What a funny month October is! Last year by this time, we were well on the way towards winter here in north central Connecticut. This year, on October 24, we haven’t even had a frost yet! The days, of course, have gotten a lot shorter, as always, but the roses in my garden are still blooming beautifully. ‘Colette,’ my big peach-colored fragrant climber on the east side of my back porch is a mountainous rose, and she is getting ready to climb onto the roof. ‘Sally Holmes,’ a peach-to-white single rose that blooms in clusters the size of soccer balls is getting ready to go over the garage roof! Most of my hybrid teas are 10′ tall or more and are still getting some nice blooms despite all the rain we have been having.

Rain has been the story around here for most of this year. We had hot and sunny weather for June and July (thankfully), but our spring was a washout and our rain has come in feet not inches since the first of August. At least my water bill hasn’t been out of control this year like it was last summer! But still, it would be nice to see the sun for more than a day at a time.

Quiet Time

October is a quiet time in the rose garden. I have finished my spray program for the year, and I leave some blooms on the plants to spend themselves naturally instead of deadheading. This way, the plants can form some hips which is what they were destined to do…and then they will ease themselves into the upcoming winter by sliding into dormancy. We don’t want to do anything to promote growth this time of year, so we won’t do any kind of pruning until our roses have achieved their dormant state. This doesn’t mean you can’t cut some blooms for your table or to give away; just make sure you leave a few to set seeds to help your plants get the message that it’s time to go to sleep.

The weathermen say that the chilly weather will arrive by this weekend. I am taking a wait-and-see attitude. I’m actually looking forward to crisp days. The yellow leaves are falling from the trees on the breeze today, and it really smells like autumn outside. It’s time for fall house cleaning, and next month we’ll talk about fall garden cleaning when we put our roses to bed for the winter. Till then…take some extra time to smell those fragrant fall roses!