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| I'm about to dig down my Jude the Obscure and Scepters D'Isle. Not exactly thrilled at the prospects but it can't be helped. I don't have my own yard and decided to not chance it on my balcony. I'm in z5 Chicago. The holes I have prepared are right next to the foundation of a house and in southern exposure. I probably won't be able to make it out there next time until after the first hard frost but plan on mulching well and bring burlap when I do. The pots are 5 gallon and I been watering them sporadically but deeply and the shrubs are defoliating but still throwing out the occasional blooms. I'll cover with mulch hoping it will retain whatever moisture available naturally and make sure they get a long soak today after planting them but is this going to be enough? Any tips or suggestions ? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| You might get some advice if you give us some information about where you are located. It matters! Jeri |
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| Jeri, I believe in the post it says z5 Chicago. Clemmielover, I would be wary of planting this late in the season. Young plants can be harmed by hard frosts, and die back to the ground not to return if their root system is not strong. If the roses are grafted and the top part dies, your rootstock could return too instead of the Austin. If own-root, I would wait. Jude takes a while to get establish. Mine took a good six months to really get his feet on the ground and off running. Josh |
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- Posted by Nippstress 5-Nebraska (My Page) on Thu, Oct 17, 13 at 22:40
| Some folks in cold zones say they plant roses at any time you can dig in the ground, since you can plant things like pine trees well through Thanksgiving if the ground isn't frozen. For me, if the idea is to make sure your rose survives the winter Josh is right that the planting now can disrupt a relatively young rose if it's marginally hardy in your zone because it tries to keep growing when planted, and fall is a time for roses to wind down once you start getting genuine cold weather. If they're still blooming, they haven't started to go dormant yet. You have three options that I can see - one is to plant them and mulch them now and hope for the best. Most of my Austins are pretty hardy in zone 5 (Scepter'd Isle more so than Jude but both OK) and a southern protected site may bring you another zone's worth of winter hardiness. Planting from 5 gallon pots means they're likely to be pretty well established, and those are the kinds of roses that survive late planting reasonably well. Another is to overwinter the pot on your balcony, and build a windbreak protection around it. You're right that this isn't an ideal solution either, since being in a pot reduces its winter hardiness about a zone (rule of thumb but it works for me). Austins can survive fine in an effective zone 4-5, but it's a little iffy that way too. Most folks that overwinter pots seem to do this in an unheated garage or shed, but I'm not good at that method. An in-between method would be to take the pots undisturbed and bury them in the holes you've prepared, then fill back in with the soil and mulch and protect as you've planned. That way the roots don't get disturbed this late, and you get the extra protection that the ground provides your roses. In the spring at your leisure, you can either recover the roses to your balcony, or plant them where they are without the pots while they're still dormant. I realize having many options may be tougher than getting one "correct" way to do this, but it's all what suits your style and risk tolerance. For other perspectives on this, you could check two threads still active in the first two pages of the Roses forum on GW. There's one by SouthCountryGuy called "still confused about winter protection" where he's sorting out multiple options for protecting pots and he gets more advice you could use. I also started a thread about "Basic Principles of winter protection in cold zones" where I map out my decision-making tips for choosing when to protect and what kinds of materials to use. Timing matters as well as location and materials - you can plant the roses (or pots) now, but don't protect till it gets consistently around 20 F. Hope this helps and doesn't confuse things more! Cynthia |
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- Posted by lavender_lass WA zone 4 (My Page) on Fri, Oct 18, 13 at 15:04
| I'm in eastern Washington and it's gotten down to 20 at night. I still have to plant roses this weekend (porch full of plants) but as long as the soil isn't frozen this is a great time to plant. It's cooler and easier for them to acclimate. Don't prune them, though since frost can get right to the root that way. Leave all that for spring. Just water them well the next few weeks and wait for snow :) |
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- Posted by Clemmielover 5 (My Page) on Sat, Oct 19, 13 at 22:43
| Hi guys, I'm going back and forward weighing the pros and cons of balcony vs. sinking in ground. If I sink them in the ground with the pot, how will it affect the water supply? The coolers sold at Walgreens made out of dense styrofoam came to mind but those are impossible to find this late in the season. |
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- Posted by meredith_e 7B Piedmont NC (My Page) on Sun, Oct 20, 13 at 2:09
| This may sound crazy, but I make houses for wild cats out of Rubbermaid containers with lids. In their case, I cut a hole in the side, but you'd obviously cut one on top :) Then I use cedar shavings (chips? The big bagged bales at Lowes, etc) to provide insulation. It stays really warm! The containers are easy enough to cut with a basic electric saw, like the small kind. It's really easy, and it might suit your purposes. You'd have to be the judge on that. For the record, we had a local 'possum decide to use one himself in the winter. Now that's an endorsement :D |
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- Posted by Nippstress 5-Nebraska (My Page) on Mon, Oct 21, 13 at 23:47
| If you go with the balcony option for your plants, you still want something that can breathe. Moisture getting stuck around your roses (outside of snow, which they love) is one of several reasons roses can die over the winter, and usually worse damage than the cold. I'd be really worried about using plastic garbage cans, even with the drainage holes, particularly with styrofoam peanuts that don't breathe either around the sides. What I'd do, if I were using the balcony option, is to cruise the neighborhood and find someone with a yard who's putting out those big bags filled with leaves. Ask them nicely if you can take some of those bags (and don't mind the crazy looks - just tell them you're a gardener and they'll back away slowly). Then push all your rose pots to an inside corner of the balcony next to the house, and set the leaf bags around the whole collection of pot like sentinels as a wind break. Use some of the extra leaves from bags to fluff around the sides of the pots, to insulate the pots a little better. If the leaves are a kind that don't mat down (like oak leaves) then you can continue to fluff some around the base of the rose. In this situation, this plan is free, and it doesn't involve any building. Then you let winter do its worst, and encourage snow to pile up inside this barrier to keep the plants dormant and provide nature's own winter protection. The top side of this barrier is open to the air for circulation and to allow the snow to accumulate. If you tried to cover anything over the top, the snow would just smash it all over your canes and break them,and it's too much trouble. I know, I know - it's still too many options, but think "natural materials" and I believe your roses would be happier. Cynthia |
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