Pruning Roses It's the end of July, the middle of winter in Australia. It's the time to prune roses in the yard. My friend doesn't sound like a big fan of pruning. I haven't done that before. So I asked her to show me how to do it so I could help. The pruning was exciting, nervous and spikkkky!!! Here're the things I learned about pruning roses. First, find a bud that looks thriving in a low position of a brunch. Next, make a cut 1-2cm above the bud. Done! It doesn't sound hard, right? I like the click sound when I cut off a branch neatly with the gardening scissors. But, I got nervous when my friend pointed out some branches had died due to wrong pruning. Oh sugar, I realised there're literally half dead branches there. It felt like doing a surgery which is about dead and life! On the top of that, we don't have gardening gloves. I felt the roses are spiky everywhere in spite of the petals, and they are absolutely sharp. The back of my friend's hand was cut by the spikes and bleeding. She acted as if nothing has happened. Well...for me, I felt even more nervous seeing the blood (deep breath). Maybe I'm fussed but I do need a pair of gardening gloves! While I'm typing this down, I kept thinking about how amazing that people's tolerant level changes in different contexts. Finally, the work is done! Hope the bare branches grow strongly and happily. I put some roses in a jar and enjoy the beauty and fragrance of them. The winter here feels cold and long (especially when you don't have geothermal heating). It rains half of the month, but mainly showers. There's still some great sunlight during the day. I think it's a cracker of a city. I like to have some hot soups and drinks, covered by a blanket, snug and warm, and listen to the storm outside.