Winter

Usually the winters are full of indoor projects. At least it's been that way for the past three years. This year has been wonderfully warm, almost pretty outside. I'm not complaining, mind you, but just an observation. I've been able to be outside and walk more this year than the past three. This weekend so no exception.

I was outside wandering around the garden taking note of things that need done. The artemisia is ready to be brought down for the winter. For some reason I can never remember when to bring this down. I think I've done it in March and other times in October. Either way, it always appears the next spring to give me a low border hedge of soft blue.

While outside (I was outside wandering around the garden for three hours), I took an assessment of the roses. A week earlier or so I was out and checked them all. I have several that aren't really for my zone 6 garden and a few that are simply tender. I try to keep the more tender one on own-root stock since they seem stronger in the long run. A week or two earlier all were doing superbly. This weekend was a little different. We'd had a cold snap throughout the week and a rare thundersnow. The cold took it's toll on the roses. My more tender roses are now showing sign of suffering and some die back. This is normal for these roses. Several others will have to be purned back hard. My Peace rose is looking very sad and this makes me sad. The Peace rose with it's history has always been a strong grower in my garden. It if makes it through the winter and gives me any kind of decent growth, I'll be taking cuttings of it this year. Actually, I had been thinking over the past several years of doing just this with all my grafted roses. The own root roses are harder to get started, but in the long run are usually stronger and longer lived. My soil isn't as rich or loamy enough for my Julia's Rose but since this one is own root, it's been able to maintain and with a very good fertilizer, Mills Magic Mix, twice a year it's actually been able to improve.

One I have high hopes for is Lovely Lorrie. I had gotten two of these, one for my sister Lori and one for myself. I had gotten the one for sister first and realized soon after that this was one mighty strong little miniature and pretty to boot. I liked it so much, I decided to get one for myself. This rose, however, is very hard to get so I had to wait a year for mine. I planted it out with the other miniatures and of course, right away, Husband sprayed it with weed killer before realizing what it was. He immediately dug it up and washed it off with soap and water; all the leaves, roots; the entire plant before replanting it back into the ground. We've been holding our breath with this little one all year. When I looked at it this weekend, what tiny canes were visible above the mulch were not only plump and green but little pink buds were protuding from them. It certainly didn't grow much, but if there's life there's still a chance.

The rose I'm most worried about in my garden right now is Chrysler Imperial. I picked this one up at Wallmart for a whopping $2 late in the summer. I put it back in the garden nursery for the winter with my other roses that not yet have a home. Right now, it appears dead. The shock and stress of being in a pot and abused by a big box store may have been to much for it. I didn't pull the mulch back to check the bud union. If that is still alive, it could still grow back and even get pretty. Look at my Margaret Merrill. What a beauty now! Yet, it too, was a boxed rose from Wallmart that I paid a whole of $2 for. For years it was a one-cane wonder producing only a few flowers each year. Now it's one of the largest and most prolific shrubs in the garden. The fragrance of this rose is one of the most alluring and similar to the favorite fragrance of City of York.

So far I've ordered only three miniatures for this year. An old favorite I left behind when I sold my other house, X-Rated, a miniflora that is outstanding in the garden and a new variety called Sassy Cindy. I got two of these, one for sister Cindy and the other for myself. This one too, is a miniflora and I'm looking forward to seeing it. The color reminds me of my patio rose Snow Ruby but I'm hoping with larger flowers and slightly stonger canes. Snow Ruby is beautiful but doesn't appear to like this garden much. I've had a lot of trouble with it over the past four years. Yet it still returns every year.