It sure looks like it was a good winter for roses. Quite a bit of snow has melted in the last 2 days here, and I've finally been able to get to my roses.
Now, Gillian, you were wanting to know if my Scentimental made it through the winter, so I checked and sure enough, there's about 6" of green cane. Now I've had roses show some green cane before and then croak later in the spring, so I won't be counting my chickens, er, roses yet! But here's the weird thing, I didn't cover Scentimental with anything. There was a good 2 feet of snow over it and that's it. I did shovel some more snow over it today, so I'll wait and see how it does. Of course I did cover Hawkeye Belle and it seems to be green to the tips, along with Bonica, DeMontarville, Lambert Closse and Morden Centennial. Even Folksinger had green showing above the mounded soil. I really didn't have much hope last fall for 'Love' surviving, so I only piled some carrot tops over top of it, and today I did see a little bit of green just above ground level. If that one survives, it'll be a miracle!
So barring any -20 degree cold snaps, it may be a good year for roses...........knock on wood ;^)

Laurie

Laurie,
Just thought I'd let you know that Prairie Star is green to the tips for me. I'm crossing my fingers for warm nights from now on.

That's great news Sazzyrose! I sure wish mine had survived last winter:( Actually the other night, at a garden club meeting, I found out how I may have helped to kill it. I had used a styrofoam rose hut over it without cutting ventilation holes in it. Apparently that is a big no-no according to the rose expert who spoke that night. Oh,well, now I know better.

Anyone get their order from Cedar Hollow yet? I am holding my breath again and about to pass out. Gasp!

No, I haven't received my order of 12 roses yet from Cedar Hollow . I told them not to ship them out until after the 20th. After last years cold spring, I was scared to get them shipped out any sooner. I'm also waiting for an order of 10 roses yet from Valley K Greenhouses. I received some from them last year and was quite pleased with the roses. I'm also waiting for Kaleidoscope from Dominion House. I did recieve 3 bareroot roses from Lindenberg. They are in the ground already. I ordered 2 Golden Unicorn and 1 Jacques Cartier. I was very pleased with the size. In fact I also ordered some Siberian Iris and the size of these were quite large as well. I will be ordering from Lindenberg again. I purchased some roses last Friday from Zosels Tree Farm. Her roses are huge. They are close to being full grown for $13.95. I picked up a Topaz, another Morden Sunrise, 2 more Hunter and 1 Cuthbert Grant. I'm not sure where I'm putting all of these but I will make room.
Shelley (Who said that she was going to buy no more than 10 roses this year)

Gil, I phoned in my payment to Cedar last week, Lynn said my order would be shipped out on the 8th (yesterday) as requested, which means they should be here today or tomorrow or for sure by Friday. Geez, I can't even remember what the heck I ordered, oh yes, I do recall one of them was the Harrison Yellow, Yippie ;)
Ok, where I'm I going to plant these! Breath, breath, breath!

Sharon

Doh! I don't think I need to call in the payment, I gave them the credit card # and they said they would charge it when they shipped.

Perhaps I will give them a call and tell them I am ready?

Sharon does the breath, breath breath help find places to plant......or does Gil just know the secrets on how to squish more plants in the garden. Hmmmmmm

Where am I going to put my new roses? Oh ya in the Veggie garden haha

Sierra

Gil, if you have already phoned in your payment, then you should be getting yours right away too. They ask you on the order form when you want your order shipped out, but anyway phone her to see, I'm sure she'll send them out asap when your ready for them.

LOL, Sierra, yes maybe Gil has a secret! Please share with us Gil!

The thing is that I DO have the space (20 Acres), but that means that I will have to break more ground! I think I have enough space right now for 4 in the rose garden, the others will have to go in the perennial gardens. Will see when they get here. LOL

Sharon

Nooo I don't have a lot of room, just a fairly large city lot. I just have to practice a wee bit of self control (but not too much!) and remember not to compare my garden to some of you gals with acreages ;0)

Sazzyrose,:
how far apart do you plant your roses. My front is just roses and I have 2 more to plant, waiting for a least May long.

Stephanite:
a ways you was wondering on a hardy beautiful red rose for your mother or m.i.l., I think (if you still need a rose) the Winnipeg Parks Rose is absolutely beautiful and seems to bloom till frost and also appears to be extremely hardy.

RE: Climbers
The only climber I have had success with is the Red Blaze, can anyone recommend another very hardy climber, not pink or red, also I don't lay by climber down in the winter I just leave it be and do some trimmin in the spring, so I would like a climber that is low maintenance.

Thanks (newby) Annie

The distance that I plant my roses depends on the variety. My bigger ones are 4 or 5 ft apart while the smaller ones are around 2.5 ft apart. I like air to be able to circulate around them to keep diseases down to a minimum.
As for climbers, the only climber that I have that isn't pink is America. It was just a baby last spring and didn't perform all that great, but the colour was lovely. It is a full flowered coral/orange rose. It died back to 2 ft, but is showing lots of vigor this spring. So hopfully I get more blooms. It also had a very lovely fragrance.
Shelley

Annie, I purchased Polestar (Polstjärnam) climber last year and this year its already about 4-5' tall! According to my Lois Hole Rose book its supposed to be rampant reaching to 15-18 feet, I gotta see this!

Very bullet proof hardy with no winter kill on the branches. It is recommended that you don't prune heavily, because the rose blooms on old wood, if you do so, you'll have few flowers.
I will for sure take a photo when it blooms (3wks mid-summer). Small pure white double flowers, little or no scent.

Sharon

Sharon, that is one that I have wanted for years and years. I believe it is a once-bloomer though, is it not? I read that it is very popular in Sweden and will grow up into trees as it is shade-tolerant. I'm excited to hear that it is cane hardy. I wondered.

I got another new one today, Mom bought me Kordes' Perfecta in a bucket from Walmart. I gave her my Want List. LOL. She phoned me and told me there was only one and she wanted it for her garden so I threatened her with a nasty Round-Up accident and she gave it to me :0) I'm so mean.

Oops I meant Finland, not Sweden although I imagine it is popular there too.

Me too Me too!!..Ever since I seen it in Lois Hole's rose book I have wanted one..savona

Well I finally went downstairs to grab 3 roses I had bought about 3 weeks ago or maybe even more, the shoots on these roses are now about 2 to 3 feet long. The leaves are starting to wilt, the soil or pouch they were in is still moist, so I am assuming it is lack of sun. I put them downstairs cause I didnt want them to do anything till it was time to put them in the ground.

So I soaked them all day, and I am going to put them in the ground tomorrow, I think it is still too soon, (if only our weather was more predictable).

Does this seem ok, is there any tips and pointers I should know, ARE THEY GOING TO MAKE IT.......am I doing everything right? I have never bought Roses so soon in the season, but if I dont buy them then there wont be any nice ones to pick later. These roses are also in a pouch not a pot. I also dont usually buy roses in the pouchy bag, but they sure were pretty and I thought I would try.

Thanks
Annie

Annie, I bought a two new roses in bags this spring (they're affectionately called body bag roses LOL) and planted them straight out. It's stressful for them to be in a bag of cardboard and sawdust and the sooner you plant them the better.

Don't cover them unless the temperature drops below 0 at night (eagle eye on the forecast my dear!), then you can loosely wrap them in burlap or turn a large pot over top or whatever you have.

Roses, even the tender ones, are surprisingly durable once they have been hardened off. And you mentioned existing roses growing back from the bottom. It's totally normal for roses to die back to the ground over the winter in our cold climate. If they are putting on good growth from the ground already, that's a good sign. Also keep in mind that these canes are born hardened off, so only cover them if it freezes.

In terms of pruning, usually I wait until the beginning of June to see what is actively putting out leaves - anything else is probably dead and can come off. After that it's just deadheading and a little tidying up for shape in our zone. Real pruning takes place down south where the roses are green all year and never die back from cold.

Hope that helps a little!

So growth from the ground is a good sign. So are you telling me my roses have been sad all these years, because this is the first time that I have noticed only this type of growth, the only rose I did not cut back is the climber, just because of the fact that it is a climber. Now this is kinda funny, usually it has alot of growth by now on the stems and stalk of course, it is the very FIRST one to show any signs of life in the spring and the LAST one to fall into domancy in the winter. However this year (with all the unusual things happening to my roses, apparently good, yeah) my climber is LAST to show me any signs of regrowth, just now I am noicing some and very little for that matter.

I guess we had an odd winter and has affected all my plants differently, my Monks Hood is thrilled to be up and out and bigger than normal, my primrose and foxglove dont even look like they went thru winter (still green) and that Impatient that magically appeared from the ground, blew me away. My apple tree has never had so many blooms in all the years I have had it. I have 5 Clematis and only 2 are showing signs (they were all good last year!?!@?). And of course the roses decide to play with me. I ahve many more but these guys just caught my attention with their different behavior.

Anyone else going thru this, maybe it is me. Amyway because everything seems so lively and greener than normal, I covered everything all up again cause the nights do drop below 0 still, next week they will be warmer so I will uncover them on Sunday.

It is alot to cover and uncover, they are covered all day long. Do you think they will suffer if covered during the day for a week???

Thanks
Annie

Well, if you don't have time to uncover them and you're really worried, I won't tell you to leave them uncovered. I don't know about leaving them covered for a week because I've never done it. The way I see it is that they need to toughen up eventually. And after a week under wraps, if you expose them suddenly to bright hot sun, they might just burn. But again, I don't know because I've never done it.

To be more specific about canes... most non-hardy roses will die back to the ground (or nearly so) in winter. This means they have no choice but to grow new canes from the ground. This isn't necessarily better than regrowing leaves off last year's canes, it's just usually the best we can hope for.

I don't know if you mentioned what kind of roses you have. Hardy roses are more likely to be cane hardy which means they don't die back to the ground, and can therefore just send out some leaves in the spring and keep going. In my garden, this is Canadian Explorers, Harison's Yellow, and Rosa gallica versicolor. The rest have at least partial dieback.

In either case, during the growing season you may see large, strong canes coming up from the ground level. These are called basal breaks. When a cane sends out bushy side shoots (as opposed to basals), these are called laterals. Each basal can only form so many laterals, so basals are very desireable because they add hugely to the overall rose bush. They mean the bush is happy and growing. I have read that watering with Epsom Salts increases the incidence of basal breaks.

Basal breaks of course are not to be confused with suckers, which are when the rootstock (on grafted/budded roses) is growing up and taking over the rose. This is a bad thing.

I hope this wasn't too much information!!

Well they have all been exposed all there lives, they are tough. The only reason I covered them is because I cut them back to about 6" off the ground. Kinda like getting a buzz cut in the spring, those with hair probably dont need a touque at -1 but the buzz cut person would. That is the way I looked at it. Maybe not a good idea.

Maybe I should uncover them, yeah maybe I will.

I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo...

What I should have done was not cut them back, I should have just stuck with my usuual routine, but I have to mess things up.....Nothing was broke but I had to fix it anyway.........
WOW good thing this isnt heart surgery..........lol.........

Thanks alot, lol
Annie

Yes Gil, Polestar is a onetime-bloomer, although it should bloom for about 3 weeks. Will see this year how it preforms ;)

Sharon

Annie,

What I do with my roses is wait quite a while before I cut them back. I have been looking at my roses, but I haven't touched them yet. At some point towards the end of the month or perhaps in early June, I will then prune them, when I am sure that there is actually die back or just to thin out some of the older canes. It doesn't look like much die back this year, though.

If your roses are alive.....then pruning them back, shouldn't hurt them......they should put out new growth fairly quickly. As for covering them.....I don't think it matters either way....at this time of year.

Don't worry, we all make mistakes, this is how we learn!

Sierra

Sharon, I've been looking at Polestar as well. I want to replace my virginia creeper on the south side of my house. Do let us know this summer if it blooms for you and how much it grows.
Whenever I purchase roses in bags early in the year, I plant them up into pots right away and fertilize with starter mixes. That way their roots start to develop.
Shelley

Annie- regarding the pruning. (I missed it the before) I never used to prune my roses, but then I started one year and found that they bloom much better. I take off the tops and remove all small branches. The smaller branches don't flower the best. Your roses will also have more air flowing through them and won't be as prone to diseases. The last 2 years I've had trouble with blackspot on a few of my roses. It is an ugly thing to have. It has weakend 2 of my Morden Blush. They are not showing their usual vigor this spring.
What kinds of roses do you grow?
Shelley

I had these roses that I bought awhile back, anyway they were starting to wilt, they needed to be planted outdoors, so I did it today.

1st question:
Will they be ok and should I do anything special, I have never planted this early before but it was do or die, and should I cover them?

Now where I planted one of the roses, was in the same spot as another rose, which I thought died, turns out for whatever reason it is still alive just not out of the ground??

2nd question:
Why hasn't that rose peeked thru the ground yet, when all the rest are well above ground.

3rd question:
Now I have to move that slow poke rose and I would like to know the best way of uprooting and replanting this tardy hardy.

Thankyou so much
Annie

Annie, these roses that you just planted, did you prune back the new shoots? I would recommend it. Also on bagged rose bushes I fertilize with a root promoting fertilizer. (The middle number is quite high such as 10-52-10) I also add bonemeal when planting. If you didn't put it in the bottom of the hole, you could put it on top and scratch it in the dirt. I then mound the bush with peat moss for a few days then I slowly start to remove it a litle at a time. This helps, so the canes don't dry out while the plant is trying to establish roots. I also add lots of peat moss to the soil when I fill in the holes. The pokey rose that you want to replant, treat it like your new ones. I much prefer greenhouse roses than bagged or boxed roses. I have a boxed rose that is struggling also. I put it in a pot and it seemed to be doing fine then POOF, the leaves started to dry up. I won't put it in the ground until it starts looking better.
The pokey rose might be slow because of variety. It also might be struggling a bit. But if it is coming, it should be alright. Is it on it's own roots or budgrafted? If it is b/g then the top might have died. I thought that I had lost one of my Royal Edwards, but it's coming from the bottom. I had to dig around to find the buds. The other one is growing great.
Hope that this helped.
Shelley

My Cedar Hollow Rose Farm order came in yesterday, whoohooo, all nice, healthy and safe!

Shelley, thats good to know, my Royal Edwards is really being slow, I keep poking around to see if there is any shoots coming thru, but nothing yet...I'll be more patient.

Sharon

Annie, if all you cut off of your roses was dead stuff, don't worry about it. You just gave the new growth more room to grow straight and tall. If the old branches are completely dead, I'd cut them right to the ground. I have had roses freeze right off. One year I lost everything but my John Davis, but by fall they were full size again. Funny weather like a lovely warm February followed by a brutally cold March will kill the canes. If your roses are in a nice cosy spot, this year might have done it! For your new roses, I agree that cutting them back would be a good idea, and the new growth will be very tender. I put my 5 boxed roses in one gallon pots when I got them, then moved them out to my little greenhouse later. Even inside the greenhouse, and covered for temps below zero, two of them had all their new stems frozen off and the others lost leaves. They're all coming back nice and sturdy, though. Good luck!
Connie

I recieved my order from Cedar Hollow Rose Farms today. I ordered 16 and they only sent 15. One was not what I ordered. Their was no notes on substitutions or missing roses, so I sent them an e-mail. Some of the roses are huge. They looked like they had been sent quite healthy, but they got quite mangled in shipping. I recieved a dented in box and had 2 broken pots. One rose was nearly barerooted. (What a good postal sevice we have.) My substitution rose was Serendipity. Was I EXCITED. Then I looked at it again and seen that it was broke off at almost dirt level. I'm hoping that it will shoot up from the bottom. I will have to baby this one to see what happens. The rest I'm sure will bounce back quickly once I have them in the ground. The roses in 1 gallon pots seemed to be better off than the smaller pots. They were heavier and didn't bounce around as much.
On a kinder note. I would order from this place again. I find their prices quite good, the service has been prompt, and the roses are a good looking quality.(If I minus the damage the postal service did) They also have variety that I cannot find locally.
......I just checked my e-mail and they are sending me out my missing rose and a replacement for the broken rose. They had sent back an e-mail a few hours after I sent them my concerns. What good sevice!!!!!
Shelley

My order just arrived from Cedar Hollow also. I'm not upset by any means, but I am slightly... underwhelmed. None of them are huge, and some of them are tiny. I think I was spoiled by Old Rose Nursery last year, it was all gallon pots and very mature roses. Cedar Hollow really packed them into a small box and they're a little squished but not mutilated. ORN last year shipped them in a giant box, all standing up and separated by wads of newspaper. Their shipping also cost an awful lot as I remember.

Also I got 3 Mme. Plantiers (ordered 2) and no John Davises (ordered 1). But I'm actually kind of happy about that, Mme. P. was the one I had been trying to get and I can find John Davis locally. She's blooming here in my office and smells wonderful. The Celestial is the only one that is a gallon and it is a good size.

I will suspend judgement until I see how they all do in the garden this summer.

Glad to hear that you got your rose order all straighten out Shelley, I wonder if it would of been cheaper if they sent your order by bus? 16 roses is alot of roses going thru mail! I hear yah about the mail service, when I went to pick up my box at our local post office, I was flabbergasted when the girl came out to the counter with the box on its side. Do they not know that the printed address label is right side up??? Duh! I never said anything but flop it on its proper side right on the desk to show her how its done properly!

Now do you get to keep the broken rose, if so, I'm sure it will sprout thru since of course its own-root ;)

Gil, hmmm, I'm sure you'll be very pleased once they are planted and given a chance to grow. Out of my roses, 5 were in gallon size pots, the others were in 4.5 square pots. I guess depending on the variety of the rose and how fast it takes to root is why some are in the smaller pots.

Old Rose Nursery is fine, but you won't find "unusual" hardy roses there ;)

Sharon

Mmmmm...roses...I was in at walmart the other day and they had a Morden Sunrise in a gallon pot...wanted to pick it up soooo badly after seeing the pretty pictures...but...I guess I should wait until my fence is in, so I can decide where I want to plant it...I'm definetly going to have to plant some more roses in the next few years. Right now I'm just happy that eveything I planted last year seems to have made it through happily (including my first rose to survive...)

I haven't gotten into buying online or through the flyers. I'm wondering what the advantage is...do you find them cheaper (after all the shipping costs), better selection, etc, than getting them at a local greenhouse? (Or is the enjoyment of buying plants in the winter months...and getting to pick up that big parcel of goodies?? ;-)

Verena

Verena, for me, the biggest advantage to on-line or catalogue shopping is getting the variety of plants that the local nurseries just don't carry.
Since we're talking roses here, for example, lately I've been interested in trying out some roses that were hybridized by Griffith Buck, but you'd have to look high and low to find any of his roses in a nursery. So that's the main reason why I buy on-line, other than that, it's just so darn fun buying plants in the dead of winter too ;o)

Laurie

Sharon, I do get to keep the broken rose. I am hoping that it will shoot back. I am sure that all expediated parcels are insured when they send. As far as shipping, I paid $20 for all the roses. I didn't find that too bad. Maybe the bus would have handled them a bit better though.
Verena, I much prefer to buy roses locally, but I wanted different varieties than I could find here. Mail order roses are a bit cheaper, but you usually end up with smaller plants. This doesn't mean anything though come July. Last year I planted roses that were about 8" tall and by late
summer they were as big as the ones that came in 2 gallon pots.
I too am very interested in the Buck roses. Carefree Beauty was sent to me blooming. She is very smelly. I can't wait for them all to start blooming.
Shelley

One of the new roses that I ordered this year called Moje Hammarberg has one bloom on it so far, have you ever smelled this rose before, incredible!

Verena, after losing so many roses in the past that were supposed to be hardy, I only buy own-root from now on, you really need to check the labels on the pots when buying them at Walmart or other box stores, usually they are grafted on a root stock which is not really hardy after all IME.

I order from Cornhill or Cedar Hollow mainly because of the variety. I'm trying my first Buck rose this year to see how it winters, thanks to Laurie for recommending them ;)

Sharon

Well, I got all my new roses home last night and let them shake their kinks out, and I must revise my previous impression. I guess I was sort of alarmed because they were packed tightly and somewhat bent and bruised but not broken. They have perked up a lot now. Sunsprite and Mr. Lincoln are rather small but when I took them out of their pots they have a good root system. I will be growing these at least for a while in large pots. Celestial is actually quite large. So I am happy now. Spent a little time last night planting my Albas and smelling them and whispering to them (the neighbours were out, I had to whisper LOL) and they assured me that they will grow really fast. ;0)

Thanks, for the insight...
Sharon, perhaps that is why my past attempts at roses have failed?? (Maybe I'm not entirely to blame after all ;-) Or perhaps it is because I didn't whisper to them...LOL! (and I am to blame ;-)

Verena
(Gotta run...time to put the bread in the oven.)

You just wait Gil, by September your roses will be monsters, considering if we get plenty rain and warm sunshine ;)

I can just see you bending down whispering to them, LOL!

Glad to hear you feel better about them now!

Sharon

Hmmm. Rose Whispering. Bet there's something to it. I got my Cedar Hollow order the other day and was a bit worried too when I took them out of the box but being sick and needing to get my bare root stuff from Saskatoon Farm in first, I put them in a sheltered spot and watered them and let them spread out a bit and they look like they're fine. I got mostly Explorers in pinks and reds and a couple of Rugosa's. 3 of the Topaz Jewel to set the others off. Now it's just deciding where to settle everyone. I'm so going to enjoy sitting on my deck looking at these spots of color. Like we gardeners sit long enough. Usually you see something that could be done and before you know it sitting time is over.
Kate

Today I recieved my rose order from ValleyK Greenhouses. They pack their roses so much better than Cedar Hollow. Each rose was wrapped in cardboard and they sent 10 roses in 3 boxes so they were easier to handle. They are bigger than the ones that I recieved from them last year with the exception of 2 Marie Bugnet which are quite small. I had a broken rose in this shipment too, but it only broke off half way. There is still leaves left on this rose.That is the only damage from shipping that I can see on this bunch. They look much nicer than my Cedar Hollow roses which are stripped of so many leaves. But one the plus side, most of the roses from Cedar Hollow are srouting out new leaves.
I also recived my plants from Dominion House today. I had ordered a bareroot Kaleidoscope. The stem is huge!!! It is starting to send out leaves as well. I ordered some lilacs, clematis, lilies and perennials from them as well. The lilacs and clematis are fine, the lilies are a bit shrivelled, and the perennials are sick. I'm sure some are dead. Honestly, I don't know if I would order perennials from them again. Roses, I would though. I think that they were in the boxes for quite a while, there is lots of white growth.
I moved a 5 yr old JP Connell the other day in the rain. It should have been moved sooner because it had flower buds on already. It is really sulking. Oh well, If it doesn't make it, they are easy enough to find to replace.
I have quite a few of my older roses with flower buds on. It won't be long before the roses start to bloom!!!!
Shelley

Shelley, I noticed yesterday that there were flower buds on 8 of my roses already(the largest buds are on 'Love' which technically shouldn't have even survived the winter, no less be blooming BEFORE the hardy roses!). Since I've only been keeping track of when things start to bloom for the past 4 or 5 years, this could be a record breaking year for things flowering so early. I think June 14 was my earliest rose in past years. Some years I didn't get any roses until July. This has been an amazing spring, so far......

My Champlain is about to bloom too - really impressed with the quick growth & budding on him. He got a new Explorer friend the other day, John Davis I picked up own-root at Walmart (see, I knew I could find it locally!). Oooh actually one is English and the other French... I hope they don't fight!

My unknown red Floribunda also has buds - usually it's just waking up this time of year.

This is a really interesting post to an observer like me. I found this thru a link posted on the Roses forum. So I just read thru most of the whole thing.

Hi New York Rita, glad to here your enjoying the FN forum!

Yes hi Rita, I recognize you from the Roses forum. Welcome.

My Harison's Yellow is an absolute shambles this year - half of it is on the ground and the other half is completely overgrown and none of it has a good dense bloom. So it's getting the hedge trimmers as soon as it's done blooming. The best year it ever had was right after being pruned hard. Anyway, here's a small section of it that was nice...
{{gwi:697534}}

I can't believe that my roses planted last year and before haven't even started to bloom yet. I know that it is not enough sun. Frontenac will open any day now.
But I have enjoyed a few on my newly purchased ones. Abraham Darby has 2 flowers on now. Wow, am I ever glad I purchased this one. I think that i must try more English roses.
Shelley

My new roses this year include:

2 carefree wonders
1 Morden sunrise
1 Morden Cenennial
1 Morden Blush
1 Bonica
2 tenders Sexy Rexy and Sunsprite

I planted two Carefree Beauty roses this year. Now I'm wondering if they would survive in Calgary weather. I planted two Bonicas last year, one of them came back this year, other one didn't. That's why I'm a little apprehensive about these two Beauty-s.

If anyone can let me know, I'd really appreciate it.
Swati.

MIL has CB, does fine for her in a very exposed position. She's in NW Calgary.