Ricky, I was aware of the wandering jew's proclivity for invasive "wandering," but didn't know about Rabbit's Foot Fern -- or are you just being silly again? Rabbits? LOL Silvia, I completely landscaped my ex-roommates large front yard with tropicals, and left most of them behind, but they would not survive here. I still miss the tropical gingers, though. I only brought a dozen plants with me this time, and sold or left behind dozens more, mostly given to the neigbor across the street who helped me load the truck. She wasn't so great with plants, but from what I hear, she got a new BF who was a real garden nut, and he has taken those plants and made her yard gorgeous. It's so hard to leave babies behind. :(

You have a great day as well Glenda. Hopefully your problem will clear up and you will be able to respond to posts again. I hope you get a clear up of the weather too and don't need to use the sponge quite so much. Sometimes I feel like I need that size of sponge to clean my house. :-)

I finished off the front garden by the fence. Dug in and put upright the boards along the edge to keep the yard crew from killing everything. Planted a row of bromeliads, moved some cannas, pulled some oyster plant encroaching on the sidewalk and planted a border of it on the front bed, planted a Charles Grimaldi brug and discovered some sprouting elephant ears I forgot I had planted in there. Then to top it all off, I pulled out some different colored four o'clock seeds I had traded for and planted those along the back by the fence for the hummingbirds, so they'll grow out and around the taller plants. Then I cleared out the trash pile of limbs and branches & tossed them into the dumpster. All that took 3 hours. I'm exhausted, so now I'm going to take a shower and relax for the rest of the day.

Your last sentence of your response post Moses highlights the main issue of how I define winter survival in a cold zone. I don't doubt that there is cane damage in a typical rose after 17F (particularly prolonged periods below 17) but most of my roses shake it off. As long as the rose can regrow from surviving roots, grafts, or canes, I count it as survival. Having said that, I was pleasantly surprised at the number of roses for which I only had to do a modest amount of tip pruning if at all this past spring. I expect it with the Canadians and most climbers and the Easy Elegance roses, but a lot of hybrid teas had very little to prune off after last winter too. I pruned probably 200 roses before I filled up a garbage can worth of canes. In years past, I would fill up 4 garbage cans for fewer roses. The long story isn't one I'm prepared to go into details about because of respect for the vendor, but I had a source this year that sent out own root roses that were quite small. I respect this vendor and have worked with them for years, but the date I had requested for delivery was much earlier than the roses were ready to be sent. I babied them in pots all summer but there were a handful that just never seemed to put down roots and just barely clung to survival. I finally had to plant them in the ground in September to have a fighting chance to put down enough roots to survive the winter, but they were averaging about 3 inches tall and had no "canes" to speak of. They might survive the winter but I'm not counting on it. I've been communicating with the vendor and am perfectly happy with the response. Yep, not very interesting after all... Even larger plants of rooted cuttings I've gotten from friends (6-8" tall) and planted in the fall haven't had a good track record of surviving the winter. If I'm going to plant something in the fall it usually needs to be at least a solid gallon size potted or transplanted rose in my experience. Now that I'm better able to grow robust canes in spring/summer months I worry much less about winter and the survival rate has reinforced my relaxed attitude. I still winter protect with my oak leaves and filled leaf bags to create an artificial "snow line" in this dry climate and increase the amount of cane left in fussy roses. I probably don't have to, but it gives me a reason to collect leaves in the fall that I'll need anyway as mulch all summer. My bottom line is like yours - there may be cane death but with rose ultimate survival it's of little consequence. Enjoy some indoor activity in front of a roaring fire with a good book on Tuesday Cynthia