Winterizing

Last night the weather was supposed to dip below freezing. To 29, actually. At 10 pm, last night I remembered that. The Rose Support team obligingly dragged the monstrous 6' high, A-Frame plant rack made of two by fours into the garage. It spent the summer in the backyard as a shooting gallery, covered with cans and various shootables. The plant rack is in the middle of the garage again, covered with all the terracotta planters from the back deck.

Last night before doing all that heavy lifting, the Rose Support team asked me "So... do you want all the dead plants in the garage?" Um, just because a flower isn't flowering doesn't mean it's dead. Just because it has drooping leaves doesn't mean it's dead. Nor do brown leaves mean dead. I'm sure the lack of sun in the garage will have a quick effect on all the geraniums, cascading petunias and poinsettias.

I haven't watered the planters in a month. Now that the plants are in the garage, I feel compelled to water them. There's nowhere for runoff so I'll have to water sparingly.

As for the roses, I'll have to watch the three potted ones on the deck carefully. They are still getting new growth and occasional roses. I hate to cut them back yet. Last year they made it throught the winter fine until I uncovered them just a week or two too soon. A killing spring frost killed my beloved Pat Austin. Next year, I'll pull out the current rose (can't even remember the name now) and put in a new Pat Austin.

Next year will be the third year for the Fair Bianca, second year for the Molineux and first year for another Pat Austin on the deck. I'm really looking forward to spring because I finally learned how and when to prune. Proper pruning of roses makes a HUGE, HUGE difference in the performance of the plant.