It started out as rain this morning and it's still raining here in Plymouth - doesn't call for a special dinner, probably gnocchi with tomato sauce.

Claire

I stole prairie moons inspiration - I have a version of chicken cacciatore in the crockpot.

I left at 11 this morning to have lunch with a girlfriend. It was only light snow. So I wore clogs. Granted they were fur lined clogs. I left lunch 1.5 hours later and had to trudge thru 6" of snow. In clogs. It didn't matter that they were fur lined. Half of my foot was still exposed. Got home 45 minutes later (normally a 12 minute drive) to 10" in my driveway. Which I again had to trudge thru. In clogs.

Oh, pixie_lou! My feet are cold in sympathy.

Claire

So it's another home that is having Italian night! And it's not even Wednesday. [g] Remember those ads for Prince spaghetti where the mother in the North End would call 'An-thony!' ? And Wednesday was always Prince spaghetti day. We don't eat Prince though. I think it was Bill's Italian dinner that started it all off!

Beef Stew is one of my DH's favorites too, Babs. It is a very 'winter in New England' dish, I think. Love that photo!

Pixie Lou, I love my LLBean Rubber Mocs for any kind of precipitation. I use them all winter. Have a pair for the garden and one for just going out in the weather. Lots of colors too. They keep you very dry. Link below.

We have almost 10 inches of very heavy snow out there, that DH is out there shoveling with the electric shovel as we speak. I'm hoping we don't get very much rain on top of this snow.

Here is a link that might be useful: LLBean Rubber Mocs

This post was edited by prairiemoon2 on Thu, Feb 13, 14 at 16:30

Beef stew is perfect for this weather. I made a pot roast the other night, which isn't quite stew, but almost. With a really tasty gravy, it always fits a winter evening's dinner!

Claire, the gnocchi sound great too! Did you make them yourself?

{{gwi:5901}}

I didn't make the gnocchi myself, Bill, they're store bought but fairly decent. That's on my list of things I might try to make myself but probably won't, like spaetzle. I really like fresh spaetzle and they're supposed to be easy to make...

Claire

I love reading everyone's dinner menus. Pasta, either homemade or bought, is one of my favorites, especially when served like yours, Bill.

We all certainly need something tasty and hearty after shoveling snow ... or after damp rain....or after whatever landed in your yard today. My yard looks much like yours, nhbab's ... white and snowy.

Here are the arbor and garden shed down by the river.

And the path my DH always plows around the bird feeders. The bumps in front of the birch tree are the tops of a chair a neighbor made for our yard.

Tonight we're having chicken thighs roasted with onions, carrots, and sweet potatoes along with fresh asparagus and a nice red wine....plus my DH made chocolate chip cookies for dessert. For sure we've earned a hearty meal after today's nor'easter. More snow is coming over night and then maybe another storm on Saturday.... I'm getting tired of this!

How many days until Spring?

Molie

Too many days until spring! I was in San Diego two weeks ago..........should have stayed there! Winter looks great on a Currier & Ives card, but I'll bet they didn't have to shovel this mess, and certainly didn't have to drive in it!

{{gwi:5901}}

Molie, your meal sounds very tasty and healthy! Sweet potatoes are a favorite for us. And that is a nice view of your garden. I love the circle around the bird feeder station. Great idea functionally and it's cute too.

Chicken Cacciatore was a perfect end to the day and looks like we should save leftovers for Saturday when [close your ears, Bill (g)] we're getting more snow.

Prairie moon - you are such an enabler. I have a slight *obsession* with shoes. And I have an ll bean gift card burning a hole in my pocket!

Fortunately we had no more snow overnight. Though thunder and lightning accompanied the rain.

Making beef pot pie for dinner tonight.

We got about 10"-11" in Ansonia, CT and I made chocolate donuts with coconut almond icing. I cheated and used a box mix from Barefoot Contessa but I have to admit they are very good.

Oh, those Barefoot Contessa chocolate donuts look soooo good! I want to dive into one! I've never tried any of her boxed products though I enjoy her TV show and have several of her cookbooks. When we're all stuck inside because of winter storms, cooking something yummy is a fun thing to do. Plus, I don't know about the rest of you, but it warms my heart to dig into anything made with chocolate.

Richie, we had about the same amount as you folks in the valley .... then a few inches last night. I hope much of it will melt in today's sunshine ..... before another possible weekend storm. I know the calendar tells us that Spring is very close, but it doesn't seem so.

I've put the AccuWeather Forecast Calendar for the rest of winter on my desktop. Love seeing those temperatures rise as we head into March!

Molie

Those look amazing!

Ok everyone, we're meeting at javaandjazz's house for coffee and donuts in an hour! If you need directions, just head to Connecticut and follow the lovely scent of chocolate and coconuts!

Chocolate donuts w coconut, what a treat, they look scrumptious! My daughter likes the Barefoot Contessa and has a couple of her cookbooks too.

Pixie Lou, I see that the LLBean Mocs are slightly on sale, they are full price every time I've tried to wait for a sale. They're very popular, so they don't have to. They are nice and easy to slip in and out of, I love that about them. Your feet are all wet coming in the door and you can just step out of them. And a gift card makes it so easy. I hope you can get a pair before the next round of snow. :-)

This post was edited by prairiemoon2 on Fri, Feb 14, 14 at 12:12

I usually buy stuff like that at Stonewall Kitchen when I am up in Avon or Windsor at Evergreen Walk in CT and buy them only on sale.

This post was edited by javaandjazz on Fri, Feb 14, 14 at 13:14

I'm about 2 miles south of E.Longmeadow ( Stafford, Ct). We got (total) of 3 snowstorms over 3 ft..more to come.
Today I made big pots of chili and beef stew. I make large
portions and freeze for these winter days. Tonight I'm
making a cheesecake with a blackberry n' cream topping.
Gotta have desert!

Yum - donuts, cheesecake, chocolate chip cookies, chicken cacciatore or with winter veggies, chili, pot roast, gnocchi and other pasta dishes . . . it all sounds delicious! I was inspired by Claire to pick up some red pepper and goat cheese gnocchi today from the Italian grocer.

I think we ended up with a total of 12"-14" of snow total. It snowed lightly Thursday morning, heavily all afternoon and was a heavy mist coming down most of the night based on how much heavier yesterday's snow was as I finished shoveling this morning. Thank goodness I did much of the shoveling yesterday when it was still fluffy before the light rain arrived. By this morning it was snowing again, but only for a couple of hours, and there have been snow showers on and off this afternoon. Driving isn't too bad on the major roads, though my road is still fairly messy. Tomorrow is only predicted to drop a couple of inches here.

I don't actually mind snowy winters, as I don't have to drive in bad weather due to job flexibility, and I don't know how else I would know about all the various critters that inhabit my woods.

Oooooh Margierose, your cheesecake with blackberry topping makes my mouth water! That sounds delicious!

We have several nights left of eggplant parmigiana with spaghetti, but we've eaten all the veal parm that went with it. No dessert in the house but I may bake cookies tomorrow.

Hubby just finished snowblowing the driveway and pasture paths, but I still have some shoveling to do. I'm trying to muster the energy to tackle the last of it. I don't know how much snow we have but it's over the heads of my two dogs.

Thanks to pixie_lou's initial post, we all have some great recipe ideas to enjoy. Interestingly, I received the following today in a Valentine message:

âÂÂWinter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.â â Edith Sitwell

Everyone stay warm!

~ Hilda

Nice thought, Hilda, and all sorts of good food to think about - particularly appropriate since they just posted a blizzard watch for the MA coast.

Claire

I'll have to check back in on Sunday to see how everyone did with the latest storm. All this snow is getting depressing but this "food blog" is a wonderful way to chase the blues!

Molie

Woke up this morning to 3" or so outside. Decided to make a nice breakfast before we go out to tackle the snow. Pannukakku (Finnish Oven Pancake) with fresh raspberries and maple syrup, freshly squeezed orange juice, and broiled grapefruit. Just waiting for the timer to ding so we can indulge.

About 8 to 10 inches of dense snow here, judging by the stuff I've shoveled already to clear the birdfeeders and baths.

Hollies are having a rough time - one of the American Hollies is bent over, but the worst is the two blue hollies that got flattened by a fallen pitch pine branch. Removing the branch is going to have to wait until more snow gets shoveled.

I came in for breakfast and I'll go out again in a little while to clear the car and part of the driveway.

That Pannukakku (Finnish Oven Pancake) sounds great, a little like a Dutch baby pancake, and I'll have to try that (but not today).

Last night after hearing too much "Blizzard Warning!" and "Bombogenesis!" I decided I needed a variation of the ultimate comfort food (mac & cheese) so I had some leftover gnocchi and good English cheese (red Leicester) and a glass of Belgian-style ale.

Claire

This post was edited by claire on Sun, Feb 16, 14 at 9:25

Claire, 8-10 inches of snow is tough to shovel, especially if it's dense. You surely earned that comfort meal and Belgian ale! I hope your hollies will not be badly damaged when the snow is cleared and the branch removed. Maybe it will just need some pruning back? Last season I cut a holly down quite a bit because it was looking sad. This fall and winter it was magnificent .... branches loaded with berries and looking better than it had in years. So you never know.

Here along the coast we lucked out with this snow... just an inch or so, though others in Connecticut had much greater amounts.

Hilda, I like that sentiment... winter, more than any other season in New England, is the time for good food, the warmth of friends, and home.

Molie

I went out today to finish up shoveling from the other day, and didn't get too far - still that layer of ice under the snow that makes it hard to shovel. Even went back out a second time, after letting the sun do some of the work, to chip ice off the front stairs.

Then I looked out the front door about 6:30 this evening to admire my handiwork on the nice clear stairs, and IT WAS SNOWING AGAIN. AGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!

I'm so sick of shoveling. My driveway is a mess - the worst-shoveled its been in years - I can only shovel a hundred-foot-long driveway so many days in a row before I go to the two-tire-track method! - and is barely six feet wide at the street, and my pathways are about a foot wide with snow almost 3 feet deep on either side, lol. Reminds me of the big snowfall we had last February, only this has built up over the last few weeks instead of one day. Not sure which is worse, lol.

All that, and only left-over spaghetti for me, lol!

:)
Dee

Here we go again⦠more snow today, amazing. We're only supposed to get 3-5", so not really a big deal, but it's going to make the evening commute a mess. At least we should start off the growing season with moist conditions. :-)

Dee, we've shoveled down to pavement every time, except the last storm, DH said leave the snow where they plowed us in, we can get over it and it's going to be warm later in the week. Three days of warm temperatures starting Thursday will help get rid of some of this mess.

Eating soups and chili out of the freezer.

Yikes, diggerdee, a 100 foot driveway is a lot. More snow coming today. We also have our toddler grandson coming for the day so it will just be easy leftovers tonight. I was thinking about cookie making and now that I've read the posts and seen the pics, I'm starving. Those chocolate doughnuts look wonderful.

We don't have many birds this winter and I don't know if it's because we moved a large viburnum away from the house an planted a little halo dogwood. We don't have goldfinches fighting over the thistle seed this year but the other problem is my husband started out putting last year's seed out. We now have too much of every seed so he is throwing sunflower seeds on the ground for the wild turkeys. Only 5 or 6 this winter not like the huge herd of last year probably because their roosting area was cut down when the field was improved. There are still plenty of pines but they probably didn't like all the cutting and de-stumpin.

We have an antique wood stove in the kitchen so last night my husband grilled chicken breasts in the fire box. He's gotten quite good. Also had a salad of local greens and a tomato from the winter farmers market in Tilton NH. Also parsnips which were very fresh and sweet.

Yup, we've got snow out there and more starting. Several times I have asked for a path to be plowed to the high tunnel but I didn't not go out to check on things. I might have our own winter greens (last winter we had great spinach) if I would get my butt out there. Now it needs to be plowed again but I think my husband is waiting until later in the week when it gets warmer. He's been working on wood for next year but the splitter is now covered in snow and it's too cold for him to work outside.

I recently tired a crockpot recipe for red braised Chinese pork and turnips but the cinnamon stick and single star anise pod were too strong. I would take them out next time after an hour. I added some fresh pea pods at the end to brighten the flavor.

Defrost49, your meal with red braised Chinese pork, turnips and fresh pea pods sounds delicious! Kind of a unique stew, plus I love crockpot meals. I'd really appreciate it if you could email the recipe to me.

This morning I reread this whole thread, which began on February 5. So we've had two weeks of pretty constant snow. Though I do enjoy the winter snowfalls and would never want to move away from our four-seasons climate, please, not all at once! And I AM getting mighty tired of the shoveling.

PM2, I like the way you're looking at this ..... as an introduction to a moist growing season this spring. Let's hope the snow melts slowly and doesn't cause flooding.

Molie

It's flurrying here already. They are predicting 3-5 inches. Fortunately most of our storms this season have been light and fluffy so the shoveling has been manageable. Planning a spinach/white bean/tortellini soup for dinner tonight. Plus I have butter softening for ATK sugar cookies.

I snapped this on my phone yesterday. Route 9 commuter parking lot in framingham. That's a full size excavator/backhoe/whatever you call that big tractor thing. It looks like a matchbox car next to that snow pile!

That is one enormous snow pile, Pixie! It is snowing here now so shoveling is in my future today, together with cooking.

The valentine's cookies I baked a couple days ago are almost all eaten, so perhaps it's time for choc chip cookies. For dinner last night we had haddock fillet with baked potato and brussel sprouts; tonight will be chicken with a mix of quinoa and rice cooked with broccoli, garlic, onions, and raisins. Then we move on to kielbasa with home fries and eggs.

Also I have to cook this week's batch of dog food today, ground turkey with the meat from a whole chicken. They eat better than we do and I spend a lot more time cooking pet food than human food!

Today's sugar cookies.

Oooh yummy looking Pixie! Plain old sugar cookies will always be my favorite, and those look scrumptious!

Ooh, all this good food and sweet treats! I'm wishing I had made those brownies I was thinking of earlier!

About another 2 inches today, and more shoveling. PM2, I almost ALWAYS shovel down to the pavement - that's why my DH and kids are teasing me about the driveway being a sheet of uneven, chunky icy snow! My next house will have a short driveway, lol!

Gotta run - have a quick chicken soup on the stove! Yum!

:)
Dee

Dee, our driveway isn't large at all and it makes a big difference. 100ft Driveway is a LOT!

Come April, will I fit into my warm-weather gardening clothes? Will I be able to bend, kneel, push a wheelbarrow? Not on this thread's diet! So currently I have started physical therapy to improve my left knee and ankle, made an appointment with a personal trainer at the gym I've been absent from, to work with the rest of this old gardener's body, and have started a serious diet involving leafy greens, smaller quantities, no sugar, and no refined ingredients. Boring, but it's the only way I'll be able to dig, sow, weed and haul by springtime.

It's been great reading about the wonderful meals herein. Got all my leafy greens (in seed form) and can hardly wait to plant them!

Carol

Sped - you get extra credit for rolling out your dough and cutting out heart shapes. The best I do is put "gourmet" sprinkles on the top!

My DD loves sugar cookies. I put one in her lunch for school every day.

OMGosh, it's snowing again! We were supposed to get rain and it's coming down a mile a minute and the flakes are about the size of quarters! We just finished shoveling from the last storm, just this afternoon. Amazing! DH just called from Rte 128 and he said it's whiteout conditions and they're stop and go. We have plenty of soup in the freezer at least!

And seriously, at least in my yard, I can't have too much moisture to start off the growing season.

Carol, I'm with you, plenty of green smoothies and vegetables on our menus. The flu knocked the stuffing out of me this winter and waiting for the energy to start back to exercising. I was planning to hit the ground running this spring, but it will be a slow start instead. What I really need is a 70 degree day with some sunshine. (g)

Update:

Andâ¦.now it's rain! lol

This post was edited by prairiemoon2 on Wed, Feb 19, 14 at 15:37

Rain here, but honestly, I wonder if snow would have been better! It was J-U-S-T warm enough for rain, which meant it was cold enough for things to ice up later. The temps have been relatively higher, which led to lots of melting snow to begin with, the rain helped melt it more, and then when it got cold things became a sheet of ice. Roads were okay last night, but parking lots, some sidewalks - and my darn driveway, lol!! - were treacherous. The slightest patch of slush became a slick invisible patch of ice.

Lots of folks here seem happy about the quick melt. Me? I'd rather have it gradually. Between the torrent of water I will get in my basement, and the huge ice dams on my roof, I dread the quick melt that may be coming in the next day or too.

And I sure wish I had time off from work to work with the higher temps to clear off the driveway. No time (in daylight hours) till Sunday. Maybe by then nature will have cleared it, and hopefully not sent most of it into my basement.

Oh yeah, can't forget this part - homemade beef-fried-rice for lunch today. Leftovers from a yummy dinner last night. Thank goodness for a DH who is a wonderful cook!

:)
Dee

We seem to be okay this morning. DH went out and just skimmed whatever was on the walk and driveway just before dark, took him less than 15 minutes. There was a little ice this morning, but right now the sun is out and everything is melting. DH has been using the roof rake on the roof but we still have ice along the gutters that is melting pretty quickly already this morning, but not the huge icicles that some neighbors have.

We tried to keep the bottom of the downspouts shoveled out but we gave up in the last two storms and they're buried. We have those downspout extenders on the bottom to direct the water flow away from the foundation and we haven't had any water in the basement. Damp walls sometimes on two walls when there's a lot of rain or in spring when all the snow is melting, but that's it. We're on level ground and don't have any hills around us to channel it onto our property.

A house we lived in when I was growing up had water in the basement all the time. We had a sump pump but it didn't keep water out. That was a horrible experience, constantly a problem. We'd have to have 'all hands on deck' with large squeegees and boots to get it all out multiple times a year. So happy when we moved!

The shrubs around the front foundation are going to be a mess from all the snow on the roof getting dumped on them. Even the Blue Holly is looking pretty pathetic.

We followed some of the advice by This Old House about the ice dams, but I wonder if we might want to put the electric heaters on it next year? We never used to get them and now every year, they are a problem. Link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Stay Ahead of Ice Dams / This Old House

Taking advantage of today's beautiful weather and chopping away at the ice mountains (OK, not really mountains) on our driveway. However, I'm told that the snow storms and frigid temps are returning.

So, will go find my "Cooking with Soup" cookbook again and plan some yummy meals. BTW, I've had the book for almost 50 years (LOL). Used it a lot when we were first married.

Received the following on a postcard this week from a friend in real estate:

"One kind word can warm three winter months." ~ Japanese proverb

~ Hilda

Snow all gone down here on the Mass south coast. We have piles still but the ground is bare. Took a nice walk in the mild sunshine and soft air today. Lots of birds singing, and the ground was soft underfoot--a little damp--but not bad. I don't think we have much frost in the ground here because we have had a decent snow cover during each cold wave. Thankfully, more snow will fall Wednesday in advance of the next cold wave. It looks like my tender trees and shrubs have held up well--so far. I think the snow cover has been a big help and even though we have been persistently colder than normal, we have not had anything too extreme and even more importantly we have had not had very many cold days with strong winds. So, it could be worse. But March can be a cruel month...so stay tuned.

Hilda, I like that saying very much. :-)

Rockman, That's amazing you can see bare ground. Even after four days of above freezing temperatures, I have to still have more than a foot of snow on the ground and the only bare ground is a small strip under the drip line of a row of spruce trees on the north side of the yard.

I do wonder what March has in store, but the sun felt very strong on Saturday and it's already shining in my windows this morning!

Rockman - glad to hear that less hardy plants seem to be holding up well so far.

The weekend sun did feel much stronger, and I've been noticing over the last couple of weeks that if I am outside in the sun, I am much warmer than if there's cloud cover or I am under the trees. This is the part of winter I most enjoy, when it is warm enough that I can spend time outside comfortably and as the days are lengthening. This morning I noticed that it was quite light by 6:00.

sorry mjc-molie, hope you got my email. I don't recommend the recipe because the cinnamon flavor was far too strong. I would love to find a good slow cooker Chinese red-braised recipe however. Will keep looking.

Finally got into my high tunnel where spinach looks ok but still dormant. There's a few sprigs of cilantro. Lettuce looks frozen and collapsed but maybe not dead. Can't figure out how local market gardeners have wonderful mixed greens at the winter market. The facebook photo of Work Song Farm here in NH is gorgeous. Very healthy lettuce and you can see the outside snow up against the plastic sides. It was over 70 degrees, however so I did some cleanup work, buried kitchen scraps in the beds I don't plan to use right away. At night it gets as cold as outside but the ground doesn't freeze. Logger friend said mud in the woods is terrible. Ground thawed in January and never re-froze. We have a muddy spot in the driveway where my husband didn't fill with the proper gravel. I can't complain he is already working on our wood supply for next year.

More snow predicted today. Trying to get enough energy to start some vegetable seeds (onion and celeriac, maybe peppers). Picked up my small Fedco seed order. Didn't need to order much this year because last year I ordered too much. Much perturbed to find mice have gotten into one of the few remaining winter squashes. They also like peanut butter and the new wooden traps work great. Two down, any more?

Recently found out I will be in San Diego the same time as the national rose show and have a local contact. Me without a single rose bush but Yankee Magazine has listed Uncanoonuc Perennials as the best source of roses in New England!

I am thinking a rugosa variety for large hips and fragrance. Maybe a ground cover type. Would love an arbor. I have an informal garden and farm house type home so roses seem too formal to me. I don't want a fussy plant but there's a large shrub rose (maybe a rugosa) at Uncanoonuc that seems problem free. Any advice?

Well, I had considerable bare ground for a couple of days - long enough to throw stone in the deep mud where I park my car. Never had mud there before.

But it's snowing again now and the bare ground is rapidly disappearing. This should stop soon, but they're talking about significant snow next Monday.

I remember last fall when I said "Oh look, it's snowing! Isn't it pretty!"

Now it's "Oh no, it's snowing again. Stop!"

Snow shovels are still on standby alert. I think I need to defrost the gingerbread stollen (store-bought).

Claire

Defrost, thanks for the link to the slow-cooked/red-braised pork. I checked out the comments with the recipe and others were disappointed, too. I looked for other braised Chinese recipes. Many of them also had complaints about the overwhelming star anise flavor. I'll keep looking.

OK! Moving on to the other focus here..... snow flurries today in S. CT but nothing substantial. Cold. More of the same for the remainder of the week then perhaps a snow storm on Sunday.

And back to defrost49.... I also read the Yankee Magazine article about roses in NE. I checked the roses listed at Uncanoonuc Perennials and can comment about some.

Among those they offer, two did not work out for me. Just Joey... one of my favorite of that color with a beautiful flower form... died in its second year. Next time I'll try an own-root variety if I can find one nearby. I also lost a Tiffany after three years. That was one of my favorite pinks because of her yellow center. Maybe those two just needed more "care" than they'd get at my house.

However, Easy Does It is one tough rose. OSoEasy (not on their list) has smaller orange blooms with yellow centers and is a very hardy rose that gets the full force of the winds along our rivers. It stays about 3 x 3, needs no special care.

I planted Queen Elizabeth 8 years ago... a beautiful Grandiflora .... tall ... pink... and she never fails. I do nothing to her, not even winter protection.

I have three different KnockOuts... red, pink, pale pink. They can't be beat for NE. The red Knockout... my first one... gets cut back each year because it will grow to a 5 x 5 shrub in one season.

Carol6_ma, so true ... so true! This thread is brutal for the waistline! Yesterday my DH made a cake with his killer cream cheese/chocolate butter frosting. Today it's half gone! (However did that happen?)

Molie

Double post

This post was edited by mjc_molie on Wed, Feb 26, 14 at 15:14

mjc_molie, I sympathize with your diet-sabotaging DH -- I have one of those too, but at least he doesn't cook, just buys foods and offers them in the kindest way to me. Not kind!
Today on TV news the happy weatherman was talking about a larger snowstorm possible next week. And also, today on the Cape and Islands it snow-flurried while here in Cambridge it was sunny and dry. For relief I click on "flying skunk farm" which is on M.Vineyard and has an actual live streaming video of their big pen for chickens, ducks, geese and goats. Today I saw the snow there and the hens pecking through it for feed; that's how I learned it had snowed there.
Ice on our parking area is like stone: so hard it seems permanent although we chop at it now and then. That's my garden-preparation exercise.
Stay warm! Wear your wool sox!

Carol

Defrost - I wrote a long message this morning that seems to have gotten lost in the ether.

There are a several roses that I've grown in the past or am growing now. Many of my current plants I started from cuttings, and you'd be welcome to come take cuttings if you would like. I have found them relatively easy to grow from cuttings even though I don't know much about it.

Almost all my roses are relatively easy care, but the Japanese beetles bother all but the earliest. I recently read that water that has had cedar soaking in it will discourage the Japanese beetles when sprayed on susceptible plants, so I'll be trying that this summer since I have way too much field area to treat for grubs.

- Rugosa Hansa (previous house along with one other Rugosa) - Lovely scent, easy care, but I didn't get good repeat.
- Double white rugosa - Lovely scent, not good repeat, looks like wet tissue if it rains but gorgeous if it doesn't get wet. One of two current roses from Uncanoonuc, and it is grafted. I fight the understock to keep it from taking over.
- Apothecary rose - striped red and white shrub with strong rose scent. I fight the understock (multiflora I think) which has come up 8' away from the plant. Early bloomer no repeat. Uncanoonuc.
- Autumn Sunset - Gold Climber, good repeat, light scent. Another Uncanoonuc rose, also grafted, and after about 3 years didn't come back after one winter, though I don't know if it was due to voles or it was too cold. I would grow again if it were on its own roots.
- Fairy rose - previous house - no scent, repeat (almost constant) bloom, easy care.
- Dr. Huey - Dark red climber from understock. Not much repeat.
- John Davis - light scent, medium pink, one of the Canadian Explorer roses, shorter climber. Long bloom with lighter repeats continuing.
- Lady Elsie Banks - medium pink shrub, no scent that I notice. Repeats well.
- New Dawn (probably) AKA George's rose since it came as a cutting from my now-gone neighbor George. Vigorous climber, very pale pink very double flowers, little if any scent (can't get close enough to smell) and wicked thorns that require that it be planted away from paths.
- An unknown pink shrub rose that was here at the house when we arrived. Lovely scent, no repeat bloom. Cleanest foliage of any rose I grow, and the foliage has a light scent.

Although IME own root roses don't take off quite as soon as grafted roses, in the long run, I prefer them as I don't have issues with the root stock and all my own root roses have always come back. I don't do any extra winterizing. I don't know if Uncanoonuc has any roses that are own root.

I added Zepherine Drouin (pink climber) and Westerland (orange mix) this past summer and haven't yet any feedback on them. This winter will test them, but they are both own root, so I have faith that they will come through.

A rose that I have enjoyed for it's healthy vigorous growth and all season bloom, is Julia Child. A yellow medium size rose that has a moderate amount of fragrance too.