Cynthia- I only had GG for one summer. He too was eaten by voles this past winter. I bought a replacement and we'll see how it goes. It does get hot here too. We see over 100 occasionally and have days on end int he high 90's plus humidity near 100%. I've often wondered how it can be that humid and still not rain. I usually don't judge a flower performance the first year unless it's bought either bare root or own root. It seems that the nursery potted plants flower far better their first year than anything I can achieve. I wonder if they use a super duper fertilizer to help force buds. Sharon

i strongly agree with virgil about the real work done on these shoes i have to say, i really hope they change hgtv shows. i know theres a thread somewhere on here all about hgtv but im sick and done with the fake happy couples who happen to mysteriously have ginormous amounts of money to flip and renovate homes into ugly houses for the fools who are on the show its the same s*it all over and over day after day, just different couples doing the same decorating and "designing" when we know all the TRUE work is done by engineers, architects, contractors, plumbers, electricians, handymen, house stagers and interior designers who work with them. you know....the little people

I have Cloud 10, actually this is my second one. Both were potted roses, the last one was from Star. As you know, Cloud 10 is from breeder Radler of KnockOut fame. Listed as a climbing rose 7-8'. Hardy to zone 5 but may only be a tall shrub in z5. Excellent disease resistance. Double flowers singly or in clusters. My first one was a wimp, died back to the ground every winter, never got much taller than 2-3'. The second one I planted last year. I mulched it heavily for winter and glad I did because it died to the mulch line. I think this rose likes lots of water and fertilized every 30 days. I usually only get my roses fertilized twice. Once with fish and kelp as soon as possible in the spring when they start to leaf out and then one application of Rosetone 3-4 weeks later. This year I fertilized three times and it did much better. It rained constantly all summer. It has finally made it up to the top of the pillar - about 5 1/2'. The flowers last a long time and repeat is good. Its not real full but with winter dieback all the time, it's hard to get many or strong canes. It isn't bothered with leaf spots of any kind. I don't think it is even slightly fragrant, but I can't smell anything anymore so I'm no help there!

The difference in temps is negligible for hardy plants in my opinion. For lower growing woody plants if they are buried their roots are safe and they are much less likely to see damage from air temps, winter sun and dry desiccating winter winds. I've certainly had conifers have lustrous green needles half way up the plant then transition to brown on the top half with the latter being exposed above the snow line. In addition many plants will regenerate growth from the roots. Smives eluded to this earlier in the post (at least its my interpretation of why he posted it). If you have such extreme temps early or late in the winter your cutting off the plants ability to uptake moisture through the roots so early in the season or so late when its desperately looking to replenish. Hence why snow cover is our best friend. Winter winds and sun are usually more damaging than solitary extreme temps if you have a long duration of frozen soil. If we don't see any more extremes and the soil starts to thaw in March I don't expect anything but minor twig and bud damage. Although I haven't had gardening experience with these solitary extremes like this year (-23, -24 and -26).