What do your roses mean to you? (and when should we prune?)

When is the best time to prune your roses?! My mother says Spring and my grandpa says Fall. I am undecided on when to prune and undecided on where my love of roses came from. It could be from my grandpa who loves gardening and plants a new rose bush for every special occasion. He prunes his roses back until they are about 3.5ft high and by the end of the next summer they are 8 and 9 feet tall. My grandpa's green thumb is quite inspiring!
Or, my love of roses could stem from my grandmother's love of cut flowers. For as long as I can remember her table has always had a vase full of Black-eyed susans, irises, or roses cut from her garden. My grandparents really do compliment eachother well. I wonder if this is the secret to their 54 years of marriage.

Your growing zone and plant type make a difference when deciding when to prune. Here in Idaho we are in zone 5. Our climate is on the colder side. I have pruned both in the Fall and in the Spring and I have had mixed results. I have 14 rose bushes this year. I had 4 go back to being wild. I'm pretty sure that I will pull them up and start again with hybrids. Last Thursday it was a nice 55 degrees outside so I pruned my roses. They already had about a half inch growth on them. I cut down to just before the first node. I made sure my tools were sharp and the cut was clean.

As I take care of my roses I'll think of my caring grandpa. When I'm sitting at the table enjoying the warmth the cut roses bring to my home I'll think of my loving grandma.

So, we'll see how this goes! I will keep you informed on the progress of my roses.

Happy birthday Tony cake!

They ate it all and wanted more!
Last night was my boyfriend's (Tony) birthday party. I was a little anxious to bake a cake for 25 people that I didn't know very well. After spending all day baking, I was very pleased when Tony loved his cake.
Here's what I did.
I started with Duncan Hines boxed Devil's food. Then I added a box of vanilla pudding mix to the cake's dry ingredients (a secret my grandma Virginia taught me). I followed the Duncan Hines directions to make the rest of the cake. I baked two layers and let them cool before layering them. I chilled the cake in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. One tip to smooth frosting is making sure that the cake temperature is colder than the frosting. I then continued to use just a little over 2 containers of chocolate frosting to cover the cake. I finished it off with the letters TONY that I had made earlier out of melted candy chocolate wafers. It was fairly painless and a huge success!
The best part is when people are asking you what your secret ingredient is!
Happy Baking

Friday's Favorite Find

Have to have these!!

Are these the cutest sparkle birds you've ever seen?!

(A bird-lover like myself might use them as a cake topper ;) )

You can find them at http://www.goldbugstudio.com/ they go for $12.95 each.

still just a chick

So, although March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, I am just picking up speed.

This is my first blog. I honestly feel like the new kid in school, a little vulnerable. I am looking forward to writing about subjects intimate to me like, gardening, party planning, & decorating.

Enjoying uncontrolled change is a new skill for me. I have come to the decision that I am going to roll with the punches and be happy wherever I am at. Change can be a challenge, and challenges can become addicting. The desire to overcome and see what I am made of has recently been stirred. I have found that the time between being stretched as a person and recognizing the opportunity for growth is much shorter. With this new momentum, I develop my own blog. Of course the whole time I am writing I can hear my mother's voice in my ear. When I was younger it was, "17 year olds always think they know everything." Now it's, "30 year olds think they know more than everyone," and I suppose later it will be, " Those 50 year olds think they know all about life." I realize that as a "30 year old" I can only know what I've lived long enough to learn. So I hope as I share with you all that excites me, you understand that I believe that I know more than everyone younger than me, but not nearly as much as my mom knows. :)

Welcome to The Bluebird- a collage of things that make me happy that, hopefully, will make you happy too.