Floridarosez, I have found that plants that used to turn to mush in barely freezing temps in Orlando don't turn to mush here even down in the 20s. My Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow is an evergreen woody bush (assuming you mean Brunfelsia). My hydrangeas go bare in November, but last year I had almost no dieback in the stems from the severe cold we had. They must get hardened to the cold here whereas yours just get zapped. I don't grow ferns anymore (too rampant) or bougainvillea. What a difference 85 miles due north makes! My roses are like yours - except for the blooms, raring to go. My Clotilde Soupert that has kept her leaves all winter is almost bare today (it wasn't on Sunday). I think it's just time for her to start fresh. I think (here anyway) the blackspot is on old leaves that are just tired and winter stressed. Our daytime temps today were in the 50's (brrrr) and through the weekend supposed to only be in the 60's, so spring isn't quite here yet. I just hope there will be no more hard freezes, because I'm pruning and feeding this weekend. I was elated a little while ago on my walk around the garden that Blush Noisette has FOUR basal breaks, and Nur Mahal has one!! Most everything else is popping new growth like crazy. I'm so happy. I thought spring would never happen. Sherry

Here, majority of roses if grown no-spray, will routinely loose all their leaves. The impact depends on the rose variety. Some varieties will grow new set of leaves right away, the new leaves will get infected again and drop. This circle will go on and on, but the plants will survive, they will look ugly and will not grow and bloom as successfully as the roses with leaves, but they will not die and will not completely quit blooming. Examples of such roses are many china rose (for example Mutabilis, Cramise Superionr and many others) There are multiple examples of other roses that will really decline after defoliation, but not die. Examples are to numerous to list here. There are also roses that will continue to grow new leaves, like chinas, but defoliation will cause the hardiness issues. They will have less chances to survive next winter. Many Tea roses (not HTs)fall into this category here. Healthy teas are perfectly hardy here, Teas that were allowed to get BS and defoliate, usually die in winter or gave a lot of dieback. Olga

Forget the snow once it gets below 50 I hibernate. I'm with you Kylie and would rather have suffocating heat year round! lol Every year I say we're going to move south but then we come up with excuses for not moving. I really do love this area except for the cold and the traffic. We went through the greenhouse and it was so sad. Anything that has a remote chance of recovery got cut back and put on a shelf but I still had loads of plants to trash. The one good thing is that I was able to clear out so much that there's now enough room in that GH for all my orchids. We're going to move everything from the small orchid house into the GH of death this afternoon. It will save on electricity. Gotta look at the bright side, right? I'm happy to say that both my Agapetes are fine : ) I'll list the brugs I lost later. Hopefully there will be people with extras of the varieties I lost that will want to trade in the spring. A lot of what was lost were tender tropicals and I'm going to have to think long and hard if I want to replace all of them. I'm going to get a hold of Bob (Zone 9) and ask him to put aside the varieties I do want to replace (that he has) so I can have them shipped in the spring. Thankfully my Culebra and Vulcanicola were inside. I'm still not sure where my Sanguineas were but maybe it's time I gave up on them anyway. After about 10 years of trying to get blooms on that variety and failing it might be futile. Maybe somebody is trying to tell me something. lol

Now that you've heard a pitch from the Northwest (which IS gorgeous!), allow me to make a suggestion that you visit the Northeast - there are so many different locales where you could saturate yourself in gardens. Start with Boston, where I was born and raised: the whole city will be in bloom in late April/early May and is imminently walkable (think European) - the Public Gardens, Beacon Hill, all the flowering trees and shrubs along the beautiful Charles River; cross the river and wander through the Harvard campus, the riverbank again, the exquisite Mt. Auburn Cemetery (designed as a garden) - add in museums, historical sites, the beautiful Fenway and further out, Jamaica Way...the later in May you go, the more beautiful. Then, there's Philadelphia: here, a car would help to take you out to see the Morris Arboretum, Longwood Gardens (just stunning!), Chanticler (one of America's BEST!), the gardens at the Phila. Museum of Art, Winterthur in nearby Wilmington, DE - I would recommend checking with the Penn. Horticultural Society (they're online) who know EVERYTHING about gardens in that area. Finally, my most recent stomping grounds, New York City (and beyond) and it's all accessible by public transporta- tion: there' the New York Botanical Garden (awesome), the Brooklyn Botanical Garden (charming), Wave Hill, the Cloisters and the adjacent Rockfeller Gardens (specializing in Spring bulbs), all of Central Park (but most particularly the restored Conservatory Gardens at 5th Ave. and 105th Street), and, the newest, knockout gardens in NYC (and not yet well known), the string of jewels all along the Hudson at lower Manhattan, winding in and around Battery Park City. I could go on. . .but I've probably already put you to sleep! As for being a care partner: been there, done that, you DO need a garden respite. . .and deserve it! All the best, Carl