Rita hoping for the best with all of your lovely roses, they may surprise you since your spring is delayed. I sure can understand about you not wanting to dig up dead ones and replanting it takes a lot of energy, plus your pruning and spraying them must also take lots of energy. I know I couldn't keep with that many, the roses that are here are all very hardy growing on their own root systems.

I was listening to the weather today and they said we actually had nine inches of snow, no wonder it seemed like a lot. They are talking about more tomorrow night I am hoping that misses us.

I do have many roses that are own root. I don't worry about them. They will be fine. But even my grafted ones are always planted deeply to encourage them to grow roots above the bud union graft. Plus the fact that the graft is buried makes the roses much more hardy. Leave the graft above ground and the rose dies over the winter.

But if the winter is bad enough, like this February, I can loose them even though I plant deeply and they have been here established for years. We will soon see.

Rita, I hope your roses make it. I had two die because of the drought. They were scrawny to begin with, though. They were the kind that spent more energy putting out suckers than growing the legitimate plant.

Kelli said:Rita, I hope your roses make it. I had two die because of the drought. They were scrawny to begin with, though. They were the kind that spent more energy putting out suckers than growing the legitimate plant.

Roses do like a lot of water! Not a problem here but they don't want dry roots at all. Least not during growing season.

That is very interesting Rita, about how you plant your roses. I only have about a half dozen so I certainly don't have your knowledge with growing grafted roses. This year I can see where the rabbits were nibbling on them (how they manage to eat around the thorns is beyond me) so I will have to do some pruning after they leaf out.

Buying roses locally one is almost always going to get a grafted rose. And mail order own root roses usually arrive as tiny things, maybe 6 inch twigs. But they do grow quickly. By the second year the same size as the grafted and after that they are actually better as winter is never gonna do them in.

I have a beautiful rose bush at our house in Utah that seemed to do better during really bad winters. It did occasionally get branches broken, from the snow, but it always survived. One year, during a somewhat mild winter, I thought I had lost it, but it came back better than ever. It always surprised me that it survived!

We're still getting rain, and it is a muddy mess here! We went over 9 inches for the year tonight. That isn't counting the snow that we've had, which was very wet snow. I would love to have some dry weather, so that the water can soak into the ground, but I'm not going to complain. I know we are very lucky to get the rain. I just checked the weather report, and snow is on the way after midnight, but it is supposed to stay above 3,000 feet. So, no snow for me!

Well this article is not very cheerful. Apparently the Californian drought and the extreme cold in the east are related, quote: “So if you believe some of these scenarios about drought being far more common in the West (in the long term), then the downside to that is the East, with more cold air in winter, Stewart said." The explanation of why and how is in the article:
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/...

On a more cheerful note from another newspaper, spring at Keukenhof:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tra...

Last winter I thought I had lost my climbing rose. It was in bad shape. We pruned a lot of the dead off and it eventually came back. This winter it looks like I may have lost my Hellebores. They are usually hardy so I am surprised about that. Hopefully they are still only sleeping and once the weather warms up they will be back.

We got about three inches of snow yesterday with rain expected later on this evening. The snow was welcome on my part because the garden was looking a little dry. I have shoveled some of the snow on the garden by the driveway to increase the moisture potential when it start to melt. Anything to cut down on watering in the early spring is welcome . Going up to 38°f today with a high of 53°f expected tomorrow.

Betty, what kind of roses do you grow that will come back in Minn. Rugosa is about it here. I have heard that Buck roses are quite tough also.

It is a beautiful sunny day here and is supposed to reach the 70s. They are calling for rain tomorrow and because we have to go out for appointments, I suppose it will indeed rain. Our neighbors tell us that we have had a lot of rain and they aren't looking forward to more. I wish we could send some out west as they need it badly.

Mary, I have had my roses for many years my favorite is John Cabot climbing rose it is very hardy seems to me it is a Canadian Explorer series rose. I also grow pink gootendorst also very hardy although it has lots of thorns so I have to be very careful when pruning, I love the small clusters of flowers with their slightly fringed edges. Trying to remember some of my others Bonica is one I can remember the name. Others are some of the Morden series, also the Parkland series (I think both of these series are Canadian) and those developed by the University of Minnesota would be hardy here. You could also check out the Minnesota Rose Society. Any of these roses should be hardy in your zone, not sure how they would do in your winters.

I purchasesd my roses at the Minnesota Aboretum annual sale at which local growers provide the plants. I haven't been there in a number of years as my garden no longer needs the wide variety of plants they offer. Writing about it is making me consider going this year. Anyone who gets the chance to visit our Minnesota Landscape Aboretum it has acres to enjoy.

sooby said:Well this article is not very cheerful. Apparently the Californian drought and the extreme cold in the east are related, quote: “So if you believe some of these scenarios about drought being far more common in the West (in the long term), then the downside to that is the East, with more cold air in winter, Stewart said." The explanation of why and how is in the article:
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/...

That is very interesting (if depressing!) article. Not much hope for things changing any time soon!

They are calling for a high of 80F. No rain in the forecast. I think the rain is done for the year.

Kelli said:They are calling for a high of 80F. No rain in the forecast. I think the rain is done for the year.

Beautiful day today with highs in the 70s with no wind until the front came.
Calling for severe weather tomorrow with up to baseball size hail and a few tornadoes.
Spring is definitely here, but who knows it could snow next week!
Lows in the 30s then it warms back up later ths week.

Stay safe kid! That is scary!

Oh that IS scary kid!

kidfishing said:Beautiful day today with highs in the 70s with no wind until the front came.
Calling for severe weather tomorrow with up to baseball size hail and a few tornadoes.
Spring is definitely here, but who knows it could snow next week!
Lows in the 30s then it warms back up later ths week.

Oh no. Please stay safe!