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cactusjoe1

A Shropshire Lad, the Snow and Me

cactusjoe1
15 years ago

We have just emerged from the greates dump of snow since 1964 here in Metro Vancouver, BC. It started on the 23rd December, and did not end till 6-7th January. It's one of the rare "Canadian Nationwide White Christmas", when the whole of Canada was whited out. This was on top of record low temperatures over the week before the snow arrived. For the roses, the snow was probably heaven sent. But it will be interesting to see who made it and who didn't come spring. I bet casualty is going to be heavy.

A Shropshire Lad, in better times

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What a sorry sight, Christmas Eve 2008

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It's official, it is 48 inches! As of 5th January.

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Comments (11)

  • alameda/zone 8/East Texas
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    And to think I am whining about temps falling to 28 in the next day or so......That is a fabulous photo! Does it bloom like that all the time or is that the spring flush? That photo sure would temp me to get that rose.......
    Judith

  • pauline-vi-8
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Cactus Joe, that is an awesome picture. Thank God for the thaw, huh! My daughter lives in Tsawwassen where we were going to get the ferry to on Christmas morning for a couple of nights. She called us on the 23rd and said come today, cos you will never get out, so we practically dropped everything, packed up and went over and we are glad we did.
    I am curious if you recieved the note I sent to you via HMF? One just does not know if they always work when sending from sites. Anyhow, I have it copied somewhere, and now I will resend from this site. heehee!
    Please let me know if you receive it, thanks.
    Pauline

    Here is a link that might be useful: roses blog

  • katefisher
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    A picture paints a thousand words doesn't it? I thought your first and second photos were beautiful. That third one was a little over the top:) We are having unseasonably warm weather here in Northern California right now so the snow is melting quickly. Hope yours goes away at a reasonable speed with the minimum of rose fatalities.

    Kate

  • trospero
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Joe,
    'A Shropshire Lad' has proven to be perfectly hardy right to the tips in my garden when exposed to four or more nights in a row of temps as low as 10F. I seriously doubt it will be harmed by the low temps. Breakage from the weight of the snow may be another matter, however. :-/

  • carla17
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Beautiful rose bush Joe. That is quite a haul of snow!

    Carla

  • the_bustopher z6 MO
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Your rose is quite beautiful. I don't grow that one, but it sure looks nice. Does it smell good?

    As to the snow, don't complain to loudly. We haven't had much here at all this winter. We have had only a trace of precipitation this month. The temperatures here have been up and down like a bad roller coaster, and without adequate moisture in the soil to form an impenetrable ice barrier against the cold, the plants' roots could be frozen and killed if it freezes too hard. Snow is a great insulator. I doubt that you will have much lasting damage other than maybe a few broken stems.

  • aprilscott12
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    OHHHH MYYYY!!!! That rose is GORGEOUS!!! And so is the snow!!! Would love to have some of it come our way but maybe not QUITE that much! Supposed to be 12 degrees here Thursday night! BRRRR.
    April

  • carolfm
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I have always been in awe of your beautiful specimen of ASL. Not so much your snow.....Snow flurries that barely coat the ground are more my speed.

    Carol

  • bethnorcal9
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Wowsers, man!! There's some weird weather going on this winter, all over the place! I can't even imagine snow that deep!! And now the north is getting record lows in the minus double digits! Yikes!! So I suppose Al Gore is gonna tell us this is all part of the universal hoax known as "Global Warming?" I hope your roses do ok thru this. Yours, and all the others who are suffering thru this giant freeze! We here, on the other hand, are enjoying a major teaser of warm spring-like 70+ for several days. I hate it because I know we're not done with Old Man Winter. I only hope this doesn't cause unusually early budding on our nut and fruit crops here in CA.

    Stay safe and warm Joe!!! That SHROPSHIRE LAD is gorgeous!!

  • karl_bapst_rosenut
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Cane death may be bad but you might be surprised how well they fare under all that snow.
    A bit of advice from lessons learned over the years. Don't be in a big rush to declare a rose dead this spring.
    By allowing a little extra time, I've had many a rose that appeared dead, come back. Often when removing a bush that I thought had succumbed to the cold, I'd discover growth below the soil level. I killed lots of roses over the years by not giving them enough time to recover.

  • cactusjoe1
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    A white Christmas is really beautiful and romantic, I agree. But after the 5th snow fall warning, the other inconveniences start to take their toll:
    1. I ran out of Advil for my aching back
    2. I had a near hard attack when I thought the roof of the greenhouse had caved in. Fortunately, it was just that the 12 inch layer of snow had slid off - which was a good thing.
    3. In the brief thaw of 27th December, we were driving through puddles as big as swimming pools.
    4. I hate, hate, hate, hate the guy who drives the snow plough through our little street. I believe he hides just around the corner of the block, observing, waiting till we have done a thoroughly good job of clearing the driveway. Then, he fires up his little demon of a machine, roams past our house and dumps those boulder sized, concrete hard, compacted snow back on the street side of the drive way, totally blocking it off. (At one point, I was browsing EBay looking for a spike strip, then it occurred to me that a snow blower would be a better and saner alternative.).
    5. I am absolutely irritated by neighbours who throw the snow back onto freshly ploughed streets.

    But there are a few fuzzy, warm thoughts
    1. The guy who drives the huge grader, contracted to clear snow off our neighbourhood. An excellent job, dude! But what is with this permanent big grin on your face? Now, that's a guy who loves what he is doing. And the closest I have ever gotten into that state of absolute joy was playing with Tonka trucks as a kid. Digger would probably comprehend.
    2. Our next door neighbour who shares the snow clearing job on the public pavement between the two properties.

    alameda
    I won't describe it as a continuous bloomer. It is very stingy and virtually a once bloomer in it's first 3 years (here is why I believe people give up too soon on this magnificent rose). This bush, planted as an own root in 1999 (I think)gives a heavy display in spring, goes through a lull in late August, then has a moderate flush in September till the frost bites. But it does have blooms at all times. And, no, can't detect any scent, Bustopher.

    Pauline,
    I haven't checked my e-mail accounts (except my work ones) for a while, and had been too busy lately to visit my regular on-line gardening haunts. I will check. Your property and garden look fantastic. Mine is nothing like that at all - more like a disorganised jungle.

    Trospero,
    I am not worried about any of my DA shrubs - they are proven survivors. It's the increasing number of HT's in my garden that I worry about.

    Beth,
    I keep complaining to my 18 year old son: "If there is global warming, give me warm weather so that I can grow bananas and durians and rambutans here in British Columbia, not this bone chilling cold" But he corrected me several times: "Dad, what you see is the localised effect called "climate change". Which in turn is secondary to "Global Warming"." I think I get the gest of what he is telling me, and now I am ever so slightly scared.

    Karl,
    I go by the rose version of Yogi Berra's "It ain't over till it's over", that is "It ain't dead till it's dead". That is, I am too timid to make a hasty decision - my definition of dead is "no signs of life by first of June". These days, I have own rooted container versions of my favorite roses around, should the original not pull through. And the container roses are sitting nice and comfy in a cold green house at zero degrees celsius.

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