Well Toni, you almost made it to October. Do you get an Indian summer there, or just zip right into fall?
Here, this is the sweetest time of year. The grass is green again, daylilies send up new leaves, and the roses put on a decent show.
I'm still planting roses from mamajack's chamblee coop. It may not have been the wisest move, getting bare-rooted, actively growing roses mailed to me while it is still hot in Texas. One box was held up an extra day, and of course it was the box with the bigger roses, so they were noticeably stressed while the smaller ones were fine. When I buy them potted from Chamblee, they break in transit, but they don't wilt.
Winds are roaring here today, so I don't know if mulch will even stay around the newly planted ones.
My youngest daughter is driving back here from Colorado today and weather channel says western Kansas has a TorCon index of 3, meaning she will be driving through some rough storms, possibly tornadoes. She drove out there last Monday and had to sit and wait out a windstorm for several hours while I-70 was closed. She just left, so she'll be in the thick of it.
Have any of you ordered maiden roses from Wisconsin Roses? Did you have trouble getting them to grow? Palatine is shipping my order this November on their first ship date because our falls have been so mild the past few years. Since Palatine roses are so sturdy to begin with, I'm not worried about early freezes.
Wisconsin suggested I take delivery in April, so I agreed, but April is one crazy mother here. Should i grow them in pots for the first few months? June is sometimes very hot and windy, so the goal is to get everything in the ground by middle of May. It the maidens are in pots, at least i can move them inside if we get a late freeze. These roses were budded this summer, and they'll be heeled in all winter in Wisconsin so I'm hoping they'll be somewhat hardened off. Any advice for proper care? Steven from WiR has videos and instructions on the website, but my concerns are more about dealing with climate.
