Can you believe it? 2013 has gone by so quickly! Fall was out of my area in a major rush.. the trees were magnificent for about 2 weeks, and now it's just bare branches everywhere. Like nature's own fireworks. I've had only 2 snows this season, but some majorly cold days. However, when the temps shoot right back up into the 60s, my roses are confused. They keep sending out new growth, just to get blasted with a 20deg night & everything freezes again.

So here's a Trumpeter to compete with the autumn leaves!

no real snow yet but HOLY CATS ITS COLD !! well its only around 30 degrees out but I'm not ready for the cold yet

That's our mornings.. Between 20-32 degs. Bad thing is that it shoots up to almost 70 in the day!! My poor roses keep putting out new leaves just to get killed by extreme cold.. Next Tuesday the low is supposed to by like 8 degs.

I haven't seen 70 degrees in a month It MIGHT get to 70 and rain for opening day of rifle deer season though . My roses are all done for the season so sad

We are having nights in the 30 - 40 range and days from 50 to 70. The roses are loving it!

Does anyone know if Palatine goes by the name Gramic Inc? I ordered from both Palatine and Pickering this year, and thought that both might be shipping this week.
One of them sent me an email with tracking info which says a 7 lb box was shipped from Buffalo NY by company named Gramic Inc. Pickering was supposed to ship a few weeks ago, but they've had delays because of their weather. They sent an email last week saying they would start shipping this week. Doesn't mean mine will go out this week, though.
I have tags made up for all the roses, and I have limited time, so I thought I would go ahead and dig the holes for whichever order is arriving this week. Our weather is turning bad tomorrow.
It's been one awful year. My husband has worked out of state since February, and he's finally coming home today. Both my parents had cancer and surgeries, and my dad passed away on October 18. The last few months with him were heartbreaking. My mom has gone from actively gardening last spring to helpless this fall. She's 3 hours away from me so I've pretty much worn grooves in the interstate between us. I'm trying to figure out how to clean her yard for fall, close up my own garden, finish our remodeling and do all my end of year business. A tax auditor visited 2 weeks ago and that was just a bit stressful.....but she was very understanding once she saw the remodeling and the plants. I erred on the side of overreporting, can you believe that? So I get a refund. What a mess.
After she left, I packed up the dogs and drove to Colorado to climb mountains with my husband. My digging foot is sore since I leave the right foot barefoot to climb, and my hands and neck are sore from working the ropes but it sure was a great stress reliever.
My middle daughter took us on a tour of the Olympic center where she lives and works and I resolved to eat better, exercise smarter.
My oldest daughter has researched health and aging, and my father tried valiantly to stop his cancer through better nutrition. The American diet is killing us. My priorities will be growing healthy vegetables here at home. My roses are great for the spirit; I love the challenge of growing them, but I almost feel selfish tending them instead of veggies! If I get the vegetables going the way I want, I can impact my family's health. Hopefully my oldest daughter will move back here next year to start med school. She's vegan and a triathlete, so she's a great influence! I'll take over her Etsy business while she's in school. Her roses in San Diego are just gorgeous year round. Kinda funny--she's outdoors all the time, biking, hiking, climbing, running. Here, I'm outdoors also-- a totally different kind of play.
This year was overwhelming and the gardening was rushed, not enjoyed. Looking back, I see it was ridiculous to order more roses. I'm wondering if I would be better off to plant them in pots and keep them in the garage for the winter? It looks like Pickering is struggling to fulfill their orders once again. Last time I ordered from them, they shipped in June instead of April because they were so understaffed. They don't answer their phone, and the message says they are not shipping to the U.S., but in an email, they assured me they are. They are too swamped to change their message?
Palatine said they are shipping this week, so if they are "Gramic Inc" then I'll have roses tomorrow, which I will try to plant before it snows on Friday, before I have to head out of town again.
Guess I just needed to vent, guys! I'm open to any advice!

Oh, wow! What a year! I wish I could do something to help. (It's never a mistake to plant more roses, is it?)

Cindi - I'm crushed! You were less than an hour away & didn't stop by to visit??? *cries* oh well, at least you have a good time with your daughter!

So sorry for the loss of your father. I know how heartbreaking it is to watch your parents start to fail. I've been watching my father fail now for, well, 40 years. LOLLL I've never known him healthy. But now my mom's starting to go down quickly.. and she's not too terribly old (67). But they don't take care of themselves.. never have.

Cindi ...

I am so sorry you've had such a stressful year. Mine has been pretty horrific, too, for very different reasons. Like you, I am running a marathon trying finish my fall chores and put my garden to bed for the winter. The stress seems to be unrelenting. No need to go into detail.

According to a links on Google, Gramic Inc is a freight forwarding company located in Niagra Falls, New York. Either nursery could be using their services.

http://www.manta.com/c/mm86yty...

re: planting now or potting up and putting them in the garage ... Although I have not gardened in a climate such as yours, I think potting them up and putting them in the garage will give you better control over their survival and your time. The roses are coming from a greenhouse environment and have not been hardened off. Even keeping them in the garage will cause some plant stress, but you'll be able to see what's going on with them and deal with it.

re: advice for you .... be sure to take some time out from everything, every day, just for you. It makes all the difference in the world in that it enables you to regenerate and then keep on pushing.

Some years, our gardens are a labor of love and some years they are pure labor.

I started back doing my exercises two months ago, even tho' I honestly felt I didn't have time to take out an hour every morning for exercise and I am certain taking that "me time" has helped me a lot these last few weeks. I still have way too much to do and am continuously wondering where I will find the energy to do it all, but I think I'll make it.

Be kind to yourself and you go, girl, go !

Smiles,
Lyn

Still some color here, with quite a few roses still cranking out blooms.

South Africa, this poor plant is still in it's 5 gal. pot (rooted through the pot), poor thing, (see 1st photo) but it doesn't seem to affect it's performance at all. It's super tall and currently has several large clusters of blooms that are now a deeper orange because of the cooler weather.



Lady Emma Hamilton has maybe a half a dozen blooms on it.


Heaven on Earth has that many too, also rooted through it's pot.


Teasing Georgia is being trained up an arbor.


and some more garden color

South Africa is truly luscious! Lovely photos, Sue, as always.

Sue - WOW. So jealous... As I'm looking out the window here at work, I see about an inch of snow most everywhere. Nothing growing here other than my waistline...

Hello all,
Today I found some buds on Dublin Bay that were caught in our extreme freeze last week. They are a deep red now, kind of like Barcarolle. Temps the last few days have been in the sixties, excellent planting weather. We will get one more of those days, then back to freezing.
The Pickering rose order arrived today. Hopefully I'll have time tomorrow to do something with them! They told me they would send an email with tracking, but they didn't. The order was supposed to go out November 19.
Palatine, on the other hand, sent a tracking email and the roses arrived 3 days later. So, "Gramic" is Palatine.
The Palatine roses look wonderful, great long roots, good strong canes.
Thank you for all your words of support both for the rose order and all the difficulties we've had this year. My hard working massage therapist beat me up for almost 2 hours today, and gave me orders to do nothing but yoga for the next week.
Hmmm. I didn't tell her about the rose order. My whole body had serious pain ever since I drove back from Colorado, so i was blaming my out of shape body and the rock climbing. The therapist said my overall pain was stress and extremely tight muscles. She said "what the heck has happened to you? You are the biggest train wreck I've ever seen!" and I had to laugh because I didn't know where to begin.
So I'm going to plant my roses and look forward to next year, because that's what's so great about gardening. You get to rest, make new plans, and look forward to next year. I'm going to meditate, and stretch those muscles, get back on my paleo diet. After clearing out 2 parents' houses in the past year, I've decided I need to purge my own house and yard so my kids never have to do this. The stuff really weighs you down! We've been hauling van loads to Goodwill and Habitat for Humanity. Next spring I need to have a big plant sale or maybe host a swap and give it all away!
I've decided if I don't really love it, it has to go! Luckily the husband, kids and dogs get to stay. They're "safe".

...that's what's so great about gardening. You get to rest, make new plans, and look forward to next year. I'm going to meditate, and stretch those muscles, get back on my paleo diet.

Good for you @CindiKS!

@CindiKS

You sound good. Congratulations for getting through.

Our good planting weather just up and went. I made it through my latest crisis and am going to take the day off from all chores tomorrow. We are supposed to be getting a "light snow" and I've decided to just take a day and enjoy it.

Smiles,
Lyn