A sudden hailstorm turned the garden all white this afternoon.

Yesterday I could no longer resist the sunny weather and starting pruning, beginning with our giant Märchenland that my wife has taken to calling our "cactus" due to its abundance of expansive prickly canes. That one alone took me over an hour. I continued with Roter Korsar, and then called it a day, fortunately, as it turned out, because unsurprisingly the sunny day was followed by a clear subzero night. Fortunately Märchenland is a Tantau rose and Roter Korsar a Kordes rose, so they are both at home in this climate and can probably tolerate a little night frost. Each year I swear next year I will wait for the Forsythia to blossom before I prune the roses .... and each next year I can no longer stand the waiting somewhere around late February when the days get longer and brighter. I should probably move to a milder climate.

The modern roses are beginning to open their flowers; first ones on White Gold and Postillion a couple of days ago, now Crépuscule and Sympathie. Also Single Red.

Again R. hugonis and Glory of Edzell were first, a couple of days ago, but some others won't be far behind it seems. The weather has turned very cool and windy though, preserving the flowers that are already open, but not exactly encouraging those that haven't opened yet ...