The power keeps flickering - strong wind gusts and Don thought he heard a transformer popping somewhere "out there." Definitely a generator in our future.

The cold here seems more intense than in the south - I think it must be because the air is water-saturated. On the positive side, the trees are gorgeous with their snowy branches and dd had a blast sledding down the driveway this afternoon. Welcome to Washington, right?

good grief - snow already! It is bloody cold here too, mind. I don't much mind as long as it is not wet. Predictions are that we are in for another long cold winter.

Another tough winter for you folks! We had a few flurrys here. Tonight will be 23 degrees.

Looks like we are in for a first frost of the season too later this week. Of course my main rose order had to arrive today, so looks like I am into digging some holes in the cold rain tomorrow. Thank god after that only one small order left and possibly 2 replacements still might arrive (at this point I do not even care if they don't as it feels like I have my hands full as it is). :)

Cheer up--it's a beautiful day, the sun is shining. How about a picnic and some sunbathing?

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Weather is so variable. I for one tend to forget that the averages that are used to describe a climate are only that, averages, and not at all what any specific year will actually be.

I wish you the best of luck with your teas. If they were a couple of years older I 'm sure they would survive. People do grow teas successfully where you live. Are you in touch with Paparoseman (Lance)? He grows all sorts of roses with great success, and not far from you. Perhaps he would have some advice that I with my lack of experience in your situation cannot offer.

In any case, my fingers are crossed for you.

Rosefolly

the photos are lovely, but I do feel for ya'lls baby roses! eep! Good luck!

When I moved here Lance gave me a lot of good advice on how to site the teas. I've done as much as I can for them - if they can't deal with the weather, well, it's time to move on to some other types. I brought six with me, and it is Devoniensis that I will most miss. And G. Nabonnand. And Melanie Willermoz. sigh.

But they may survive, I don't know, but if not, there are a number of Gallicas I'd like to try. I've seen Patricia's Gallicas and Albas in Snohomish, and know there is life after teas.

In the meantime, I'm with you, Lucretia, it's a gorgeous sunny day.

Patricia, I'm so sorry, I do know you're not in Snohomish. I got my S towns mixed up.

It is beautiful---Hope your baby roses are OK

Florence

I know that everyone pretends that this doesn't happen here-but we do tend to get a few days of teens every winter-usually in late November, or December. I dont remember the limits for zone 8 but I know that zone 7 goes to zero. I have not seen zero yet(5 degrees has been my lowest over the years and that wrecked havoc in my garden)
As for the Teas. They can take surprising cold but they dont seem to take long chilly springs. Mine never froze, they just never built up enough mass to weather out the spring-you have to expect a certain amount of loss in winter on any plant and they just dwindled away (I do call this The Dwindles) I would expect that in your garden you are going to have more problem if you get the Northeast wind which can creat a very low wind chill that can freeze the ground deeper than normal-now that could take out your teas if you have no snow cover. You can lose Polyanthas as well. I dont normally get those winds. We got a little NE wind with this last storm-very unusual for us but not enough I think to do damage, I wont know till it warms up. I am a super fan of the Gallicas here because they weather anything the PNW can throw at them and bloom for ages because of our Maritime climate-I have Gallicas in bloom in mid July. You have the drier climate that means you wont lose the early bloom to long spring rains that can spoil my early flush....something to think about.

Patriciae, this is all a learning experience for me.

It's interesting to hear that the cold weather comes in Nov/Dec. I came for several weeks last January and saw very little cold weather, but I heard it was a very mild winter. By mid Feb when I moved here there were blooms on flowering trees. Wet, but not what I'd call cold at all. I think you must be exactly right about the long chilly springs being the problem for the teas. The musks, on the other hand, thrived.

Because of the little growth on the teas last summer, most probably I will seriously consider switching more and more to once bloomers, even if the teas do survive. I only wanted to see if they would thrive here if I gave them as good an aspect as I could possibly. We'll see what next year brings.

In the meantime, I'm reading about Gallicas. I still remember your beautiful garden and your recommendation that I start out with Duc de Guiche, of which you have an amazing specimen.

Thanks, everyone. My cat is enjoying the spot of sun he's found. He's been grumpy lately as he hasn't been able to find any. Me too, for that matter!

The first problem with the pots on the table is that they are up in the air instead of in contact with the soil, where they could benefit from soil warmth.

>I dont remember the limits for zone 8 but I know that zone 7 goes to zeroUSDA 7 goes to below 0F. 10-20 and 0-10 for USDA 8 and 7, respectively are the ranges of the average annual minimum temps recorded during specific 15 year periods only. They are not how cold it ever gets. Many people on this site who think they are in USDA 7 are actually in 8.

I'm in Zone 8 here, where I have seen it get down to around 5 or less. If I was in Zone 7 during the same time I might have seen -5 or less.

My area is supposed to see 15 or somewhat less tonight, then starting warming back up. That should not be a threat to established tea roses. There could certainly be some top damage, but the whole thing should not be lost. Especially if the bud-head is completely exposed.

Especially if the bud-head is not completely exposed.

>The first problem with the pots on the table is that they are up in the air instead of in contact with the soil, where they could benefit from soil warmth.Yeah, I was planning to move them, even if it was just to set them on the ground where it was warmer, but as I said, they were frozen to the table by the time I got to them. We got colder faster than forecast--had about 3-4" of snow when we woke up Sunday morning, and it went downhill from there. So it will end up being an experiment on how hardy cutting of some of these old roses really are. I was concentrating on moving the seedlings--cuttings I can try again.

Probably will see single digits tonite. Thank goodness for flannel sheets!

lucretia, what roses do you have the most success with or like the best?

Oh, that's cold Gean, keep warm! Great snow pic of your Tea Rose!

Hi, Krista,
Well, 6 inches of snow and 10 degrees is nothing compared to what you and many others deal with regularly. Maybe my teas will behave like your DdB and reappear next spring. You stay warm, too.

Gean, maybe the difference between your cold and the cold of Alabama is the wind coming out of Canada. We went home to Connecticut for Thanksgiving a couple of years after moving south and decided to go for a walk down by the water. It was only 55 degrees, but I thought my face was going to freeze off on the way back, walking into the north wind. Connecticut 55 and Florida 55 aren't even in the same ballpark. BRRRR! Lovely snow shot. Knowing me (and my proclivity for stupid ideas) I would build each tea baby a "glasshouse" with a light bulb in hopes that they can make it through their first winter and have a season of growth before next winter. (I think I'd make it big enough for next year, too.)

Sherry

SEVENTEEN????

THAT'S cold here, ten miles north of Boston! Normally that's about what the temps. are here in the 3rd week of January, the coldest week of the year!

during that week the HIGH temp. for the day is 17, or a maybe a little less - like, say - 13 above 0.)

Well, the light bulbs might work, Sherry, but I'd have to keep them going until mid July, when summer starts. Nope, they'll either make it or not. For a southern girl, it's unnerving to be this close to the north pole - here's a pic from this summer - an hour and a half drive from here, looking north to Victoria, British Columbia.

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York, I am hoping that what Patricia says is true about this year too - that cold winter here happens in late Nov/Dec. If so, then spring must start sometime in January. Hoping, anyway. Stay warm, I think this is headed your way...

You can read all about the big Seattle snowstorm at Time magazine. 2.5 inches snow, biggest record ever since '77'.
That weather came over here. It's terrible out there. I tried to go to work and turned around and came home. Too many bozos trying to do 50 in a whiteout.
Five below out there tonight and a new foot of perfect ski powder. Tomorrow it's supposed to blow twenty miles an hour to finish the deal off.
Well, we'll live through another winter again. Turkey's in the fridge, and we're almost ready to rumble.
Gosh, do I hate making pie!

Spokane is having a blizzard, too. I hope LavenderLass is warm and dry.

I don't really mind being cold, it is the tiny little amount of daylight which always does for me. I am not an early bird and really only start into vigorous work mode around noon, which leaves 4 hours before nightfall. There is always a terrible feeling of time running too quickly especially since English houses are cold so we all tend to congregate in the one warm room. Seeing as how the kitchen is downstairs, we have many, many arguments about whose turn it is to brave the freezing kitchen and make a cup of tea (we drink gallons of this all winter - the downside of that being endless trips to the equally freezing loo, which is upstairs again (we have a lot of stairs in my house) or even worse, outside!) The one job which we do get on top of is the washing up (no dishwashers here) as at least we get to plunge our hands in warm water. Snow would be a treat and a blessing - at least it does have some insulation qualities - but generally we get endless grey, damp, cold days and, in East Anglia, a vicious east wind direct from Siberia (we are continually reminded). Also, I really do not like having to wear numerous layers of clothing - it is annoying, wrestling woolly tights, under trousers, several pairs of socks and so on. Even lacing up my boots seems like a gargantuan and dull task - the nicest thing about summer is throwing on a dress or jeans and T-shirt and you are ready to go. Why has not the whole of the US decamped to Florida or California? We read about tent-cities and the dreadful failing social safety nets in the US and think we are next and can only shiver in horror since housing issues are looming large in the UK - I absolutely know if I lost my home, I would be off to Portugal or something in a flash.If I had to live in a cardboard box or a van, it would be somewhere warm. Seriously, and I do apologise again, how are things for you folks in the US? Our govt. are importing US welfare and employment regulations over here - dismantling our NHS and benefits system, repudiating minimum wages and undermining workers bargaining positions, private prisons and militias and so on whilst inequality has reached record levels of divergence between haves and have-nots. The media lie to us - I want info from people who are living and surviving in these anxious times.

So last night a low of 11 degrees and no snow cover. we will probably get more snow today. It is unusual for us to not have snow when everyone around us has it, is usually the other way around.
BboyI am really a zone 7-because I am up the Skagit valley a ways and at a higher elevation. The flats, as they say around here, are zone 8. I have been keeping temperature records for many years because I was participating in a Fig test-to try and find figs that will produce in the PNW. Mine all finally froze out-out of around 10 varieties...they never produced anything-too cold.
I am expecting carnage in my Polys and Barbier climbers-rats. Noisettes have turned out to be very cold hardy-we will see what no snow does for them. I will certainly lose my Chestnut rose again-wretched thing never gets to bloom. Poor Gloire d'Dijon was just putting on growth after the freeze from 2 years ago-sigh.
Gean-I have had problems with Hybrid Musks-which are supposed to be hardy to zone 5 but I think it is probably the freeze thaw thing which I will have worse than you-water is such a cushion for the temps-it helps to even be near the river.
January can give us temps in the 20's sometimes but by that time everything is ready for it-this sudden cold like we just had is the bad thing but it does happen almost every year. We can also get years where it never goes below 40 degrees-so it goes. We almost always get warmer dry weather in Feb or occasionally early April-that is when I prune and clean up.

Harborrose- Thank you for thinking of me :)

You all are on the WARM side of the state (LOL) it was -16 F. last night and we have about eight inches of snow. Thank goodness (for the roses) that the snow came, before the severe cold.

It's beautiful outside, but still very cold. The difference is, I don't even try to grow any roses that aren't hardy to zone 5...and those are in protected areas.

Kaylah- Stay warm! You almost always have more snow and cold than we do. We did have some drifting snow south of Spokane (about five miles from our farm). One poor man ran off the road and his van was completely covered by snow, in the ditch. It took three hours for someone to drive by and find him.

Whenever there's snow and cold, don't only protect your roses, but yourselves. Make sure you throw some extra coats and hats/gloves, even a blanket, in the back of your car. If you slide off the road, you want to stay warm. And if your exhaust pipe is buried in the snow...it is not safe to keep your car running.

Stay safe and have a great Thanksgiving! :)

Colder than Sunset 5 does not immediately equal USDA 7. There is space between that jump, the USDA has USDA 8a going way out there in some places at this latitude. Sunset 5 and 4 both correspond much of the time with where USDA 8 is mapped.

If you are in USDA 7 your coldest temperatures should fall below 0F on occasion, just as we sometimes get below 10F here in a definite, almost-on-the-Sound, southwest Snohomish County USDA 8. 0-10F is not the minimum temperature range for Zone 7, it is the average minimum temperature range. Many people here think because they have gotten down to 0-10F once or twice they're in Zone 7.

Figs aren't always that hardy, I had a long-established one freeze down to a stump on Camano Island during 2008. (6F was reported from Stanwood that year, I don't know if this was reliable or not; 5F was predicted for Arlington and Lynnwood(!) last night). But I think I was watering it too much, probably should not have been watering it at all.

I'm thankful for the snow that probably cushioned some of the biting cold from the roots of the new roses.

I'm thankful for people who care about accuracy and for those with inquiring spirits and sharp minds.

I'm thankful for a group of people who care about beauty as expressed in the fragrance and petals of these garden wonders we call roses.

I'm thankful that Cornelia is probably not dead.

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Gean,

I have to say the gallicas are my favorites. I want nice garden shrubs that happen to have flowers. The gallica blooms are gorgeous and fragrant and the plants are pretty when they aren't in bloom. Mine are just starting to mature, and I like them better all the time. I don't spray, they don't get much fertilizer, they don't get any supplemental water and they're happy as clams. Some even get hips and fall color.

The rugosas are also great--fragrant flowers, pretty bushes, attractive foliage, fall color, and hips.

Mosses are doing well, but the plants I have so far are kinda floppy. They may grow out of it, but I like the habit of the gallicas better. The damasks are also nice, but again I prefer the gallica habit.

Lyda Rose is a great hybrid musk for me, and Matchball was put in as a band last fall and is off to an amazing (almost frightening it's so vigorous) start. I just put in some hybrid perpetuals this year--so far I'm ambivalent.

Albas and bourbons have been only so-so for me. I want to try more Portlands--Rose de Rescht is the best all-around rose in my garden.

Patricia, I'm excited to hear that the noisettes have been hardy for you. I just ordered a couple more to plant this spring. Celine Forestier is in in warmer spot in the yard, and she's galloping along into a monster bush from a band just planted 2 or 3 years ago.

bboy, we seem to be right on the hairy edge of the 2 zones temperature-wise based on what we've measured the past 5 years. Some years just below 10 degrees, some just above. Several sites where you look up your zone by zip code put us in zone 7, some put us in zone 8. I try to be conservative and select plants for the colder zone. We certainly have some cold spots in the yard that have done in some plants that are supposed to be hardy enough for zone 8. I've got a bunch of gallica seedlings that are planted in those areas this year--I haven't been able to kill a gallica yet! ;-)

Many of the plants might be better growers with more care, but if I can have plants that will do well with neglect, why put up with fussbudgets?

Whenever I've tried a zip code zone finder it puts me in Zone 7, here near Seattle, which is ridiculous. Look at the USDA (and Sunset) publications and web sites instead.

Leaves of the true musk rose here have gone papery also. But I don't expect anything serious.

This time. If the predicted "vicious" winter materializes later it may then be a different story.

campanula, I'm not sure that anyone has answered your concern about how we're doing here in the States with the downswing in the economy. The government has instituted an unemployment period of three months with payment and the few people who are on this that I know seem to be receiving almost as much as the wages they earned before. One important point to consider is that we are a nation of spenders. The average credit card debt here is $7000!. Mine is zero since I make a full payment every month. Americans spend lots of money on "toys" i.e. motorcycles, motor homes, off-road vehicles, four or five televisions per house, computer stuff of every imaginable kind and on and on. When hard times hit they have nothing to fall back on. I work four days a week and my husband is retired and we're doing fine, even though we have a mortgage for a rather large property which we bought when prices were still high. I'm not saying many people aren't struggling through no fault of their own, especially those with no medical insurance and health problems or a household where both bread winners have lost their jobs. We are always exhorted to have enough savings to tide us over for six months but how many of us who could do this really do? There is just so much tempting stuff out there to buy. So as usual the picture is a complex one, and I for one have no ready answers. The previous presidency has much to answer for, which I think may have been too quickly forgotten, and now we expect instant solutions to long-standing problems. By the way, I'm really sorry your house is so cold. I had experience of that as a child, where there was frost on the walls INSIDE our dwelling. I was small enough to be stashed inside the tiny kitchen at night, but the others weren't so fortunate.

Ingrid

I'm glad Ingrid answered your query, Suzie, as I've thought for a couple of days since you asked how to answer. For every finger pointed one way, there can be another pointed another way by another political party.

For me personally, which is the only answer I can truthfully give, my family is doing all right. We have no debt, other than our house, and I'm a reluctant spender, indulging only in used books and plants, and not overly there, either. Nothing we have if fancy, but it is comfortable and we are warm.

On the other hand, our son, who is married and just graduated with high honors with a degree in civil engineering, isn't able to find a job. He is a type 1 diabetic with a lot of medical needs. My daughter, who is also type 1, recently moved back home as she has a lot of physical needs and does better at home with us.

But I am very thankful for the strong character that my kids have. We stick together, and we have learned to depend on God's grace in our lives and the necessity of hard work and integrity.

It is a little difficult, when you think in terms of the rest of the world, to think of us as an impoverished nation, when there are so many children around the world that are orphaned with literally have nothing to eat. My adopted Chinese daughter lived in a special needs orphanage, and came to us with many needs, one of which was just food for her body.

I like to read biographies, as the depths of compassion, courage, and integrity that many have displayed are helpful to me in remaining thankful for what I have.

Lucretia, thanks for the heads up on your gallicas. I imagine that in a few years I will have replaced a number of mine with them. I have Lyda Rose and like it a lot. I read before that you like Rose de Rescht - it has bloomed a little, but the bugs seem to like it as much as I do. It has suffered the most amount of foliage damage from insects.

Bboy - well, we'll see what happens this winter. Regardless of what zone anyone lives in, we're all at the mercy of the forces of winter. We just have to deal with it.

Thanks, everyone. Gean

Gean,
That's cold for the Pacific Northwest, but apparently a lot of people this year are experiencing a cold winter. Here it's been gray and extremely rainy. I doubt it will be that cold every winter.
Suzy,
I hate a cold house. We have a wood stove and keep our daytime living spaces--kitchen, living room, music room--pleasantly warm, though being a chilly type I still spend the winter in long johns, heavy socks and slippers, and two or three tops. Sunny weather warms up the house significantly, but we haven't had any sun this month. And yes, we heat our bathroom!!!!! The bedrooms are unheated and we sleep with the window open. My husband through the years has done a lot to insulate the house and it has helped significantly, but during gray fall and winter weather we have to burn firewood more or less constantly while we're up to stay comfortable.
Melissa

Yai we got snow today! Hopefully not for the next 4 months, but snow always lifts my spirit, since I miss it in the winters when we do not have any (being from Lithuania, where we always have it for prolonged time).

Here goes a few shots of mine :)

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New Dawn

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Ballerina hips

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Berberry being pretty

Elemire- Pretty pictures!

As for the US economy, we should know more after this weekend. As Black Friday goes, so goes the nation...or at least the retail sector of the economy.

I know I won't be getting many more roses this year, but that's got to do as much with my deer munching on them, as it does the expense :)

Hi Gean and Lucretia! Well I called in for work on Monday..and because I was already coughing I called in sick Tuesday and Wednesday..Thursday and Friday we had off. I went to the doctor and got Z packs and spent these cold days in bed..with the exception of Thanksgiving. Anyway, I would bet that all your roses will survive. I will happily eat crow if they don't. Gean this cold snap is somewhat irregular and since I have lived here..1989 this is only about the 4th time I have seen it this cold. From what I see on the news we are in a La Nina weather pattern and it seems we may be in for more cold weather.

I know what you mean about counting blessings. Brian and I are fine..my daughter although she struggles she is okay. At least you have a great place for your daughter to come home to...that you can help her right? I will keep my fingers crossed that your son can find a position..my boss's son graduated with a degree in computer programming..2 years ago and has yet to land a good job..he has a job but certaintly not what he expected. Anyhoo, many blessings this holiday season..and let's hope this snow was the last! SIGH..I have to go back to work tomorrow!

Melissa, thanks for the encouraging word and Elmire, those are great shots. Snow is cheerful, I think, too. Especially if there's some sun to go with it! Thanks for posting them.

Zyp, thanks for the note. I am very glad my dd is home; I worry less this way. Take care and stay well - drive carefully!

Wow, not quite the same zone 8a as here Gean! Glad you're liking the PNW. We finally got a light freeze here that shut all the roses down (not that they were doing much anyway with the drought). I plucked the last bloom from Golden Fairy Tale, smells so good! Little Darlow's Enigma has bloomed its little head off. Can't wait 'til next year for them to strut their stuff (the little red climber included).
Tell Ruthie hi from us. It was such a pleasure having y'all visit as brief as it was.
Hamp

It feels really wintery here and apparently it is going to stay like that till the next weekend at least. My biggest concern with that is that out heating kettle chimney started to accumulate icicles, which have a habit to drop down where our back door is, so will have to figure something not to get knocked out by one of those. :/

Oh well, at least it is pretty outside. :)
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That's for red in winter fans. :)

And that's to send some chills for those living in tropical locations. :P
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There is some more pics in the gallery. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Gallery thread with winter chillz

Hamp, so you had roses for Thanksgiving! So glad those are doing well for you. G Nabonnand is hanging in there and I hope has survived so far. Of all the teas I have, it's the one that has been the strongest-growing. Next year I hope to get some blooms from it. Mme. Cornelissen has bloomed a tiny bit; I have my fingers crossed for next year. I love her blooms.

We do like it here, Hamp. Hard to believe it's almost a year now. I'll always remember your SDLM. That is some rose! Thanks for posting; so nice to hear from you.

Elmire, I loved looking at your photos. It's fun to know that across the planet you're growing a lot of the same plants that I do or that I see around me. I live in a rural area and enjoy that a lot. too. Thanks for posting.

That is beautiful, Paul. Thanks for posting a pic of what your world looks like.

Our snow is gone, leaving green grass, the ever-looming evergreens and gray skies.

It's been a while since I last checked in with my favorite web community - and look what I find! A whole stream about the lovely weather we've been dealing with lately! I hope everyone was able to keep safe and warm for thanksgiving. I was very lucky because the weekend before the freeze/snow hit, I spent several hours shifting a lot of potted roses, cuttings, etc into our small (and now cozy!) greenhouse, here on windy Orcas. I have found over the years that it is really the NE winds combined with the cold that does the real damage to so many garden plants. And the rose that I was blown away by this fall/winter was how well my Compassion just kept on pumping out those gorgeous blooms - right up until last week! And, even though they're no longer blooming, Darlow's Enigma as well as MAC seem to just shrug off this chilly weather!

still, I am really looking forward to a waxwing winter - have not seen these garrulous little birds since I was a child but every so often, if Europe gets some real cold, they come flying in from the arctic, scoffing our pyrancantha, sorbus and barberries. I remember seeing a flock strip a huge rowan in 30 minutes.

ianorc, I planted a Compassion this last spring and do agree it has some lovely blooms. Glad to know it does so well for you. I haven't been to the San Juan Islands yet, but hope to next year. All of this area is really beautiful. I hope you'll visit more often and post. I'd love to hear what all you grow and about your garden.

Suzy, I've often thought that your descriptions make up for all the pictures you don't post for us. That's a lovely picture with words. It sent me back into old pictures of birds that lived in my southern garden, bluebirds, woodpeckers, flickers, titmice, several kinds of finches, robins, lots of cardinals, hummers. Lots of other kinds of animals here but I miss the small birds out my kitchen window.

Here, I know the birds must be out there, but the forest cover is so dense and food so abundant that I don't see them. Or haven't learned to yet. Must work on that, I miss them. I hope your waxwings come abundantly for you.

Thanks for posting.

Thanks, harborrose, and welcome to the temperately luscious PNW! Speaking of waxwings, we usually get a brief visitation of a flock as they feast on various berries (a variety). They are unmistakable and so beautiful! Our garden and neck-of-the-woods is usually chock-a-block (my inner Aussie coming out!) with lots of birds, both year-rounders as well as drop-ins. We have found that a couple of strategically placed feeders will always bring out (of the woodwork?) some of the more shy varieties!

When I finally get my photos from this year organized on my computer, I will try posting some views of this garden of mine - a somewhat wildish interpretation of a coniferish "English" garden!

Harborrose, did your Teas survive that early cold snap? Hoping so.