Update on blackberry winter survival (three weeks later)… Uncovered Plants - Black Satin (no winter damage). These were low to ground so maybe some snow protection. - Triple crown (some winter damage) - approx. 20% die back). Seem to have handled the winter fine but some dieback, primarily on the thinner canes). - Ouachita (some winter damage) - approx. 10% die back). Almost no dieback…surprising because I thought they would be less hardy than other erect varieties. - Kiowa (significant winter damage - approx. 75% die back). At first I thought these had overwintered well, but two of the four plants didn’t leaf out and the other two were significantly damaged. This variety has had some health problems over the last two years with (2 of 6 previously dying). Since this year’s crop was a loss and I have had problems with this variety in the past, I decided to replace them with a newer, thornless variety: Von Blackberry. - Prime Ark 45 (significant winter damage - approx. 50% die back). Honestly, some of the dieback may be from the primocane fruiting sections from last fall, but what is left seems to be growing well now. I think I’ll make these a primocane only crop after this season. - Wild Treasure Trailing. In ground planting - left uncovered and plant died back to ground. Potted planting (covered) lost most of its cane length. Given space and effort, not sure this variety is worth keeping. - All raspberries were uncovered and nearly all had no noticeable winter damage. I even had a blackhawk black raspberry and two double gold raspberry plants in pots just sitting in the open and both plants are growing really well and blooming. - I did have two canes on the Cascade Delight raspberry that died during the winter but I believe that was partly due to exposed roots from some soil erosion in their raised bed. Covered Plants. - Black Diamond. I decided to give it a reprieve and let it grow again this year but spray it for cane borers. I had to remove all of last year’s growth due to cane borers but this year it has three times as much growth (e.g. canes) and looks healthy. There’s already a 8” of growth this season and that’s a lot for this variety in my climate. - Siskiyou. No winter damage. Both plants look good and have been putting on amazing growth (well, at least amazing compared to my previous attempts). These second year plants each have 5 or more canes and the cane diameter has doubled since last year. The primocanes are already about ½ inch thick (e.g. diameter) and about 12” in length so far. Yeah! Last year’s growth is getting ready to bloom. - Kotata. No winter damage and the plants are growing new canes. I have 2-3 new canes per each plant and there’s about 6-8” of growth so far. Less vigorous growth from these plantings. - Thorny Boysenberry. The non-potted plants suffered the trifecta of cold weather, cane borers, and voles, so I have maybe 10% of the canes from last year but they are getting ready to bloom. I have had problems with leaf spot on these but I gave them a good lime-sulfur spray treatment this spring, so hopefully this will help. New growth has been outstanding with the cane diameter doubling, much like the Siskiyou blackberries, and there are 8-10 canes per planting with 12-18” of growth already. I’m going to do a better job of protecting these in the winter this year. - Marionberry. I lost about 50% of the cane length from the overwintering period but have learned more about what not to do while preparing them for winter. Plants seem fine but not as vigorous as Siskiyou or Boysen but more vigorous than Kotata. - Loganberry. I lost about 75% of the canes on these from cane borers and the cold. These may be the least cold hardy of the trailing berries that I own. The primocanes are growing vigorously though.

Masiel - my teas have grown a bit fewer since last year's bitterly cold winter but I still have 4 or 5. The best have been Mme. Antoine Mari and Maman Cochet, and with the leaf bag protections they'll bloom more or less all season. Mrs. BR Cant is also good and fairly reliable in blooms, as was Georgetown Tea, though neither was a particularly full bloomer at any given time. Duchess de Brabant was never a strong rose, but she was mostly shaded out by some aggressive clematis and might not have gotten a good chance to show herself. That's one of the roses that died off last winter. I have grown Monsieur Tiller and Safrano at various points and had them overwinter at least once, but they weren't robust. Ditto for a couple of other teas that slip my mind. I planted the china Archduke Charles last year on another zone 6 recommendation, and I have Clementina Carbonari and Mme. Berkeley on order for this spring. There are probably some others, but those are the ones that come to mind. FWIW, even if Elie Beauvillain is 15+ in warmer zones, she might not be that big for you in zone 6. It depends - my MAC is HUGE when happy and drapes over everything in sight (easily 15' on a good year), but my teas are no more than 4' tall at best even though they're usually 8' or more in warmer zones. I've posted a picture to give you an idea. Mme. Antoine Mari is to the left of the inner path, Georgetown Tea is to the right of the path (just barely rising above Savoy Hotel), Mrs. BR Cant is barely visible toward the left back and Maman Cochet is at the far left. Cynthia

Hi Patty, I actually bought Peter's book as a preorder from Amazon after reading about him and his book in Fine Gardening. I gave him his very first Amazon review and got a very sweet thank you note from him! I love the book and he seems to be very realistic and non biased in his assessment of a rose's performance when guaging his assessments against the few roses I already had like Easy Elegance 'Centennial' and 'Julia Child'. I had purchased several roses prior to his book and was happy to see that many I purchased came highly recommended by him. I have 2 'Poseidon' and these so far have bloomed nicely and are very healthy, and performing as he stated. We both garden in same zones and similar conditions although he is more coastal ME and I'm more inland MA. I would love to see his gardens but don't know if they're open to the public. He's only about 2 hours from me so it would be great to meet him and discuss roses with someone who is so knowledgeable. Whiteout is interesting. I just bought (against my better judgement since it's so late in the season) 2 Radler Rambling Red Climbers from High Country Roses (gallon size so hoping they'll be well established) 2 own root Double Pink Knockout Roses and 2 Livin Easy from a vendor on Etsy. Keep your fingers crossed that we have a loooong fall, lol. It's always a gamble here on when old man you know who will arrive! Sharon

Looks to me like Amsonia hubrichtii, Arkansas bluestar. It's actually a perennial, not a shrub, so it will die back to the ground in winter and resprout from the roots. Light blue spring flowers, this lovely feathery foliage all season that turns bright gold in the fall.