Breaking Dormancy

The roses have begun to break their dormancy. Over a warmer winter, some varieties might keep some of their leaves all the way through, but this year there were bare canes on every variety at pruning time.

I didn't notice the aphids on this one until I looked at the picture later. I'm not too concerned about them, because hot on the heels of the aphids we'll start seeing green lacewings, ladybeetles, soldier beetles, blister beetles, and hoverflies. Soon after we start seeing them, they'll start seeing the aphids, and then, as if by magic, we'll start seeing fewer aphids.

For the sake of record keeping, I'll note down that the roses broke dormancy on March 14, which happily coincided with the arrival of more roses:

Bare root roses (which these are) arrive without any soil on the roots, and they need to be planted early in the season in order to thrive. In this context, "early in the season" means " within a month of breaking dormancy."