hi Judith,

Seil suggested in the other thread that we should wait for new bud eyes to determine if our cane is still alive, and there's no sure way of knowing until that happens.

I've not seen any bud eyes swelling yet here in Dallas. I will go ahead and give my roses their first dose of alfalfa and liquid fertilizer this week, to help them break out of dormancy. (I'm gaming we won't get another polar vortex, and that the temp will not fall under 26 degrees, with is about when I see damage to young growth). I've already done my normal pruning, but once I see the new growth I'll know where I have to further prune.

I doubt you'll have to prune down to 3" for most of your roses. We got down to 0F here , and if you look at the hardiness map, that's still Zone 7a (0-5 F minimum temp). Most roses are pretty hardy to 7a. Of course if our roses had broken dormancy prior to the polar vortex, they'd sustain more damage.

I live between Houston and Dallas. I find it pretty amazing how different roses tolerated the prolonged freeze differently. Many of my heartier roses just lost the leaves, but the canes look hearty. I am slowly pruning all the brown leaves from them and it is proving quite a task on some of the larger climbers such as Peggy Martin. Cecile Brunner is on her own as she is up and over a 10-foot arbor and way too overgrown to reach all of them. Some of my less established roses with smaller diameter canes may not make it and I am content to leave them be for the moment. As with every year the garden just keeps evolving and telling her story, a book of many chapters.,

I sure hope to hear positive reports from all of our polor vortex friends in a few weeks. My fingers crossed that your roses and other plants will make a full and speedy recovery.

Kristine, I hope to deliver positive reports!

Mine were all actively growing, lot of them had flower buds before the polar vortex. A couple of new grafted ones are completely dead to the graft, so I know they are goners. I do have some that are budding so know there is some life, but think I'll be down to 6 to 12 inches on most. I did give all the ones putting out growth a week solution of fish fertilizer.

Just wait it's too soon. There hasn't been enough time for them to recover and start growing again yet. Give them a couple of weeks of good warm weather and you should begin to see new growth and will be able to tell what is healthy and what needs to go.

Also be prepared to have to prune again in a few weeks. Sometimes winretdamage doesn't show up right away or something that looked good will suddenly die back.

Rachel from Palatine called today about double checking my address - my David Austin roses from their recent sale are being sent Monday! I took the opportunity to ask her some questions......just what Seil said - leave them alone, dont fertilize, be patient and wait. They are recovering, the sap needs to start flowing again and she said some of the canes that look bad might be good underneath and may surprise me. At this point.......I would be very surprised! At the least, I believe I am going to have to prune severely, but will be happy if they survive. If they survive, they will hopefully grow. It is just so hard to wait! I want to go out and look everyday and see if there is any hope!

Rachel also told me that due to making sure they would have enough roses ready to sell that ordering will not commence until Dec. 6 this year.

Judith

I was wondering why Palatine fall rose shipping was eliminated this year. Thank you.

No, it wasnt. They started selling in September, then they had a David Austin older rose sale I think in December. Those roses are being shipped out now. The fall roses were shipped out in November I think, at least that is when I got mine.

I got mine in November too...won't do that again. The weather is just way too unpredictable...