Bah! Here in Connecticut it doesn't seem as bad as what your discribing...though we've had a constant barrage of rain, wind & freezing cold. We've a new house so the yard is slushy mud that your shoes sink in with every step...and this prevents me from venturing out much (though I'm desperate to get out).
On those mini roses. Here in Connecticut I plant them right in the garden in the spring and have them continue year after year. Good luck with yours.
Sorry winter sucks! I guess God wants for us to really appreciate spring once it's finally here, huh?
Margie (lilygrace)

Yes I think us Northerners deserve some sympathy from those in warmer zones who have already been able to start their spring pruning, or (heavens!) those Californians or Floridians who actually have roses in bloom.

My back garden is a white crater-filled landscape and no, don't talk to me about my bent-over ice-coated conifers as "winter interest". The craters formed when we received a solid day of cold rain on top of the previous 2' of solidly frozen snow.

Yesterday was in the 50s and rainy (where does all this precipitation go?) but I'm not fooled that spring is coming soon. The forecast is for highs back in the 20s rest of the week. The one day of melting still did not shrink down the 7' snowbank along my driveway far enough that I can see when pulling out.

My roses are still mostly buried under hard crusty snow, so any of you southerners who brag about pruning or planting this time of year should include an automat apology to the rest of us when posting.

I would join you in buying some minis but I just don't like them.

Until last year's choices at the Maine-based supermarket chain, I too was an anti-mini. But they had some very fragrant pinkish minis with a wide open, fat bloom that didn't quill (I hate that). They were from some place in Ontario. In the house they were definitely pink. Outside in the heat of the summer they developed a coral tone that I didn't like as much but by then I had the big girls.

Sorry for any California smugness in any of my posts. I'm from rural Ohio and am visiting my mom in a couple of weeks, and always return to the West Coast simply amazed that people persist in gardening when the conditions are so adverse for much of the year. Of course, those conditions bring lilacs in springtime - peonies in early summer - an ability to grow once-blooming OGRs - lightning bugs - long summer evenings with light that seems like honey - fall foliage - and snow, hoar frost and icicles. There are mighty big rewards, really, along with the winter break from gardening, which is not all bad.

Hang in there - and feel free to whine, if it helps - or to break out the wine!
Anita

I'll join in the whine club. I'm right outside of frigid Peoria, Illinois. The last two days have been nothing but high winds and last night it was 9 degrees but the wind chill was minus 9. I've had that yucky upper respiratory infection for a month that I can't shake and had to call the dear doctor for another round of antibiotics. My little 6-year old grandson who had the liver transplant last March catches every bug that comes along and now has pneumonia. He hasn't been well since Christmas. The extended forecast for the next week doesn't show any warming trend either. Just snow; more snow; and cold.

Pass the wine, please.
-t

all we need is some nice stinky cheese to go with the whine.
Spring is coming but not nearly fast enough for me although the timing seems right on par.

Rats and now the dr. called back and won't refill the antiobiotics and I have to go in and sit with all the other sick people tomorrow and catch another exotic disease worse than my own and whine...whine...whine...and on top of that that was a lead-in story for tonight's news about a electric rate hike (sigh).

Can I have it in writing that spring is coming? I'm beginning to think it is an urban myth. I'll be planting roses in July.
-t

I really do feel for you frozen folks, I don't know how you can stand it. You're MUCH hardier than I am - or was. Left coastal Connecticut in '78 after a horrendous ice storm the previous winter. DH was willing to take a pay cut to avoid the fuel oil bills but wound up getting $1,000 raise, a considerably cheaper house, money in the bank and a pool in sunny, gulfside Sarasota. Though Floridians badmouth northerners who invade, I say, hey, come on down. Of course, like Anita said, there'll be no more lilacs, hyacinths, peonies, gallicas, albas, all those gorgeous purple old European roses and almost NO, nada, none beautiful companion plants for your roses. (Can you say daylilies?) But our climbers really climb, and for the most part the roses we CAN grow bloom almost 11 months out of the year. And we're NOT the most humid or blackspot-ridden place in the world!

Feel free to whine. I'd probably be wailing!

Sherry

Wishing you warm cheer, and a rose with your whine and cheese.

Kathy

I have a dear friend in Minnesota....I always tell her I couldnt pack fast enough to get outta there. Keep telling her to come to Texas. Says its too hot here.....and its not too cold there??? I too succombed to the grocery store minis. They looked like mini floras, got them in a cream with a tinge of apricot, really pretty. I repotted in some good rose soil and all 3 are doing very well, putting out new growth. I pinched all but one bloom on each pot [which is actually 5-6 cuttings]. I have hopes they will do well when I plant them, but meanwhile...its something to pot and grow! Even Southerners have to wait a while for spring! If it makes ya'll in the frozen north feel any better, my area has been constant rain.....quite muddy [but not enough to stop my digging - and it sure didnt keep me away from Chamblees last weekend!] I enjoy planning new beds when I cant dig, playing with new color combinations. What do ya'll do when you are cooped up for days at a time during bad weather? Can you start any seeds, take any cuttings?
Judith

"What do ya'll do when you are cooped up for days at a time during bad weather?"

We order roses of course. Not that we can afford them with the $700/per month heating bills, and the $400/per month electric bills (since I'm pretty sure most of us haven't seen the sun since somewhere around 1972, or maybe that's just what it feels like). But we'll order them anyways, just in the hopes of keeping us sane. Otherwise, we all turn into Jack Nicholson in The Shining. Can anyone say "redrum"? Other than that, we sit at the computer checking every rose forum and nursery site known to mankind, patiently waiting for our turn.

"What do ya'll do when you are cooped up for days at a time during bad weather?"

Well, let's see. I have cleaned and re-cleaned out my closets and kitchen cabinets numerous times. My house is spotless. There is nothing left to clean. I have just finished reading the latest Danielle Steele sob story Sisters. Shopping has even lost its luster for me because its just too cold to go outside once I'm in the mall parking mall. So the cats and I just take naps and dream of warm days. We're so bored....and we watch Dr. Phil. That's how bored we are. We are leading a sorry life.
-t

sunnyside...i feel your pain! i can offer 2 things that have helped me more than i can ever say. i put planks over the steps in my garage and use a hand truck to wheel my firewood in..it's fast, and easy on my back. the other thing is called "yaktrax"..(on e-bay, or google them)..they are just the best thing for walking on ice i've ever had. no..don't have anything to do with the company..but they do have an awesome product!
other than that..plant some seeds inside..that always cheers me up this time of year..you can always give them away later if you really don't want them..but just watching something grow helps me alot. feel better...donna

I don't know how you all do it. I can't even begin to relate to what you have to do just to get through a single day, not to mention months of this. I only know I don't have your courage and tenacity to persevere. Wish I could send all of you some of our California weather.

Warm regards (no pun intended)

Ingrid

Terryjean, I have also went through my whole house and cleaned it. Repainted the trim and windowsills. Next is the steps. The one positive is that I am finished with my "spring cleaning" well before spring, so that when spring finally does come I can spend all my time in the garden.

I am normally not much of a TV watcher but I have been using my DVR to full advantage.

Veilchen - isn't it great to be done with the whole cleaning stuff? I get so far behind in the summer. I've had an appointment with the upholstery steamer guy twice that he's canceled because he needs to hook up to the outdoors spigot, but it's been below freezing and the hoses on his truck will freeze. I just gave up rescheduling and decided to wait until it's permanently warm. It's the last thing that needs to be done.

Then I got the big idea after watching endless HGTV about sprucing up the kitchen, so a remodeler is coming in next week to give us some ideas. New countertops, moving cabinets and adding some, tearing down a couple of walls for some space, that kind of thing. My dream is a sunroom, but that will have to wait until the daughter is done with college next year.
-t

Re yaktrax - mine lasted five years. Replaced last week with a different type - actual little spikes, where the yaktrax are spirals of wire.
Re "how we get through a day" - I tell my Florida retiree brotherinlaw that "up here, we EARN spring..."
But Attitude can only take you so far...
Off to see what else the garden dept at the local Agway is discounting....

Minis might help me too. I've been so tired of the snow this week. We had a big ice storm last Sunday on top of our record amount of snowfall and it's been cold ever since so the roads are still really bad. It's supposed to warm up to 30F this weekend which I'm hoping will melt some of the ice on our sidewalk before the city decides to ticket us. I've been looking through Roses Unlimited and Ashdown's websites but I haven't ordered anything (yet) because I'm waiting to hear back from Ashdown about some roses I'm supposed to be on the waiting list for. Right now I don't care if I don't get those roses, I just want to know if I have space to order some more!

Was just out on yaktrax refilling bird feeders. Last week we got five inches of wet snow followed by rain and freezing so what's out there is ice about 4" thick. It was below zero this morning and never got warmer than the mid twenties. That stuff can't be shoveled but has to be chopped. Snow shovel doesn't make a dent in it - if I could swing an ax, that's what I would be doing.
But... as soon as this spell of cold ends, I'll be out tapping maples and after that spring is crowding right along.

I always get impatient for spring and we don't have near the weather you folks up North have. I will say that I am glad for the break winter provides....even though I do get impatient. It gives me time to obsess over new roses and flowers. It is funny....I do read every forum and garden web site I can find....just like carrie said!

Ronda

redrum

LOL

Ok, don't lob a snowball at my head but for some reason this year I am not in the whiney pre-spring stage. This winter has seemed to go by fast and while I am of course looking forward to spring, I am not in the least unhappy with winter. We're going through some of our coldest temperatures right now as usual, with overnights well below zero - but I'm ok. What I am most happy about is that suddenly the days seem appreciably longer. I love being able to watch the sunset through the bare trees *from home!* instead of seeing a bit of it as I drive my 40 minute commute home and then have it be darkening as I pull in the drive. Still, a pot of mini roses to fuss with wouldn't be a bad thing at all. I've done that before and ended up with as many as 5 nice little plants that went outdoors in spring to become a pretty border to my front flower bed. Hmmm...I'll have to go shopping after work today. :-)