We have had a really different winter up in Ontario - shorter than normal, not necessarily a lot of snow cover, the ground was frozen and temps were cold, but not as cold as normal. I guess it reminded me more of Iowa winters. The roses are already leafing out. OSO Easy Paprika is completely leafed out and I would not be surprised to see buds on it soon, but it is also in a micro-climate by the compost bins. I did a walk around looking at cane hardiness and was really surprised how many roses, both named varieties and my own seedlings were essentially showing no die back on the canes. This is the first year that all of the Buck roses have shown zero die back. And then I came across Gemini and Luis Desamero. Even under these conditions those roses had extreme die back on their canes. And there are a few seedlings from last year’s crop that are not looking all that great either. So it looks like I can still do some selecting for winter hardiness.
Hi Liz!!
I’m finding the same thing here in MN. The hybrid teas are down to the ground for the few that I grow, but most everything else is alive to the tips!! It is fun to prune this spring to shape the plants a bit. It is nice not to have to prune because they are dead to the ground and if I don’t hurry up and do it, I will be breaking off new growth as it comes through the dead canopy. I took a little break buying some new gloves and will go out again soon! I can’t wait to see the beautiful bloom this spring. I’m imagining lots more flowers than usual years to cross with!!
I’ve had little or no die back on all of my roses, even the HTs. Actually some of my minis took the worst hit under the mulch. Seems that it was too warm and damp under there and I lost a few of them.
David, I was just thinking that I need to get out and prune. At this rate we will be pollinating in early May… Actually, my fear is that the weather will return to normal and the roses will really get nailed.
Seil, I stopped mulching my roses for over wintering a few years ago. I was finding that the the warm moist conditions under the mulch were not helping things.
Adding to the list of sensitive roses, Shockwave looks pretty bad perhaps even dead. Yellow Magic and Paintbrush also have a fair amount of die back on the canes.
I’m sorry I did, Liz. I hadn’t planned on doing any winterizing in the new bed. The Idea was that if they couldn’t tough it out I didn’t need them. But we ended up with bags of left over leaves last fall after packing the pots up for winter and Al decided we should use them up and not waste them. So in the end we did mulch. I’ve already told him that this fall, no matter what, I’m not mulching beds! I’m covered in scratches from head (literally the top of my head, ouch!) to foot from trying to get the blasted stuff out of there.
I liked Gemini. I had it for quite a while. It was an excellent rose for the kitchen table. However, I only used it in breeding once. I used to grow New Year, even though it blackspotted and had die-back. I loved it. The color was intoxicating. However, I didnt want to bring those traits into my seedlings.
Liz,
I’m finding just what I suspected would happen, some of the more tender plants actually have more dieback than last year because of the lack of snow. And that some of the usually snowline hardy ones are clean to the tips. What has surprised me is that Amiga Mia and Aunt Honey show the least amount of damage this year of the Bucks, whereas in the past they were among the ones with the most dieback. I’m a little disappointed with amount of die back of the 4th year seedlings. There are a couple that had 20†of good cane last year but appear to have died back to the ground this year. But I’m surprised how little damage there are on some of the 2nd and 3rd year seedlings, some are clean to the tips.
Speaking of Aunt Honey, which I like a lot, there are several seedlings germinating with it as the seed parent. I was surprised, thinking it would not be coopeative.
This year I actually got snow coverage for most of the winter. After that it warmed up dramatically. This year is the first year I have not lost a rose. Granted it was the first year I had them in the ground and not in the shed or some other similar situation.
The worst roses for die back where Dolly Parton, Carlin’s Rythm, Rise N Shine, Sequia Gold and a miniature china rose which I lost the tag for. These five died back almost to the ground. All my floribundas, hybrid teas and miniatures have some die back (probably a third of the cane). Hawkeye Bell and Night owl also died back half way to the ground. Everything else barely died back or did not die back at all. It surprised me that Pam Choice and Easy Does it barley had a scratch on them I would expect these two to fit in with the rest of their type, but maybe it was just a fluke.
I did lose some seedlings but that was expected and most of the ones I lost where the seedlings that got real bad PM in the fall.