Here is a question for my fellow northern gardeners. When do you stop fertilizing or adding composted manure to your roses? That's the type of manure that you can buy at garden centers.

I have got five bags of composted manure that are sitting below the stairs. Is it too late to spread the manure around the roses? They have at least 6 weeks of growth before the first frost.

I protect my roses every year after the first frost (usually the end of November or even mid-December,) but I stop adding fertilizer or manure in early September. I have never try to fertilize in the fall. Shall I kill the roses if I add manure now? Will they have enough time to slow down before the winter comes? Please advise.

I stopped fertilizing last week. And before the coming frost for my zone, I follow Palatine's winterizing advice - see video.
https://palatineroses.com/rose...
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I stop feeding when I see geese flying. Technically, I stopped feeding this year in May because I was too ill to do anything this summer. And my yard shows the neglect. It's horrible.

I spread manure two weeks ago; that was the second week of September. I had spoken with a local horticulturalist and she told me it was not too late, not at all. Now we can wait to see if the late feeding will make any difference for the fall blooms or overwintering.

Toni, I know how you feel. I was sick for several years and it it was really difficult to maintain the garden. Fortunately, my garden has been designed to look a bit unruly, so many people taught that it was just the design. Hope you are feeling better these days.

I will keep an eye on geese this year. I dont' remember if they usually migrate before or after the first frost.

I'm just now starting to see geese. They're running almost 2 months behind. I usually start seeing them in late late July / early August. But everything's running late this year.

My yard looks like a "cottage garden" as many people have put it. I equate that to a disaster zone. The bindweed won this year. Everything's I've tried as far as an herbicide doesn't seem to work. Pulling doesn't work either.. I pull one & 50 more seem to pop up. And weedblock definitely doesn't seem to stop this horrific pest, either.

I haven't seen geese yet.

My garden is a kind of natural, so I don't have a problem with weeds. The native plants can stand their ground. For example, my main groundcover are violets, and they can cover everything. Several types of goldenrods are in full bloom, including a tall Silverrod that is loved by bees.

This year started well for roses; we had lots of rain in the spring and the roses were blooming as crazy in June. Then the weather became very hot and dry, so the flowers got small. I tried to water as much as I could, but I was so busy with other things that I couldn't take care of the garden. Now the roses are recovering. There are fewer flowers than usual, but, hopefully, they will have one more good round before the first frost.

My clematises had a good year though. There were even one or two flowers on the Polich Spirit (type 3) in September. The Sweet Autum Clematis was in full bloom for several weeks and almost covered the entrance door. I had to tie it back.