Gardening in March

Good weather in March in the Pacific Northwest gets most gardeners into the yards for the first time in months. Two weeks ago, we (my husband) and I tackled a couple of BIG pruning jobs---an old shrub rose, rosa gardenia, and clemetis montana. The rose had grown into a pile of old canes 12' in diameter and 10' high. Most of the underneath canes were dead, but impossible to reach once new growth started, so now was a good time to get the bush thinned out. The clemetis has spent 10 years growing up over a trellis, across our deck roof and scaling a corner of the house. Before it began to pry ths shingles loose, we knew it needed to come off. I checked out some good pruning books on Friday. Saturday morning we collected our tools and began. By Sunday evening, the job was done.