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The Great Experiment
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Posted by
seil z6b MI (
My Page) on
Tue, Feb 18, 14 at 16:18
| The two chinas and the tea rose got more snow pack last night. I'm hoping it will help mitigate all the frigid sub zero temps we've had. Gee I'm getting tired of this... |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: The Great Experiment
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- Posted by seil z6b MI (My Page) on
Tue, Feb 18, 14 at 16:19
| Here's their little niche |
RE: The Great Experiment
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| Oooooo, a picture is worth a thousand words! At least snow is a good insulator. I managed to overwinter quite a few marginal plants in MN by piling leaves on them and letting the snow provide the rest of the protection. I've got all fingers crossed for the survival of your tender beauties. I do so understand why you desire tea roses. Sigh. I won't mention that I rather miss winters full of snow now that I live in soggy PDX. Carol |
RE: The Great Experiment
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| Now imagine all that snow pushed into a pile by the city snow plows right on top of your rose bed! I am so mad! And there's no point in calling them to have someone come out and remove it since the damage is done and the idiots would do even more damage removing it. Ad they can play dumb because several of the roses in that bed were plenty tall enough to be evident above the snow. |
RE: The Great Experiment
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| I'm pulling for you Seil! I really think your Chinas will make it! Duchesse de Brabant was looking sad for me all winter with our ice but the difference is that you have the snow insulation! Mine just sat in a pot exposed to the elements and frozen through on numerous occasions. So if mine can withstand dipping below its prescribed zone with no protection I'm sure yours will too! My cold-loving roses seems to be doing well so far. They're all budding out after dropping their leaves for the cold (thanks goodness). The Baboosic Rose is even throwing up a basal cane now. Josh |
RE: The Great Experiment
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- Posted by seil z6b MI (My Page) on
Tue, Feb 18, 14 at 21:54
| Thanks, Carol and Josh! Catsrose, don't despair. Just let the snow melt naturally and my bet is the roses underneath will be fine. We actually blow the snow from the patio on to the potted roses and it's never been any problem. I really helps in the early spring to even out the temps during freeze and thaw cycles. I also have a bed out by the street too that has had snow plowed on to it all winter. I'm not worried about it. It's just more insulation to protect them. |
RE: The Great Experiment
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| Catsrose, I commiserate about the snow plows. Here they put 4' of snow on a fire hydrant and there were other places to put it. If there had been a fire, firemen would never have known it was there. But now we are in a warming trend with a forecast of 60s on Thursday. It will be so good to see grass again. Cath |
RE: The Great Experiment
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| Roses are troopers...just like the gardeners that grow them! I had a great aunt who lived in Bay City, MI, back in General Motors' heyday. One winter the snow piled so high that she couldn't exit her house through the ground floor. She had to strap on skis and escape through an upstairs bedroom window! Her roses were fine, as I recall. I've always found that story encouraging during rough winters, sort of like Laura Ingalls Wilder's childhood tale of twisting straw into fuel for the fire. Snowplows in MN never buried my roses, but they submerged my car once! Carol |
RE: The Great Experiment
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| Oh, that looks really pretty (the snow) .....all we have is mud....and lots of it. |
RE: The Great Experiment
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- Posted by seil z6b MI (My Page) on
Wed, Feb 19, 14 at 17:05
| At least my snow isn't that high, Carol! Campanula, I'm rapidly joining you in mudville. We got up to 45 degrees today and everything is starting to melt. We have huge puddles of standing water everywhere because the ground is frozen solid and the street drains are still iced over so it has nowhere to go. I refuse to complain about the warmer temps though! |
RE: The Great Experiment
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| What do you keep in your mini-greenhouse over the winter? I have one too, but mine is empty now. |
RE: The Great Experiment
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- Posted by seil z6b MI (My Page) on
Thu, Feb 20, 14 at 14:48
| Monarda, the greenhouse has all of my small seedlings from last year's crop and some newly rooted cuttings I had done later in the season. I opened it yesterday because it was warm and sunny. The thermometer in there read 90 degrees even though it was only 45 outside. The first day we've had in weeks that was above freezing. Because we've had a bitter winter things didn't look too good in there. I watered everything inside and closed it back up. I think I may have lost a lot of roses this year. All I can do is wait and see now. |
RE: The Great Experiment
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| Catsrose, I am in a colder climate than you but I thought you might take heart with this story. In a little village near me, a lady has a rose garden right near the travelled road. Last winter, I noticed the huge snowbank piled on top of her roses and thought that they would surely be dead in the spring because of all the salt they put onto the roads. They in fact came up in great shape in the spring and were huge over summer and full of blooms all summer. They are tender roses like HT's etc. and I think the snow insulated them well in our cold climate and obviously salt etc. did not hurt them. They moved there recently and she says she has never had better roses and does "nothing to them". Good luck! |
RE: The Great Experiment
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| Seil, I believe I am in a zone very much like yours only I am in Ontario on the other side of Lake Michigan. I follow all of your messages on this forum and it really gives me heart to see what you have accomplished. I too am waiting and rooting for your roses this spring. |
RE: The Great Experiment
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- Posted by seil z6b MI (My Page) on
Sat, Feb 22, 14 at 12:08
| Thanks, Susanne! I agree with you about the snow piles. That street bed of mine gets all kinds of salt plowed on to it and I've had no problems with the roses in there. And the weight of the snow doesn't do any harm as long as you do not try to take it off but let it melt off on it's own. The only time I ever tried to "help" them out by cleaning them off I ended up breaking canes and doing more damage than the snow did. You just have to be very patient and let it do it naturally. |
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