm in the Albuquerque area, more moderate than NYC but we do get some very cold weather, not like Arizona. 

[Sweetbay magnolia]

No definitive answer.

I have already pruned mine, as always when the leaf buds swell.  This is generally way ahead of a last frost date, in any given year.

This is a strange weather year.

[JustJazzmom]

Hold off, you may see more winter damage next month. Wait till end of month before starting pruning. Here in NE, we are starting to prune roses around St. Patrick's Day and it's only because we have about 90 roses and only so many people and limited time to do this. 

For my roses, I will probably start towards the end of the month -- only have about 23 of them.

[Kachina624]

@JustJazzmom  @Brooklynny  @Sweetbay magnolia  Thanks for your help.  I imagine the crazy weather has a lot of people scratching their heads wondering what to do. 

[just bee]

@Kachina624

It's definitely spring here in Albuquerque and all the usual suspects are out: Bradford pear, plum, globe willow, forsythia, robins, lizards and ants.

I've been here since 1995 and have learned to be patient no matter how warm and green it gets.  I still remember the day in late April when I planted dozens of flowers and then it snowed.

ETA:

I found some helpful gardening links.

http://www.abqmastergardeners.org/DTEcalendar/firstquartercal.pdf

https://www.abqjournal.com/homes/garden/27222529garden03-27-10.htm

http://aces.nmsu.edu/ces/yard/2007/101307.html

http://www.jerichonursery.com/albuquerque-garden-planting-calendar/

[Kachina624]

@just bee  Thanks for the references.  One to add to your list of suspects... Goatheads.  I already have some sprouting. 

[esmeraldagooch]

We pruned ours in Feb and now have blooms on some of the plants.  Spring is here.

[kathya1119]

@Kachina624, don't prune until all threat of a frost is past. Pruning tells your roses to wake up and start growing, and if you get a freeze, that tender new growth will die.

We live in North-Central Florida (we used to live in NJ, where our roses did extremely well -- then again, we had soil back home, not crappy sand that needs to be amended within an inch of its life. I think I've seen six earthworms in seven years -- whereas back home, I couldn't put a trowel into the garden beds without coming up with at least one). Our date to prune is Valentine's Day, but we had such a mild winter, my roses never stopped blooming. And around Valentine's Day, I was too sick to do anything in the garden, let alone prune the way my hybrid teas need to be pruned. Good thing -- last week, our temps went down into the high 20s. I'm still afraid to go into the back yard and look at my orange tree -- it had set fruit already. The peach tree (a variety soecially bred for Florida, which doesn't need as many hours of cold weather tp fruit as the varieties grown up north do) was loaded with tiny peaches, too.