Finally uncovered all my roses and started planting potatoes.
I lost , so far , five roses this year; in the forty plus years I have been planting roses, this is the most, and worst year.
In the past I put in both bare root and potted roses. Not potted roses are notorious for being one year wonders, so over the decades no surprise if one or two either were kaput when uncovered or slowly died later.
In the past my worst screw up was uncovering them too early in the spring as the other half was ragging me that it was too warm etc. etc. etc. , even though she knew near nothing about planting roses - so that stopped when I asked her if she wanted to pay for the replacements.
This year as soon as I uncovered them and saw Black canes, I figured they were kaput. Often then will die down to the ground , but there are still sprouts on the green main plant; nope, these were totally dead.
In my South garden , I was afraid that was going to be the same but, at this point they have a green base and are sending out sprouts.
Fifty miles makes a big difference up here for how much sub-zero weather a garden gets.
A truly cold dry winter is the absolute thing for plants . That is probably the main culprit.
Usually when I uncover them , the bottom three inches of leaves are a sloppy mess; this year, the ones on the ground were barely wet.
I have gotten lazy, as for decades I would either bury the entire plant and, or, put a good insulating cover over them, and then still put on a heavy layer of leaves.
Once again my Father was proven correct, he said I was a hard learner. There are reason for the problem, but after all the years I have done this, no good excuse.
I have one half of the potatoes down South in the ground and covered with leaves. When roto-tilled the garden , I often had tines sending up dust, this could be a very bad year if we do not get a good soaking shower soon.
