Well, i was going to but i thought maybe i should wait until the ground freezes. What i did was cart the leaves over to where the roses are and dump them there so that i'd be ready. I use Glen's idea of cardboard boxes around the roses but i don't have enough of them anyway, and there are two roses that are close together so i'd need a big box. I was thinking of putting some stakes around them and running burlap around the stakes and dumping the leaves inside.

I did put a cover over the dwarf Alberta spruce, which is another think i keep saying i'm going to get rid of and don't do it. I surrounded him with containers this summer to disguise the naked spots!

Our ground isn't frozen either yet but the roses' leaves have changed colours so they're going dormant. It's raining today and supposed to snow tomorrow so I needed to know it was done while the leaves were dry.

Last year the ground didn't freeze, or if it did it was only a couple of inches. We had thick snow before we got any really cold weather.

I should have done it yesterday because now it's raining here too. Some of the roses have lost their leaves and others haven't. Hansa hasn't dropped any - or very few anyway. Neither have the two White Kosters. Makes me worry about getting snow, that it will be too heavy on the leaves. Guess i can shake it off if that happens.

Just have a few tender roses up against the houses and had heaped these over with dry soil the other day. I have many roses in pots that have gone into the attached unheated garage and most to be planted out in spring. I used to have tons of tender roses, though will no longer allow myself to get so foolish having so many to protect, though they really aren't too much work if sited next to the house and deeply planted.

Terrance

Last year was an interesting year here in Saskatoon - the frost depth got down to no more than 70 cm by the end of winter(just over two feet). I think the normal frost line is about 4 feet.

My roses are finally covered, and of course i waited for a cold, wet, miserable day to do it! I guess this is finally it for this year. The only thing to do is store the wagon away, but it had water in it, so i tipped it up to let it drain out first.

We're supposed to get a few cms of snow overnight and some more by the end of the week. We can't deny it anymore!

Yup we're getting it already and it's sitting on the ground. Forecast minus double digits for this week so hopefully my roses are good and snug by then.

I haven't been able to get to our property with the icy road conditions we have had lately. I am not worried much about covering mine since they are all hardy for this area and our winters are fairly mild here. I am quite concerned though that the darn rabbits/moose may be feasting on my roses. I did get rabbit fencing around them but didn't get the fences anchored down well before things started freezing. The moose are moving into this area quite heavily the last few days too with the snow fall in the higher elevations getting heavier.

All of my roses are now all hardy roses such as Rose de lhay, Hansa and Morden and I have about 20 of them so no need to cover. However, every year when I go to greenhouses I get this urge to buy some Tea roses but then I get the flashbacks of when I used to have 60 to 70 Teas and then the days spent covering them in the fall and even then losing 10 or 12 every year I walk away. Yes, I still buy an occassional "Double Delight" to put into a container and then guard it from the deer which are becoming a real pain. Can't grow tulip any more because they are just pure deer treats. Thought of planting some of the new Hydrangeas that are supposed to be winter hardy but have walked away from those too.

Stanly, I've reduced my number of tender roses to those planted along the south side of my house or being kept in pots. Planted deeply and hilled up a bit, it's not much trouble bringing these foundation sited roses through the winter, as compared to those in the open ground that require much more attention, to which I've given up on.

As for hydrangeas, 'Quick Fire' (now 4' x 5' w) is pretty much hardy to the tips for me and others such as 'Little Lamb' seem to generally made it through with plenty of live wood. I sure intend to add more varieties!

Terrance

Thanks for the info on the hydrangeas twrosz. I do have some space in front of my house which is facing east so that might be a good place to plant the Quick Fire. I'm also trying to figure out what to do with a 25' x 25' bed that I dug up this spring because it got totally overgrown with grass and weeds. After much frustration, I moved all the perennials to other areas and dug up the whole space, used Round up to kill everything and now am trying to figure out what to repland this space with and I did see the Little Lamb at Canadian Tire but was a little hesitant so now I will put them back on my list.
By the way everyone, Merry Christmas and all the best in the new year

Sure has been great weather this December, though what snow that had been covering the tender roses next to my house has melted away ... but, the few inches having fallen last night was shoveled back upon them.

Stan, here's some hydrangea photos.'Quick Fire' is hardy to the trips for me, the open airy blooms are nicely fragrant

'Little Lamb' just prior to full bloom. Although, the plant dies down in winter it does retain adequate live wood to flower heavily, though wouldn't be a bad idea to shovel a bit of extra snow over it. I have four of these plants now :)

'Little Lamb' in full bloom

Sorry, didn't mean to hijack this thread with hydrangea talk, though don't think anyone really minds all that much.

Terrance

Terrance: Fantastic photos and I think they are very appropriate for this forum. I use hydrangeas also in my rose garden....they can supplement the color show of roses... and the foliage adds texture depth when roses become leggy later in the season.

I'm just growing the mophead Endless Summer outside (center of photo) with roses:

I have several large pots of tender mopheads...Forever Pink...and one beautiful tender easy-to-grow lacecap which I bought at Superstore:

It's inspiring when I see your results with the newer cultivars - keep posting those photos.

Rosecavalier, your place appears more like a zone 5 garden, very nice indeed! The 'Endless Summer' and tender lacecap look great. I've been really pleased with 'Early Sensation', this being a very reliable bloomer on new wood, as all stems will produce flowers, at least for me it has.

I also have 'Forever Pink' as a potted specimen, it's a good one, though must retain some old wood in order to bloom.

'Tuff Stuff' is a new lacecap said to be quite hardy, some sites claim to zone 4 and being a strong rebloomer, might be another one to consider.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hydrangea 'Tuff Stuff'

Forgot to mention that macrophylla 'Let's Dance Moonlight' makes for an excellent compact container plant, though I'll later probably place this one directly in the ground. H. arborescens 'Bella Anna' was a standout last summer, as it had continued to bloom for months on end and always looked great. 'Incrediball' has massive white blooms on sturdy stems. Macrophylla 'Blushing Bride' is one I've seen locally available and still must obtain. There's getting to be a good deal of hydrangeas capable of thriving here with just a bit of TLC.

I can see another cycle coming around. First fell in love with gardening in general, then annual and perennials, then roses, then delphiniums, then lilies, then hostas and now it looks like hydrangeas. Thanks everyone for the beautifull pictures and all of you information. I can see this will cost me big time.