We stil have about 18" of snow. I'm sure lots of the small shrubs took a beating and as the snow is melting in the backyard I can see the tree peonies got very beat up. Oh well, usually everything comes back just fine after some trimming, hacking and TLC. I'm looking forward to the snow melt (and wondering just how much damage the voles are doing under there...). Hopefully it will be sometime in March as opposed to April, although we've been known to get blizzards in March here. Last year we had a very early spring and I was moving shrubs in March so I really can't complain that this appears so far to be a "normal" winter season. I've done a bit of wintersowing and also set myself up for lots of indoor seed growing in one of the spare bedrooms so that has been keeping me busy and dreaming of spring.

Hi FT-Gardner: I wonder the same. I re-read the 1st link: http://www.naturescontrol.com/thripspredatormites.html The above link sells predatory mites but gives zero field studies on roses to back that up: "A. cucumeris is known to eat onion and flower thrips, as well as several mite species (including cyclamen mites, spider mites, & broad mites)." The below link sells 5 sticky blue-traps for $7 .. that's known to be effective in green-house. The problem with coating oil on a cup is it's not sticky enough.. I even tried STP oil, but that wasn't sticky enough to catch a large number of thrips. http://www.naturescontrol.com/stuff.html#bt Sticky Blue Traps Similar to the original Yellow Traps, but work on insects that are attracted to the blue portion of the color spectrum. Customers report success using Sticky Blue Traps against Thrips & Leafminers. Especially recommended for use on roses. **** From Straw: The first link is to sell predator-mites .. only proven effective in citrus thrips. I prefer the below UNBIASED link by University of CA Agricultural Extension, which stated tiny wasp eat 50% of thrips' eggs. I had seen bigger wasps in my garden chasing after flying thrips. Annual marigolds host wasp, an aggressive predator against thrips. I saw green lacewings on my yellow-Calendula (pot-marigold) perennial flowers. http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7429.html "Where thrips are a problem, learn whether that pest has specific natural enemies important in its control. For example, a minute pirate bug, Macrotracheliella nigra, and green lacewing larvae are important predators of Cuban laurel thrips. Euseius species mites are important predators of citrus thrips. With greenhouse thrips in Southern California up to 50% of its eggs are killed by a tiny wasp, Megaphragma mymaripenne. There is little research-based information on the effectiveness of releasing thrips natural enemies in gardens and landscapes. Releasing purchased natural enemies, in most situations, is unlikely to provide satisfactory thrips control." http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7429.html **** From Straw: I agree with the above, there's no point to buy predatory species if there's no plants to feed them. It's like folks buying ladybugs, but have zero perennials for ladybugs to hide and feed. In my 20+ years of growing roses, I never have thrip damage if a marigold is planted next to it. In my last house of acidic clay, I planted at least 2 dozen marigolds around the rose-garden, I meant to keep rabbits away, and never had thrip problems either: lots of light yellow and light pink roses. In my present house of alkaline clay, the years which I planted the most marigolds: zero thrips, even on Frederic Mistral rose (known as Mr. Thrip) .. those are the same years which I found wasp-nesting in every corner, including my out-door lights !!

@Mischievous Magpie (CO 5b) yeah. i just skipped over those parts. I liked the part ”PREPARING A BED FOR ROSES IS A LITTLE LIKE getting the house ready for the arrival of a difficult old lady, some biddy with aristocratic pretensions and persnickety tastes.” and then all the worrying about how difficult he expected rose growing to be…and the history…and then how blown away he was when his first blooms appeared. Been there, done that. I do find that roses are sensual, in that they stimulate te senses: sight and smell of course, but also touch (thorns), taste (if you go there), and to a lesser extent sound (bees). But I wouldnt go into the areas that he does. i assumed he wrote those few paragraphs to get a rise out of people (no pun intended) or to get a chuckle. Or maybe just as an illustration of how deeply people get into their rose obsession.

Henry, Would you please help out on how to treat rose gall? Thanks [https://www.houzz.com/discussions/i-need-to-rant-about-my-frustration-in-growing-roses-dsvw-vd~5488987[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/i-need-to-rant-about-my-frustration-in-growing-roses-dsvw-vd~5488987) What are your thoughts on these two: Liquid copper ( mentioned for grape crown gall....https://midwestwinepress.com/2012/03/27/top-tips-for-controlling-crown-gall/ ) and Actinovate ( mentioned for rose crown gall treatment.......https://www.planetnatural.com/pest-problem-solver/plant-disease/crown-gall/) ? Do you know any stronger stuff for crown gall? I can't find A. vitis strain F2/5, Agrocin-84 for sale. Are those only for commercial use? Really need some help.