Good tip on the zip ties Mike and glad to find out how to train stiff canes!
Paul's cool!

My connection won't allow me to watch the video, at least not until I get a booster antennae.

I'm planning to bury one of my first year, border-line hardy Eden canes in the direction of my new rose arbor post, hoping that it will put down some extra roots along the way. The other cane is super stiff and totally vertical - all nine feet of it. Should I trim this cane for the winter or just tie it to the post? I'm expecting a lot of winter kill on this one.

Chelle: I defer to those more knowledgeable and more familiar with gardening in colder climates, but my inclination would be to (A) wait until you know the rose is dormant and prune back just to avoid having the canes whipping around in strong winds and (B) do more severe pruning come spring. Another alternative might be to secure the canes over the winter so they're not being punished by harsh winds as well.

I confess that in our warmer zone, I have been doing judicious pruning through the fall, but nothing severe. I leave that for spring cleanup.

Thanks Angie.
Normally I don't do any pruning right now either, I just tie the canes together to keep them from whipping around in the wind and tearing roots. This will be my first winter for climbers though, and I think Eden is just reliably hardy to one zone warmer than here. If I could get that stout cane down and buried I would, but it won't flex enough.
My initial thought was to just let this first year plant grow and do its own thing for one summer, and then start training it next spring. I probably should have worked with it more when it shot up seemingly overnight and was still a bit flexible.

I have quite a few long canes still blowing around my house, too, Chelle, so don't feel badly. My New Dawn rose is a mess, along with another one whose name has just flown my mind, a once-bloomer but lovely when it blooms. The canes are unbelievable and one looks like it's reverting to or morphing into a moss rose!

My New Dawn is growing the opposite direction from what I had in mind for it, right into and through some tall ornamental plume grass. I'll try to change its course in the spring.
I did manage to get Eden coaxed down to ground level and hopefully it will be fine for the winter.

I still need to get my trellis ready for winter. The bf is coming out next Thursday, so I will be stocking up at Lowe's . I need more peat moss to cover my roses. I want to get a few pieces of rebar to secure my trellis. I expect some grumbling about that.

Andi: He may grumble, but just make him a good dinner and he'll forget it in no time!

I am also making some homemade bread for him to snack on in the car. I plan to shape it in rolls to be easier to eat. I don't drive so he is driving me to a blood test, a dentist, a doctor and shopping. Tiring day. The poor guy has been busy taking care of his aging parents who have been in and out of the hospital lately.

Sounds like a keeper!

Andi - Your BF sounds wonderful! I wish I could get mine to help me dig the holes!!

And how are you & Chelle faring with the weather? I know from the news that y'all must be totally socked in and digging yourselves out. Us here.. with all my preparation for winter.. well, I'm wearing a 1/2 sleeve shirt, highwaters, black loafers, & no jacket. It'll be in the 60s today.. last night at 7:30 at night it was still 57. One of the driest winter seasons on record.. by this time we should have gotten at least 12" of snow. We've recorded almost 1.2 inches. Big woop. Watered almost all day Sunday.. if it's still in the 50s when I get home from work this evening I'll water the front yard (won't take as long as the back).

....As to what it's like here and what I've been up to - I'll post a copy of yesterday's garden notation.

Ready???

I received my (winter) rose order from Hortico today. The damp packing material was of course crispy crunchy....frozen. Fifteen degrees F. here with a wind chill of zero right now - I'm unsure how cold it got last night but I'd bet these plants were left on the truck at least for last night, maybe even more as they were in transit for six days. Plopped the whole frozen mess in a bucket of rain water I'd saved and brought inside for the houseplants and left them in a cold, but non-freezing area to thaw and get a drink.
Made up a pot of banana smoothies for roses, put some compost in the wheelbarrow and got to work prepping planting holes. Joy! The soil isn't frozen under its layer of mulched leaves!
Once the holes were dug deeply enough I mixed some of the removed soil with the compost in the wheelbarrow and made a hill in each hole. Went back in the house for my smoothies and added some of that to each of the holes, mixed it in and then carried two large buckets of water up to the gardens from the horse tank, (it's the only outside water I have available right now). I then retrieved the plants which by now had soaked in the water for about two hours and planted them....quickly!!!
Covered the whole mess up with a bunch of snow and began hoping for the best!

So now you know....I'm certifiable!!!

Forgot to add - I planted Chloris on the hillside and on the new rose arbor - Bobbie James and Nahema.

Chelle - Well, I can't say anything.. I've done nutsy things like that too in the middle of the dead of winter.. usually at night when I get off work! This year has been the pits for us & moisture.. it's SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO dry... I'll trade ya!!! Seriously! Everything's drying up. Had to add about 35 gals of water to my outdoor ponds as they were almost bone dry and that's almost the only source of constant water for a lot of my wild birdies when the birdbath in the front is frozen first thing in the morning.

Open this image up & look at the humidity level & dew point. This was taken just a few minutes ago.

Oh my word Toni! I don't think I've ever seen the like. I had heard that Y'all over that way enjoy drier winters, but that's wild!

Our little lake is still only about half full too - no way to fill it except from the heavens though. I've been using one of those electrically heated dog dishes with a perching "rock" in it for my birds in the winter. Works great! I just need to remember to fill it before it goes dry.

Good evening, Ladies. Just catching up here and reading your weather info. Here, we've been fluctuating between extremely cold and warmer than usual. One day is bitterly cold, the next shirtsleeve warm! Our forecast for Christmas Day is snow, possibly some accumulation. If it happens, it'll be our first white Christmas in ages!

Chelle, I loved your description of getting those roses in the ground. I have plants still in pots that I started in last winter's winter sowing, I have peonies that need division and now it will be next year before that gets done, I redid half a bed in the back during one of our few rainy spells this fall, then it got so dry I couldn't finish it and now it's too cold to work on it. Ah, the joys of gardening!

Angie,

Are you excited that you may have a white Christmas?

We had a warm spell today. It finally made it up to around the freezing mark and it was sunny so I'm pretty sure we had a little bit of snow melt which will surely be of benefit to those new roses.

I'm not so sure I'd know when peonies need dividing. I'm not much of a peony person, though I do enjoy them for the few days they look good. Our blooms tend to be prematurely destroyed by heavy rains.

It was impossible to plant anything here this summer as well - just way too dry.

You have no idea on dry. Seriously. This month, by this time, we should have seen 8 inches here in the Metro. We haven't even gotten an INCH. All Month. Now, in the mountains? They're measuring it up there in the feet per day. One town (Crested Butte) had gotten like 56" in the past week.. that's over 4' in 7 days.

Must be nice.

Christmas Day I'm planning on watering everything again. Makes the birdies happy because they can take bathes. I'm not going to lose all my roses & trees to the dryness.. not gonna!! Just checked the almanac.. we've received 0.01" of precipitation this month. BLEH!

Chelle: It was perfect! Started snowing around 6 PM on Christmas Day, snowed all night and into the day after. Here's what our house looked like Sunday morning:



We simply stayed in and enjoyed being isolated for a day! I loved it. And my great-granddaughter, Alexis, who lives with us and is 3 1/2, going on 18, was delighted to go outside and make snow angels!

Hope you had a wonderful day as well. Belated Merry Christmas!

How beautiful that is!

It sounds like Alexis had a blast in it! My son, (5 years) just adores it. It's hard to get him to come inside when he should at times! I'm glad you enjoyed a fine Christmas. Ours was great too.

We're supposed to have snow-melting rain near the end of the week so I may be scrambling to find something to cover those new roses with.

Toni,

Have you had any moisture from the sky yet?