Well, at least the narcissus and snowdrops are poking up through the frozen soil along my south foundation. Winter has lost its grip even though we'll still need a jacket and perhaps a muffler/scarf when going walkabout the gardens for a few more weeks. The granite garden bench I had set in the south garden bed is visible after more than two months of deep snow kept it from sight. I can finally walk the length of my path along the back of the garage to the gentle slope at the north boundary. It's dappled sun in that area so I've planted daphne, daylily, astilbe, hydrangea, bottle gentian, foxglove, weigela, turtlehead, and several hostas. The coreopsis does fine but the tall phlox will need to be moved this year to somewhere it gets more sun. Even with so many chores on the list, it's good to be thinking about the gardening season ahead rather than shoveling snow or throwing salt over the ice. The danger of a roof collapse is no longer a daily worry. Guess we made it though another one...

Ryan, I do believe About Face IS the name on this one! I'm glad you know your roses! The varieties have become a giant blur when it comes to names... I've looked at so many tags, planted so many roses this season... I can't remember them all. I have a huge tag making project coming up, so I'll be making a list of what we do have. I'll try to remember to share it. We bought a roll of aluminum roof flashing, a set of good tin snips, and we already have an electric engraver and a hole punch. I plan to cut my own tags, engrave them with each name, punch a hole at one end, and hang the tags so we have a permanent way to identify each rose. Plastic and wooden tags do not last more than one season here. As we are in zone 5, b to be exact, we have learned to avoid grafted roses. J&P are known for lovely, and expensive, mostly grafted roses. We've discovered that the way to go is own-root roses. These will actually survive one zone lower in temperature than their grafted counterparts, I'm told... with a little protection, of course. We've also discovered that it's better for us to buy roses that are grown/propagated in a climate similar to our own. Many rose growers and retailers seem to be located, or get their stock from, southern states... namely Texas. We've learned that there are many wonderful roses being bred specifically for growth by northern gardeners, and we're relishing this discovery! It's best if we avoid grafted, tea type, tree, and other types that prefer mild winters. Our collection includes Canadian, German, Iowa Buck, a few English, and many old fashioned hardy and species varieties. If a rose requires more than a good mulching, we don't want it. We have too much to do already, so having to take special precautions to save a rose over winter is simply not feasible. For you, I would guess roses that can take the extreme heat are ones you prefer to purchase. Hybridizers are finally beginning to meet the needs of the different climates, and our choices are growing. Sedona is a beauty, indeed... but I do believe it's rated for zone 6 or 7. It would never survive here. Be sure to post photos when it blooms for you! I would love to see that! Harry the cat, and all of our animals here, are acclimated to our changing seasons... they grow and shed appropriate coats depending on what time of year it is. The dogs are lucky to have a heated kennel... spoiled, actually! When our kennel was in full swing many years ago, we had our American Bulldogs housed outdoors. They were on chains and runs, with 50 gallon drum doghouses. When stuffed with straw, and having the dog inside, one of these doghouses was a steady 55 degrees in winter... even when the temperature and wind chill dipped below zero. Dogs shiver for various reasons... pain, fear, nervous habit, and not always just to keep warm... 50 degrees is very comfortable to a dog with a decent coat of fur. A cozy temperature for us would be considered almost too warm for a dog. The cats usually hide out in the horse barn. They have cubbyholes between the bales of straw or hay, and you can usually find a cat pile of napping kitties. Harry's harem and their offspring! As an aside, I was watering my indoor garden last night, and I noticed that a majority of bulbs are overdue for a fresh pot of soil and some grooming. I'll probably be rearranging the jungle once again... very soon! I just brought a load of plants inside... tender types, like a banana tree, Crinum, Oxalis, Alstromeria, some Brugs, etc... the question now is... where will I put them?! They're presently crowded on a basement table! Ok... I've rambled enough... tell me about the roses you have, Ryan... what varieties do you find work best in your climate?

DH lived in Outremont and I lived even further down from Queen Mary, more near the Van Horne area. I am soooo glad that I had weeded through things these past couple of years. It really is making a differene in my life now. I'm finding that it's been pretty easy to pack. DH has even gone through some boxes of stuff that I didn't know what to do with and have been lugging around from place to place. All of his stuff is packed. So far, there are 43 boxes packed. One thing that's helped me is when I get to the last of a set of boxes pertaining to a particular item, I've been leaving the last one open and putting things in there as I find the odd piece that goes in there. Then I repack it properly. We will be going this weekend to find a new place. Then I'll be able to figure out if I'll have any storage room for some of these boxes.

We had about four different types of foam sealant. The DAP water-based stuff was the easiest to use overall because it didn't expand like it wanted to take over the world. But it does set up more slowly and it was the most likely to fall off the ceiling! I found that doing a little bit at a time helped. Big heavy wet globs don't stay put. Smaller ones do just because there's more surface tension, or something. The other brand was the "Great stuff" or something like that---the 'big gap' sticks well, I think because you just spray the normal amount but then it expands a LOT. I think it skins over as it's expanding so it sticks way better. It seems to set up or dry a lot faster than the DAP stuff. The one for windows & doors is about the same as the one for big gaps as far as sticking well and the rate of expansion. The thing I don't like about the ones that expand a lot is that it's really hard to gauge how much to apply. I usually overdo it and then have to trim off the excess after it's set up. I use a serrated bread knife to saw it off at the ceiling surface and this is tricky and tiring. But i'd rather spray more than less and not have to worry that I left any little gaps.