I hope your roses do OK Sammy. I can't imagine that kind of weather. Here in the farther north of California there are no blooms. We had our first hard freeze before Thanksgiving. I am in the midst of pruning and pulling off old bad leaves. I'm glad for the change in season. If my roses went on and on blooming spring wouldn't be so exciting.

The snow is a great benefit. It provides very good insulation around the canes, provided those canes are hardy enough to tolerate temps. in the upper 20's or so.

What's really devastating is getting cold and wind like that without any snow at all.

:(

Hi Sammy, ditto.

Somebody here was dreaming of a white Christmas and so be it.

Here in North Texas, we had the same blizzard conditions, with snow fall up to 13". As Yorkrose states, all that snow is excellent insulation from the cold winds, much better than than cold winds we have had all winter. As the snow melts, the slow release of moisture is the going to be good for the roses. And the cold temps will spell good news for the spring bloom.

I look out this morning, and the clouds are heavy, spelling an oncoming snowfall.

I figure you are out on Christmas break and it would be great to be able to work with the roses.

I am so ready to get out there and prune as usual. I know I am spoiled to be able to work outside most of the year. It helps me get over the holiday doldrums. Looks like this year, we will have to wait a little longer.

Sammy, it's mostly along the coast that roses remain. Even in Southern California, most folks are thinking more now of pruning techniques than of picking roses.

Though of course, that's what started the Rose Parade -- folks in Pasadena (CA) who wanted the rest of the country to know that roses were blooming here at the turn of the New Year.

Down on my hillside, there are roses with dead growth that needs clearing out. I need to finish my Newsletter up, find some old jeans, and slide down the hillside.

Here the 14" of pre-Christmas snow is still melting and it's chilly, foggy, and gray. I know the drizzle will stop and the sun will come out one day, and then I'll be out pruners in hand to begin winter cleanup. The days are getting longer, and spring, though distant, is on the way.
Happy New Year, everybody!
Melissa

We've been lucky so far in eastern Washington. Only a few inches of snow right now, where we had over 50" this time last year. We are supposed to be getting three storms coming in this week, so I'm sure we'll get more snow by New Year's.

At least the winter gives you the time to plan what you want to change in the garden next spring. I have a lot of changes to make, so I need a lot of planning time :)

The snow not only helps the roses, but did wonders for my lilacs the last two years. We have an old lilac hedge (my husband's grandmother planted it over fifty years ago) that's looked beautiful the last two springs! All that water from the snow really helps.

Have a Happy New Year and think how pretty the roses will look next spring and summer!

We in KC got hit with the Christmas blizzard also just after the folks in north Texas and Oklahoma got clobbered. The storm was peculiar in that as it passed through on its way to the north and east through Illinois, it wound up circling the perimeter of the huge low pressure area parenting the whole system. It backtracked north and west through Wisconsin and Minnesota and then headed around the backside and came south and hit us again with about 3 more inches of snow, at least in my yard. When it was all done and gone, I had about 10 inches of snow for my garden. The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for the KC area, the first one in anyone's memory. Usually this kind of thing goes through Nebraska and Iowa just to our north, but this time it was our turn.

The way the news media was carrying on about all this was just laughable. I used to work with someone from Buffalo, NY. They always get plenty of snow, and I doubt that anyone living in a high snow area like that would even bat an eyelash at our plight. I am glad for the snow cover for the roses for the winter because it is supposed to get some sub-zero temperatures next week. The extra insulation will be appreciated. What I am not happy about is that my street never seems to see an actual snow plow really plowing the snow off of it. What I did see was a plow go down the street without actually pushing any of the snow off the road. Later, there was a monomolecular layer of sand on the snow supposedly to help. The problem is that my street is a hill. I live in the middle at the bottom, and any direction from there is up, and there are stop signs at each end. People get stuck at those stop signs. There are older folks on this street. There are kids riding school buses on this street. There are people with medical issues on this street. The garbage collection trucks cannot negotiate the hill with snow on it so I won't get my garbage picked up until the street clears, whenever that happens. This is a real problem. Emergency vehicles, if needed, and school buses might have a tough time with this mess.

At any rate, the snow is good for the garden, but not so good for getting around. Anyone who dreams of a white Christmas is welcome to help dig our street out because that is what I used to do just so I could get up the hill. I'm too tired now and have a few too many years and miles on my odometer to do it.

Hi Sammy, it has been colder and wetter here than usual; we've had several hard freezes which normally don't occur until January. And it has rained and rained and rained. Which, despite the cold, made the BS go wild (BS Gone Wild - x-rated for sure!)

I am already anxious to get out and start pruning some stuff, which for here is Feb. 14.

Lynn

hi, Sammy,
It has been in the high 20's and wet here in north Alabama, but we've had only a dusting of snow. The teas are still green albeit with frozen buds and blooms.

I hope you stay warm and that your roses are enjoying the snow blanket.

We just got another 2.5" yesterday afternoon, and the forecast is for approximately another 3" by Monday. I always appreciate snow cover for the two hybrid teas I have. The other roses appear more hardy.

Hi, Sammy, I'm glad you still love us Zone 9 folks even in the dead of winter. :)) We had more rain in December than usual - over 5", and we're starting off January with a lot of rain today. That's a good thing since my soil is insatiable!! It will suck up as much as nature can dish out and never bat an eye. We had a couple of nights early in the week with temps right around 32, the lowest so far. The systems that bring all of you guys snow bring us rain, so I'm hoping for a snowy winter in the lower midwest. I'm glad it will serve your gardens well, too.

Lots of my Teas have been covered with buds so these freezing nights kind of scared me. I wanted to see LeVesuve burst forth. But as they say, Fear not! The low temps in this range don't seem to have effected them at all except to make the blooms bolder in color. I was looking at Carnation, a Bermuda rose, yesterday. Wow! He would give some of your European roses a run for their money! Blooms are big and round and as tall as they are wide with gorgeous deep color and lots of petals. I think they enjoy the chilly weather - what a relief from the heat! I guess I will sooner or later see how cold it can get before it does damage to the buds. That will be a sad day.

Some of my roses are going into their 4th year and many into their 3rd year so I am thinking about pruning, too. Mrs B R Cant needs to be gotten control of. She's leafed out much more with water, but she's got some canes that go 8' out sideways that I think should be tamed a bit. Not sure how. It's a scary proposition for me. I noticed a neighbor a few blocks away has 3 Louis Philippes that she topped off like hedges last year. I'll have to stop by and introduce myself.

I have lots of things to do in my yard this winter. The day after Christmas I was out all day and never took off my sweatshirt due to temps in the 50s. A little chilly for my thin blood!

Enjoy your planning months, Sammy, and keep an eye out for those strokes of garden genius. Sometimes they surprise you. Here's hoping for a magnificent spring for us all.

Sherry

Here in the St Pete - Tampa area we have drizzley rain and temps abt. 60, and they are having that big football game in Tampa today... but the fans in town for the game all come from the north-pole so this is paradise for them, and all this week they were over on Clearwater Beach enjoying the white sugar-sand and the clear blue water of the Gulf, and the SUNSHINE... until today, that front that brings you all the snow just brings us rain and cooler temps, it is right at 60 in my carport now.... I finished digging my new rose bed, out front where the grass used to be, and have 6 plants coming from Cool Roses hopefully next week, and will plant them when they come....... we are supposed to get colder weather this week-end and stay cool next week, maybe down to 50 - 55.... being near the Gulf keeps us warmer than further inland.... Happy New Year everyone ... sally

Mendocino, I love reading your reports, and would love to have another climate. This is our worst year ever. I can barely walk the dogs with my husband. The snow is still here, and there are so many areas of ice that I cannot walk well at all outside.

York_rose, I am hoping that the snow has insulated my roses. That will be something at least.

Greybird,we almost always have nice weather mixed with bad weather. Even when we had our power outages because of the ice storm, many of the days turned around and had temps in the 40's. Now, we just have temps in the 30's and very little sun. I was going to move some pots, and clean them out to prepare for the spring. I cannot even walk in my back yard since it is coated with snow that has frozen, and is a cake of ice. I hope your weather has given you a few nice days.

Jeri, it is good to hear from you. I need to ask about caring for a hillside some day soon. Ours is washing out too fast, and I don't want a cliff in the back.

Melissa, you are correct. To me fall is the worst since winter is coming. Now in just a few weeks we can think seriously about spring. I love my garden, but most important is to just get out of the house. I cannot even get into the dogs' yard to clean it us -- something needed to be done daily with three big dogs.

Lavender Lass, 50" of snow??? It is good to put things in perspective. Zone 4 even sounds cold. I have been told that our warm winters are why my lilacs never bloomed. My grandmother also grew lilacs, and I tried a few times without success. They are beautiful.

the_bustopher, what does your name mean? Have you considered just going out around your house and tossing salt? It is very dangerous to do almost anything in the snow if you are not "sure footed". Life with the snow was not so much of a problem in Indiana, but here, they almost wait for nature to take care of it. It does sound like the city ought to give your street better care.

Lynn, it is good to hear from you.

Nalabama, Alabama is not supposed to get that cold -- at least not in my mind's eye.

Sherry, I could never forget about you sunny zone posters. I have really worried about my Bermuda roses. I also have Carnation, and two others. I got them because I thought they would be disease resistant, but I don't know how winter hardy they will be. I hope you enjoy your Florida weather.

Saldut, I also hope you enjoy your great weather.

I forgot to mention that our snow was also a blizzard. It was our first snow blizzard ever. Also our house is not built for cold weather. I don't think it is sealed as well as northern houses.

My school starts tomorrow, and one good thing about a large school. I can walk. I always wear walking shoes, and intend to walk and walk after school. I have never gone for so long without exercise.

I hope you all have a Happy New Year. We will, but my daughters have gone home now, so it is a little lonely. I spent every possible minute with them while they were here, and missed responding to your posts.

Sammy

Lilacs (& fewer pests generally) are one of the few real gardening benefits to living in a climate with cold winters (if only those shrubs weren't so boring the other 50 weeks of the year when they're out of bloom)!

Meh. Threads can always be resurrected. :)

Near Denver we are having one of the coldest, snowiest winters ever. We generally get snowfall that melts in a few days, but not this year. We've had continuous snow cover for nearly a month and a handful of days above freezing. We've had nearly twice the normal amount of precip this year, so I made the most of it this spring and fall and did a lot of planting. It looks to me like all the the canes on the roses are dead to the ground, even on the established roses. I mulched well, so I'm hoping the roots survive. This is the first year I've actually thought it'd be nice to live in a warmer climate! We can't plant roses here until April or May, so it's going to be a long, cold winter. OK, I'm done whining for the moment! I'm looking forward to hearing from the warm weather folks once spring rolls around for them. Happy New Year!

Sammy ---thinking of you---it is bitter cold here in Pa.

Thank goodness we can stay home---cozy and warm--

As you know because of all my surgeries my roses have learned to survive with neglect--

It is always a thrill when spring comes and the survivors burst forth with all their splendor---

Be careful walkking on ice---it can be dangerous---

Florence

It's cold here too. This is the chilliest it's been since about 2004, as far as I can remember. "Cold" means lows in the high twenties, which I know sounds laughable, but it's not so ridiculous when the highs are around freezing, days are nine hours long, and the skies are perennially gray. The lack of sun is a problem. Anytime it shines it warms up our thick-walled masonry house and our two cool greenhouses, but when it's cloudy the succulents suffer. I may see losses among them this year for the first time. I'm also waiting with something more than curiosity to see how the Teas and other warm climate roses that we planted just before Christmas will take the weather. Obviously the lows aren't that low, but I'm going to find out whether average low temperatures can cause damage of their own. And of course there are all those slightly tender plants that have grown so happily the last few years, up until now. I expect to be pruning out a lot of snow and cold damage when the weather finally improves. I certainly will be happy when I can get out in the garden and get to work. The last several years I've been able to work through much of the winter, but this year that hasn't been the case, and I miss my plants. By the end of this month the days will be noticeably longer, and thank goodness, after the period of darkness around the solstice.
Melissa