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Worried about wimpy winter
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Posted by
zaphod42 SE WI 5b (
My Page) on
Mon, Feb 6, 12 at 9:35
| This has been one of the weirdest winters I can remember. We've had a week in the forties (a day that hit 54 even!...in Wisconsin!...in February!) The whole winter has been something from the Twilight Zone. Very little snow. I've got none on the ground. Just a few days that may have tipped below zero. (I guess it it kind of a 6b winter so far.) Anyway, I did throw some dirt mounds on my roses in the late fall for winter protection (not all, just the newer ones and more sensitive ones.) Are there dangers in unseasonably warm winters? If so, can I do anything additional to aid my plants? What about perennials? Are there any that might be lost if a winter is not cold enough for long enough? Thanks! |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Worried about wimpy winter
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| I am having the same issue here. No real snow, very few really cold days. I am afraid we are going to finally get some real cold and everything is going to die if it is breaking out of dormancy because of the lack of cold. I have heard some people have had tulips try to come up. We have absolutely no snow for insulation, just the dirt I piled. I don't have any suggestions, hopefully someone will... |
RE: Worried about wimpy winter
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| Yes, we know all about these mild winters in Connecticut. It is quite common to get a warm up, which causes a dormancy break, then a return to winter that kills the new growth. The best course of action is is leave a lot of cane on the plant--roses exhibit apical dominance--the growth is at the top of the plant--leaves the lower plant bare and the buds dormant. This is GOOD--when spring finally arrives the bottom of the plant will put out new growth. |
RE: Worried about wimpy winter
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- Posted by seil z6 MI (My Page) on
Mon, Feb 6, 12 at 14:50
| Same things going on here too. And I totally agree with Zack. This kind of weather is exactly why I tell people NOT to prune their roses DOWN in the FALL! You are always going to lose a little to winter die back no matter what type of winter it is. If you cut them way down in the fall (like to put those ghastly cones on) you have nothing left to lose and will be starting out with stumps by spring. Leave them tall and you'll have a lot more to work with come spring and the rose will tell you haw far down it needs to be cut. I'm hearing a lot of people talking about taking off their winter protection already too. I'm not. Yes, it's pretty damp out there and there's always a chance of getting cane cankers but the freeze and thaw cycle is far more deadly and a more likely threat than the cnaker is for me. I'll take my chances. |
RE: Worried about wimpy winter
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| My roses are all leafing out at present. The whole bed is going to be in full leaf in a weak or two. Our daffodils and tulips are all up and the forsythia even look to be ready to go. This is 4-6 weeks earlier than usual. Unprecedented for this area... I was contemplating purchase of some of that FreezePruf stuff to spray on the new leaves/growth on a few of the plants, to see whether it offers any protection to new growth against the freezes they are sure to experience between now and May 15 frost date. It is supposed to give them an added 4-5 degrees cold tolerance, which could make a difference. It would be a small scale experiment for me--usually I just let them die-back when we have unseasonably warm followed by freezing temps. If I don't get to doing that experiment, it will just be the usual approach of expecting them to grow out, die back, start over once or twice before spring is really here. I hate that , because it really reduces the blooms I get in a season when they enter growing season weakened from several false starts. But I do as Seil says and leave all of the cane on the plant over-winter, so that even if they die back twice or three times there is still something left to prune come actual spring. |
RE: Worried about wimpy winter
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| It's been the same here- a very mild January. The roses are growing and a few are even starting to bloom- about a month and a half too early. I fear a freeze could really damage the new growth. Even citrus have broken dormancy- not good. |
RE: Worried about wimpy winter
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You folks have my sympathy. Until two weeks ago here in Italy we were having an extremely warm, dry, and sunny winter too. Then we abruptly got record cold and a mountain of snow, as if all our winter were concentrating itself in a few weeks of late January and February. On the whole I prefer the current situation (though I wish a larger portion of that massive snowfall had arrived in our area), partly because I don't have to drive, of course, but we really needed the precipitation and the cold.
You can't do much about the weather. But you folks may still get winter, and I hope you do, and that it doesn't arrive after everything has started to bud out. And, as I'm learning with every passing year, gardeners after a smashing blow sooner or later pick themselves up, clear away the worst of the mess, and start planting.
Good luck!
Melissa |
RE: Worried about wimpy winter
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| My worries are the hundreds of roses I store in my garage that I noticed this weekend were really plumping up and budding out. I sure can't move all these out yet and I expect sometime we will get some cold weather, but heck, it's barely below freezing even at night. Sure would hate to lose all last years cuttings, but not sure what I can do to stop growth. |
RE: Worried about wimpy winter
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- Posted by seil z6b MI (My Page) on
Tue, Feb 7, 12 at 11:02
| Oh, Mike, yikes! The only thing I can think of are putting lights up and just letting them grow until it's warm enough outside to move them. At least that way you won't get that icky and useless white growth on them. I think I need to go check my Baby Blanket tree rose out in the shed....I didn't even think about how it might be growing in there too! |
RE: Worried about wimpy winter
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- Posted by seil z6b MI (My Page) on
Mon, Feb 13, 12 at 13:15
| I checked on my tree rose in the shed today. Happily I found the canes look very green but there was no new growth showing. I'm very relieved. I put the wraps back on it and will let it go for at least another month before I think about taking it out. |
RE: Worried about wimpy winter
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| If we don't get some colder weather the bug problem will be huge - we need those freezes! I have spring blooming trees, and can't count how many times they just start breaking bloom and a good freeze comes along to finish that... Good ole Mother Nature! |
RE: Worried about wimpy winter
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| We have the same phenomenon in the greater part of Sweden, so weird. No snow to speak of until a couple of weeks ago when we had not quite 2 inches, not enough at all as snow cover for tender roses. We have been promised another 2 inches soon but that won't be nearly enough. Nights are cold, days are warm and sunny. I normally heap up earth on newly planted roses only so I fear the worst for the rest of them. |
RE: Worried about wimpy winter
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| ya i agree,winter this time is sucking with unexpected changes , no idea about climate the next day......same is the problem with me ohhhh my roses!! |
RE: Worried about wimpy winter
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We got a dusting of snow last night.
It has been real dry in Iowa. The ground around our ninebark bushes is cracked from drought. I even watered my multiflora rose pot with the cuttings for rootstock. That is dry!
F.L.
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