As long as the ground is not frozen, you can plant a rose. Even if it burns, cut it back. However, if this is a full plant, I would opt to keep it inside until weather is nice, taking it in and out during the warmer parts of day for sunlight and bring it back in, plant it later and trim it up a bit.

When my daughter got to the age where she'd drag things everywhere and still too young to take direction to pick up & put away, I got into the habit knowing exactly what room/area in the house was I going to next, and making sure I was carrying something to be put away in that room, or put away on the way to that room. After doing it consistently for a short while, it became an immediate brain reflex to pick something up. Over time, I've kind of designated spots in my rooms where I "collect" objects that don't belong in the room. When I leave that room, I pass by the collection spot, pick out what goes into the room/area I'm going to next. It's like I'm always picking up & cleaning, but not really spending the time doing it. Also, I commit myself to correctly putting things away when I put them away. On another note, I admit my computer desk can fall into disarray REALLY fast. When I notice the workspace is testing my nerves, I make myself correctly put away 3 items before I allow myself to check email or get on the computer. Over the course of a day or 2, my workspace gets cleaned up without a real invested block of time. The key point is putting things away CORRECTLY and ALL THE WAY. If that means making a special trip to the basement to put away the hammer I drug out last week...I do it. If that means something needs to get put back on a high shelf, I commit to doing it. It takes so much less time to put something away correctly the first time versus moving something from 1 dumping spot into another dumping spot, and making a nomad out of it. I can honestly say I don't have any object in my house that doesn't have a designated home. If I don't have a proper place to house things, they don't belong in my house. Anyway, that's what I do. Gayle

celestial, I am truly sorry that Zackey thought that a poem from my Kindergarten school days (and yes! I did have those!) was an attempt to make fun of her. I read her "Page" and it prompted me to offer that "Botany Lesson in a Poem". Sadly, it seems to have backfired. I can empathize with Zackey in quite a few ways. I too, have carried a loaded back pack sprayer (4 gall Imperial! and paid 'job rate'). I have been misted with "Paraquat"⢠from a crop sprayer; and witnessed a grown man die from organophosphate poisoning. I do not make fun of / with the subject. The fact that I have survived to "three score years and ten" is attributable to two practices. I always obey the label instructions. This led to a memorable incident when I "crossed swords" with a City Management over the use of Methyl Bromide. I regularly have a medical check-up. Long ago and far away it was the annual blood test for cholinesterase (organophosphates again); nowadays it is for less dramatic things like cholesterol. I sincerely want Zackey and others to express their thoughts, opinions and experiences. I always try to learn from the experience of others. Life is not long enough to allow me all of those experiences first hand. It is a lot safer. Let us keep the discussions ongoing.

Do you have pear trees or those pink weeping cherries? Those are blooming here now, too. And other orchard trees like peaches and apricots. I usually just prune out the discolored canes from winter, back until the canes are nice and green. Then prune out any canes that will cross too closely to another one (unless it's a small plant that needs all the canes and leaves it can get). You can take some height off of most modern roses if you like (or leave them tall), but if the rose only blooms once a year wait until after it blooms to do that. Some of the good canes may not actually be a great green. I have some that get kind of purple in the winter. That's fine. And some old canes can look kind of dead when they are just woody, so look for live buds pushing leaves if it's a particularly woody rose bush. Then you do have to cut off canes that have bad, cankered spots in them. You have to cut those off below the cankered area. Those are usually pretty obvious, I think (or I don't worry about the small ones). I hate to have to cut off long canes for that, but if you have a big bad spot on any cane, the cane will have to come off sometime. The canker can spread/creep down and up the cane, so go on and take care of that before the rose wastes all kinds of energy on the cane. Sterilize your pruners between cuts when dealing with canker.