Hi Karin, I gardened in Jacksonville, NC for three years. My roses bloomed past Thanksgiving, some years into mid December. Definitely do not strip the leaves or prune now. Pruning now would stimulate lots of new growth which would blacken and canker in December. Also, don't fertilize any more. Do water them a couple of times a week when the pots dry out. In spring (when the forsythia blooms) you can prune and strip old foliage.

I feel just like you Cybersunday, the interior of my house has been neglected and really needs a good cleaning. Spiders have been active this summer and I can't count the cobwebs I've swept up on walls and ceilings. For me, cleaning the garden in fall depends on the weather and the amount of time I have. I prefer to clean it up now because otherwise it's a massive job in spring and since I plant spring blooming bulbs, I find that it is more attractive when the garden is cleaned. For whatever reason, the leaves on the trees haven't fallen much yet and this will be another mammoth task as we have many trees on our property. I am like Glen and Bonnie as I have loads of potted tropicals and tender perennials throughout the garden. I started to bring the orchids and begonias inside for the winter and we've been kind of lucky because we haven't had frost yet so I have a few more days to cut back all those plants. Unfortunately, I can't save them all so I take cuttings of many tenders too. Although I too use to protect my plants, I haven't in the last 8 years. It is just alot of additional work and sometimes the end result wasn't worth the trouble. My philosophy is that if I have to protect plants with burlap or leaves, then they aren't intended for this climate. There are so many beautiful hardy plants that I can grow that I no longer bother with those that I know won't survive the winter.

I have those tow beautiful 15 months old Cranberry vines that have grown from seeds, growing in a 4X6X9 inch container. The only place I have available for them right now which is outdoors, is on the outside of my window. Last winter, there were only tow vertical short uprights which I attached to the soil with a stick to help them stand the winter storms. Back to this year - by end of July, a lot of new upright growth was observed and by now I have about 100 of them, which as I realize should carry the precious flower buds for next summer. The risk of hard frost or extremely low temps for Cranberries is not an issue around here, but we get storms with heavy rain, hale and strong winds (sometimes up to about 100Km/h by that window ) during winter. How hardy are those uprights going to get? should I apply some physical support? or should they be hardy enough to face the weather described above? As I mentioned before, that is the only location available for them where they can get thier required chilling hours and I really don't want to loose my buds. I'm the only one in my area growing Cranberries so I don't really have anyone to ask for advice, Any of you who has experience with growing Cranberries in a container, please, share your knowledge. thanks!

Oh no! I’d be so disappointed to see half of my roses eaten! Ugh, I’m sorry. It’s hard to not feel frustrated with the wildlife. We have a handful of cucumbers we planted on the side of our chicken coop that have been a nice treat for a groundhog. My barn cats had 5 kittens this summer and they have been terrorizing my gardens! Not eating anything obviously, but they think all of my plants and flowers are toys to play with. I’ll have to track down some good pictures of our orchard and farm. Our apple trees are getting old so we’ll need to replace them in the next 5 years or so. Sam, the goat, is pretty entertaining when he’s not eating my plants. My kids like to make a game of “Where is Sam today”. He’s almost never where he’s supposed to be! I plant to put most of my roses in an area around my house where deer usually won’t go. We’ve also been putting our hair (after haircuts) in my garden beds...we read that this keeps them away? I don’t know if it works but we have strawberries on one side of our house that never get bothered by animals so I’ve assumed the hair has helped.