And I've been complaining about the deer nibbling a few leaves! Thanks for the reminder that those who are brave enough to grow roses in zone 5 have other things to deal with!

Jackie

I was overcome with fatigue just reading about all the things that have to be done in a cold climate. I'm spoiled rotten! I vastly admire people like you who persist in having roses in spite of all that extra work that needs to be done to enjoy their beauty.

Ingrid

The damage to Polareis was worse than I thought - what looked like dense overgrown middle was really many 2' - 3' canes, snapped from oldest canes at the base of the monster and dropped into the center as the loader scooped and dumped the snow. Now that P has broken dormancy and begun to leaf out, they were obvious. Obvious but really hard to get out. And while I was literally stuck in there, I also discovered many many canes that were leafing in a tuft, at the end of a 6' to 7'cane. Looking down low, about a foot from the crown, there are what looked like bud eyes. I whacked a lot of them down to that point. In the process, I was able to discriminate and remove some crossing canes. And then I pitched everything I cut off into the '86 Toyota shortbed, which was like last year overflowing, so did the tarp plus bungee cord thing and SLOWLY drove to the recycling center, like a giant blue marshmallow.
And I haven't even started on the Alba.....