Bring the roses out of the closet

The weather in February was brutal. Bitter cold weather, ice, snow. Hey, if I want that kind of weather, I would stayed in Pittsburgh after college! So… when they forecast temperatures in the single digits, I put the rose bushes I have in pots, about 8 roses total, into my “workshop” (one of those ShelterLogic 10×20 Carport-in-a-box units) and put another tarp over them. The bushes consist of several Cherokee Rose bushes that I rooted from cuttings, two Knockout bushes, a Rosa mundi in a pot, and mini that I got for L at the grocery store two years ago and re-potted.

Well, the weather today was just fantastic…. Sunny and highs in the upper 60s … and it’s suppose stay above freezing all this week.  So I put the bushes back outside the kitchen door, reconnected the water timer, and set up the drip irrigation so that the potted bushes will get sun and water.

I can tell that some of the canes dried out while they were  being protect; oh well.  Not much I can do about that short of having a real greenhouse.  Give the plants a week or two in the sun with water and we will see how much pruning will need to be done.

Now I just need to find time to get out into the garden and assess how much pruning needs to be done…  I am betting I will find significant die-back .

Now I just need to watch for the forsythia to bloom….

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