It's just plain cold coming from Texas to the Great North. They wanted to be 70° under a grow light then brought outside for a few hours each day until it is a little warmer. A greenhouse could revive them slowly they are going into winter dormancy.

They thought they are getting ready for fall.

30° at night is just too cold.

Actually we have had quite a warm spell, got in the 90s on friday. They were lookino pretty good until maybe beginning of last week. Could it possibly be from the acidity in the potting soil? Or would it take awhile for cold damage to show up?

Sam is right about leaves can turn red going from warm weather (Texas) into our cold zone. Just saw your response.

Kelly: Have you been watering with tap water, or do you have rain recently? Leaves can turn red from phosphorus deficiency from either too high pH or too acidic (below 5). But in my experience with tap water near 9, I never see reddish leaves. I saw that more from TOO ACIDIC, as with tons of cold rain in a pot. One year my geranium in pot got tons of cold rain, and the leaves turn bright red, very pretty. Rain can leach out phosphorus from pots, and lowering of pH past 5 will result in phosphorus deficiency.

http://www.mgofmc.org/docs/nutrientdeficiency.pdf

"Phosphorus is necessary to stimulate early root formation and growth, hasten crop maturity, stimulate flowering and seed production, give winter hardiness to fall plantings and seedings, and promote vigorous start (cell division) to plants. Deficiency symptoms

General: Red or purplish color (anthocyanin pigment) in leaves, especially undersides. Root growth poor. Lower stems may be purplish. Deficiency is often a problem in cool soils in early spring."

Barbara J. Bromley, Mercer County Horticulturist 10

90° is too much of a shock and can put them into a dormancy too. I hope Straw can help you nurse them.

Yes, we had almost a week of rain last week. I will give them some potash- what you recommend from amazon Straw. I hope with a little extra care they will bounce back.

Come to think of it, teps did get pretry low- low 40s to even upper 30s. I brought the plants into the garage for a few nights until tems waemed up again. The excitements of living in Mn- 36 degres F one week to 91 the next. I usually plant with bananas so hopefully that will help too.

Kelly: Same weather here. I bought my cilantro and basil way too early, and they become reddish & yellow and stunt. It happens every year with hot temp., then cold rain, I simply give it blood-meal for them to green up.

Your clay looks very much like mine, like dry putty on top. Coarse sand, or paver-leveling sand does wonder for fast green-up despite temp. fluctuation in spring. I have many variety of mints. One place I mix the entire bag of coarse sand with my heavy clay ... the mint came out dark green despite fluctuating spring weather. And they are tall & vigorous coming out early from winter. But the other mint where the heavy clay is: They got affected with temp. fluctuation, came out late, with reddish blotchy leaves, very poor phosphorus-uptake.

Plant can't take up phosphorus well from heavy clay, and when temp. gets cold suddenly, that lock-up is worse. But loamy or sandy soil is very good with phosphorus uptake (info. from University of Hawaii Extension).

When I made my soil loamy by mixing coarse sand with clay, mint-leaves became dark-green, while other mint in clay have discoloration, just like your second pic.

I followed you instructions per above Straw as I happened to have all those things. Most are looking better already. The last picture is of Buck's honeysweet. It looked like two cuttings in one likeany of the ones I got from chamblees, but I wasn't very gental separating it and it was actually one cutting that is not very happy to be separated. It had two branches- both with some root developement. I planted them together and will see what happens but that's the one that may not recover.

Kelly: My geranium's leaves which turned red in a pot, from hot temp, then tons of cold rain? I ran out of fluffy potting soil, so I put clay at the bottom of that pot, which prevented fast drainage in heavy rain. Plus I neglected that pot, never fertilize it. That plant had all the signs of phosphorus deficiency !! At the same time, a second geranium in 100% fluffy potting soil was dark-green despite weather fluctuations.

Fragile roots need fluffy soil for best phosphorus-uptake. That's why folks root roses in sand. Some excerpts from rhodies-link, which also apply to wimpy own-root roses:

I got into rooting roses for the past 3 years, I also grew roses from seeds. The below link from The American Rhododendron Society also apply to rooting roses. Rhodies have fragile roots like tiny own-root roses.

http://www.rhododendron.org/soil.htm

" Drainage: Rhododendrons and azaleas thrive in moist, well-drained soils high in organic matter. Rhododendrons and azaleas have shallow fine hair-like roots. These roots do not tolerate water-saturated soil conditions but do require moist soils. Poor drainage and wet soils are problems often associated with heavy clay and compacted soil. To test drainage, dig a hole about 10 to 12 inches deep and fill it with water. Then after it drains, fill it with water again and see how long it takes to drain. If the hole drains within an hour you have good drainage.

Poor aeration results in the development of toxins in soil. Plants in heavy soils with poor aeration often become chlorotic from malnutrition. To improve soil aeration the best amendment is organic matter, with compost being an excellent choice. Soil bacteria acting on compost produces humus that binds with soil particles - that forces tightly packed particles apart; improves drainage and allows the fine roots of rhododendrons to more easier penetrate through the soil.

About half of the planting medium should be organic material. Combinations of sphagnum peat moss, pine or fir bark fines, compost, and aged, chopped leaves should be worked into the soil to a depth of about 12". Oak leaves are excellent.

Adding a large amount of organic matter will raise the bed, which will improve the drainage and aeration of the soil. Inorganic materials that may also be added to soil include perlite, vermiculite or small diameter lava rock. Time-tested mixes:

• Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden mix: two-thirds coarse sand mixed with one-third medium bark, no soil
• Everett Farwell rhododendron mix: 80% medium fir bark mixed with 20% small (⅛"-¼" diam.) crushed lava rock, no soil
• Holden Arboretum mix: five parts coarse sand and one part medium pine bark to four parts loamy soil.
Up to ¼ loamy soil can be added to ¾ RSBG or Farwell mixtures.

Keep Moist: Rhododendrons and azaleas will not survive in wet, poorly-drained soil.

http://www.rhododendron.org/soil.htm

**** From Straw: The above soil-mix for different types of Rhodies can be applied to roses .... Own-root roses are different from each other, and have different soil and pH preference just like rhodies. I checked the pics. of the above species of rhodies:

The Botanical Garden rhodies have slender and glossy foliage with smaller blooms (2/3 coarse sand with 1/3 medium-bark)

The Everett Farwell rhodie have larger leaves, matte foliage, and big petals (80% fir bark with 20% crushed lava rock). More potassium from lava-rock is needed for larger blooms.

The Holden Arboretum rhodie have big, matte leaves, with huge cluster of flowers (5 part sand, 1 part pine bark, 4 part loamy soil). The soil is needed for moisture & nutrients for big-cluster blooms.

Bluegirl from TX e-mailed this info. "We grew azaleas in my old zone. They were old plants, probably original to the 70 yr old house. They were in a north bed--shady & had a drip hose. Every year we'd add lots of oak leaf mulch & occasionally, I'd give them a dose of Ironite (ferric sulfate). They were gorgeous & did well, though our unimproved soil was alkaline black clay. The soil in that bed was humus--black, fluffy humus with crumbly leaf mold on top."

**** From Straw: Agree with Bluegirl that TOPPING with organic matter is best ... when the organic matter like leaves break down, it releases acid to soften the heavy-alkaline-clay underneath. But it doesn't work mixing leaves with clay .. they decompose and glue with clay. Azaleas have shallow root, I grew 4 of them .. that's different from deep-rooted roses. Shallow root can extend out to the surface soil.

However, mixing coarse sand plus gypsum help to break up hard-compacted clay chunks which roots can't penetrate. I mixed coarse sand & gypsum in 4 tomato holes last year .. fast forward 12 months later, this week I dug up and it's loamy & fluffy ... didn't glue up like the places where I mixed in peat moss, leaves, alfalfa hay, or wood chips.

This applies to black-very-alkaline-clay with pH near 8, with brownish clay at bottom (pH near 9), and dolomitic limestone bottom. I used 12 bags of coarse sand this past Sunday to plant 24 tomatoes: 1/2 bag per hole.

Clay have different properties and chemical composition. Red clay is more acidic & softer, and shale-clay in CA is different from limestone-heavy-clay, which I have. I'm next to a limestone quarry. My clay is so hard that it's like rock when dry, really kill roots during drought, while choke roots to death when it's soaking wet with poor drainage.

Good to know. When I put 8 the back border, I didn't amend it at all. Just Planted and figured if it grew, great! It dries rock solid and is too hard to mix anything in now, especially since it is full of plants! I usually top it with leaf mulch and gypsum, so hopefully it will improve over time. Good to know about sand and gypsum mixed in with the clay. My order from RU is coming this week, so I will try that in the planting holes along with a banana at the bottom for extra potassium. ..

Kelly: My order from RU also comes this week: Poisedon, Munstead Wood, Dee-lish, and Lady of Shalott. Granular gypsum is sold cheaper at feed-store or at Menards at $4.59 for 25 lb. bag.

Despite being next to a limestone quarry, my soil-test came back barely adequate in calcium , due to calcium bind up with magnesium and phosphorus at high pH.

Gypsum made a BIG DIFFERENCE in my tomato. For many years my cherry tomato would crack in rain, then it gets mushy & watery at hot temp. After using gypsum, my cherry-tomato are firm & crunchy & thicker skin and no longer crack with heavy rain.

If the bottom of the hole is too hard to dig, I put gypsum, pour in some water, take a break. When I come back, the 17% sulfur in the gypsum soften the hard-clay at bottom, so I can dig deeper for drainage.

Update: Everything is looking soo much better. Possibly was due to cold damage and not liking being in pots. I think everything is showing signs of new, healthy growth! Thanks everyone!!

Congrats Kelly, hoping that your bushes continue to improve and provide you with many roses. If you have a chance, could you post recent photos. I'd love to see the progress that your roses have made. Though I really appreciate the service and price on Chamblees, sometimes their roses a bit on the young and tender side. Curious to know how Chamblees compares to RU this year. I just received an order from Heirloom was pleasantly surprised to see how big the plants were.

The new foliage does look good. Hope things continue to improve.

Everything is looking soo much better!! They really liked the top dressing of composted lake and yard wastes!

Even the buck I was certain I killed...

Kelly: Leaves are so healthy, I love the glossy foliage. I enjoy all the pics. you posted. My Italian basil was tiny & yellowish early May. With blood meal (has iron), it's dark-green and ready to eat now !!

Very healthy looking roses.

Congratulations Kelly! it's great to see them growing so happily now :-))