Rita,
Then there are some of us who would not mind having a slightly less *eventful* life.
Our cold blast is coming in tonight, so yesterday I scrambled and planted as many of the new bareroots as possible. Whew did I ever dig a lot of big big holes. The plants from Palatine were HUGE but the ones from Pickering didn't take long at all...little holes, flexible little roots, easy. Sad I also planted a few trees and shrubs, and even those went in faster than the Palatine roses.
What didn't get planted may have to winter in the garage.
To use Toni's phrase, I mulched the snot out of the roses after planting. Five tractor buckets full, and I had only covered the newly planted ones. My mulch pile from early this summer was just starting to decompose, and the center of it was frozen!
I intended to mulch other beds today, but real work got in the way. If we have a solid week of single temps, I may have problems planting my bulbs!
I've always been able to plant clear into January but this year is just strange.
Already we're back to zone 6 temps. I'm a little worried about all those nice green canes on the roses. Most of them still have green leaves. The ones from Canada were dormant for sure--Palatine's had green canes, Pickering had brown canes.....
I tried to attach a photo but once again it disappeared into the depths of my computer. Sigh. Tomorrow I pick up the new computer so maybe it will be easier to handle.
Toni, your soup and snow sound positively cozy!