Thanks, Al, for another well written piece of gardening interest! I've been cutting and forcing late winter/early spring branches for as long as I can remember. As kids, my Dad would take us hiking to look for trees and shrubs with this specific purpose in mind. One of our favorites for cutting and forcing has always been the pussy willow. As I remember, though, we always took this hike a little later than January... sometime in February, I believe it was. I just happen to have a Pink French pussy willow tree/shrub that's marked for a drastic pruning... it will make a wonderful subject for forcing. JoJo, I hate to see you left out... let me see if I can swing a quick shipping your way... I don't know for certain if it would work, but I'd love to send you some forcing enjoyment from the frozen tundra of the north! ;-) Which reminds me... as soon as the weather breaks, I'll have a package for you. I'll email. Well, Al... you've successfully planted the notion that spring is not all that far away, and for those of us sitting under snow and ice, who never quite get used to the long winter season, this is wonderful news! I'm off to find my good pair of shears!

Jodi: I hope you don't loose your mind Jodi! lol I feel your pain, although what's strange is that the snowy conditions are all around us in every state while just the warm rain storms move in here, even with over 50 mile an hour winds..But before and after that it's frigid.. It was in the teens Friday and today in the 50's..Tuesday, back to the 20's again..I wish this was over already. Have you seen what our friend "Nancy" is dealing with in Florida? She say's it is going to be in the mid twenties again with the destruction of many tropical plants, including damage to her Mango's last week, let alone again this week. Sheesh, at least her Jades are coloring up fast...Crazy I say.. By the way, please watch your back with shoveling the snow, and please post us some nice picks when your pretty bulbs bloom? It will be a site for sore eyes by the time they do so..:-) Jojo....How are you? I like the black bottle idea too! That will be a fun hobby..The paints are on sale at Michael's this week and pretty cheal at HD.. I wish I could use this method. No container dark would warm up for me in full sun around here..The sun only acts like a flashlight until about Feb now..Even if your weather should be colder, I can only imagine the warmth of your sun against any wall, or protected area..I have walked about in your area with snow on the ground with my t-shirt only..I loved it.. I wonder how your jades are doing this time of the year? You must be getting some cooler temps to turn them color.. Dormancy dance? lol... I finished that dance weeks ago when the leaves to my fig tree fell off due to frost..Now they are being stored in the dark and in my shed, where the temps hover in the mid thirties or higher until the spring..I guess I can finally say I have an advantage with the cold this time around..It makes winter a bit more bareable knowing that some of my plants will benefit from it..:-) Josh...That is the best news I have heard all day in regards to this dreay dark weather! Thanks for the reminder, considering that we still have another week or so for the sun to lower even further in the sky. It gives us hope that just as soon as the first day of winter arrives, the sun will start it's climb up hill again, thank God..:-) Hey Mrlike2u! Good to hear from you...You are right, Jodi's plant are much better, but your's are still nice looking..lol, In all serious, when those decide to bloom, we want to see them. They should do very well in your care..By the way, the tops of some of my Desert Roses just rotted right off on the seedlings..:-( Donald: Very good looking fruit..Great job there..Congrat's on your Orchids too..Wow. Ykerzner:Fungus gnats, sugarcane, bagged mixes, and light frost's..Guess which two I like the most? Hint: It can be very sweet when slightly cooled....:-) Josh: P.s.. What nice looking cactus you have there.. Mike

Just to add a bit of confusion to the discussion about the "evergreens". :oP The only real "evergreen" Rose I have in my garden is 'Cooper's Burmese'(don't loose one leaf, and leaves are always green, without changing to red or maroon green), which is related to R. laevigata. R. laevigata herself is reported to be not hardy in England, so I suspect she don't withstand persistant temperatures lower than -6/8 °C in a location without summer heat (this also is important, I think, not only winter temperatures). Both Banksiae (Rosa banksiae in all her forms, R. fortuneana) and Bracteatae (R. bracteata, 'Mermaid', 'Maria Leonida') aren't evergreen, at all in my Zone 9b/10a garden (min. winter temperatures never below 0 °C, approx. 4-5 °C). Banksias are almost deciduous, Bracteatas "semi-evergreen" (they always loose the oldest half of their leaves). Wichurana and Sempervirens Hybrids are the most beautiful ramblers here. Multifloras cannot compete. These rambling beauties are almost evergreen. 'Félicité et Pérpétue', 'Spectabilis' are avergreen in my garden. Wichuranas obviousely are, too. But if some are at their best when it's hot, others dislike to flower under my strong sun. 'Albéric Barbier' is the widely cultivated rambling rose in Sardinia. It's so easy to root cuttings, so vigorous and strong (don't care to be completely neglect), that almost every white rose you can see here climbing on a wall or fence, is the lovely Albéric. And it's absolutely evergreen here. 'Albértine' is pretty, pretty, pretty. Just a little thick and stiff grower than Albéric. The flowers are gorgeous in their lovely shades of light pink and salmon, and the fragrance very good indeed. 'Paul Transon'/'Paul Noel' bloom late in may, and suffer under the hot sun. It's better in a semi-shaded are, where the flowers are bigger and long-lived. 'François Juranville' is amazingly beautiful in full flower, and almost thornless. The little, shiny leaves looks pretty good. 'Breeze Hill'is another must to have. Flowers are bigger than any other Wichurana, in an unusual shade of white/buff . The plant is buchy and prickly, good as a freestanding bush. There are many other beautiful Wichuranas, Ingrid. What about 'Alexandre Tremouillet', 'La Perle', 'May Queen', 'Mme Alice Garnier', 'Léontine Gervais'.... ;o)? Ciao! Maurizio

Okay, thank to all who have replied, but I am still so confused about this vine. I've read to cut it back, or keep it cut back to 18-24inches during the first year of growth. I don't even know how old this plant would be considered. I do know that I had one long spindly vine growing up the trellis, I had read that isn't what you want. So I decided to cut it back. But I was so scared to do anything to it. It still looks like the pic above, in this post. Except now, I've cut back that one spindly vine and I see nothing happening now. It looks just like it did the day I purchased it, weeks ago. Now it's not even climbing the trellis. I guess I'm waiting now for something to happen where I cut back, but don't even know what I'm looking for. I can't even tell what's what on this thing. Branches, twigs, hard wood, soft wood, last years wood, this years wood, leaves, buds, I couldn't for the life of me tell you where what starts and where what ends. It's a tangled mess, all down at the bottom. There are two or three main stems coming out of the dirt. I assume that's the start of each section of the vine. So I'm assuming, if I see three main stems coming from the ground, somewhere amongst all the tangled mess, there should be three endings, to each of those stems, in which I could train to climb the trellis if I could find an ending. I don't know, but maybe I should just leave it alone. It's not dead, it's green, I see one ending that might be showing new growth, but if it is, it's still only gonna be one long lanky little vine growing up the trellis all alone, because I can't tell where what starts and where what ends. I'd much rather sacrifice any additional blooming this year and have this thing put out new growth from the ground. But I don't know if I should chop this thing all the way to the ground or not. I just planted it this year, know nothing about it and have done nothing but stress since I got it. I guess if it starts growing again, and I do have that one piece start growing up the trellis, I should just leave it and enjoy it. If I knew that cutting it back all the way to the ground would help it in any way shape or form I'd do it. That way I can see it as it grows, where the starting and ending points are, if that makes any sense. Because as it is now, I can't tell what's what. Scroll up to see the pic of what it looks like and tell me what you'd do if it were yours.