I hope your roses survive this weird weather - I am assuming that they started to bloom earlier than usual? I have my fingers crossed here - most of my teas are just about to explode. It rained hard the last 2 days, but it didn't bother the roses. I hope it doesn't do that again when they are in full bloom!

Jackie

Strange weather here in my California garden. Too cool, too rainy, rampant foliage growth but little bloom yet. This is the second year we are "losing" our spring.

Yeah, completely odd. Red flag (fire) warnings, then freeze warnings. It brought to mind the old saying about Hades freezing over.

It has been incredibly arid here during March & April. This is usually rainboot season, and instead we're being told to be super cautious about accidentally igniting a brush fire.

I've only had 2 tiny blooms open so far, but everything else has nice, fat buds. Luckily, everything looked fine this morning at home & also here on the grounds at work. It's forecast to freeze again tonight, and then we should be in the clear. I knew it was coming so I hadn't yet purchased our annuals.

Jackie,
Teas or hybrid teas?

In central Ohio we had 80+ degree weather and now we are 40s-low 60s it stinks.... I need to water the flowers because we haven't had any rain for a while but its so cold and it gets 25 degrees at night I don't want the ground to freeze....

We have 30 degrees predicted for tonight, but that won't hurt the roses unless there is extreme radiation cooling.

Same here. I've concluded that it is a test of a really hardy rose which will pull through without any damage. Such as Karl Forster and that big white Rambler for which I forget it's name, both of which have Spinosissima in them.

If I cover my roses with sheets but the sheets do not touch the ground, will the sheets do any good to prevent frost?

Has anyone used fans on their rose garden to prevent frost from settling?

We are expected to get down to 34 tonight but in my micro-climate and rural setting, the temp may go as low as 28.

We have a frost advisory tonight.

Thanks!

Isst,

Frost per se has nothing to do with it. It's temperatures below around 28 that do the damage. Sheets or any dense "shade" will help by retaining/reflecting a little ground heat and raising the temperature a couple of degrees. Coverings can also damage delicate young shoots, especially if there is wind, rain, or snow.

Thanks michaelg,

Good, I have my sheets ready!

I am done the road from you in upstate SC.

Not expecting a freeze but possible frost, same as yesterday.
Tender potted plants moving into garage. Then rain hopefully for the next few days.

The usual drill - pruned 100+ roses a couple of weeks ago as they were all leafing out. Removed winter damage. Then woke up to 24 degrees a few days ago (the 7th). Now quite a few new black canes ready for pruning #2. This can happen a third time as the last hard freeze is typically late April/early May. This year it, perhaps, will be different.

Odd question....

Frost is not super common around here, but where I live the lemon and avo growers run the windmills to keep the air circulating (some also use smudge pots if it is really going to get cold)

Does wind/air movement change the way the cold temps affect your roses? Something for me to think about I suppose (not that often though)

Kippy,
Not an odd question at all. I live in a draw (valley) where cold air pools. If the night is still (no wind) it makes a substantial difference - sometimes as much as six degrees. A breeze keeps the cold air from pooling at my place. Still nights are the killers for me.

PT, how about the effect of using some type of wind devise to warm the roses?

I hope to not have an issue, since they are at the top of the property and at the top of the hill, like you we have a cold zone, good for fruit trees that need a certain amount of chill hours at the bottom of the property.

Kippy,
I'm sure a wind device of some kind would work, but I've got ten acres, horse pastures, roses spread hither and yon, etc. so there's nothing I could use that would be practical. If my roses were concentrated in one area, I'd certainly give it a go.

My mother decided it was a swell idea to toss towels over the top of all the roses and force some of them into small garbage bags. She mostly just broke off all the new spring basal canes and buds that were about to flower off.

If you do it, do it right and don't do something dumb like that. A real simple way is a garbage bag if it's a small rose. If you don't have that and it's larger, you can purchase polyethylene clear film in 2mm thickness and cut it to whatever dimensions you need. They come in smaller 25ftx10ft rolls or larger if need be. Wrap it around the sides and then tape the top shut...DO NOT just lay something on top of the rose where all the weight will damage the new spring growth. *facepalm*

Hi ptboise,
Do we really live in the same town?? I'm sorry to hear you've had such cold weather and cane damage. I do understand that your microclimate can make a big difference. I noticed no cane damage when pruning this past month (this is pretty much the norm for me), and in the past couple of weeks I don't think it got any lower than 32 degrees, but there was no rose damage. Wow. I have noticed that in the last two coldish springs my roses have been very late to bloom, resulting in a shortened season. And I had some bad cane canker last year, but none so far this year. Diane

So, I've dipped down to 30 a couple of nights, but it didn't stay down there too long. Other than that, a few nights hit 32. I covered, but inconsistently. My roses didn't fully leaf out during the warm spell either. Does that make a difference? I've only been doing this a couple of years, so what should I expect?

Diane,
Yep - that whole microclimate concept is very real. I'm typically 4-5 degrees cooler than folks 1/2 mile away, and on occasion as much as 7-9 degrees colder. I'm at the end of the draw near Dry Creek where cold air, like water, flows down from the large hills to the South. All that said, this has been a very mild year for my roses. In a winter like several years ago - when we had over a week of minus 6 - everything gets killed to the ground except for some of the hardiest (John Davis, Morden Sunrise, Hansa, etc.). It's just part of the deal of living where I do. On the other hand, I can't see a single neighbor's lights from my back porch. Trade-offs, I suppose.

Last night, it dropped to 30 degrees for about 3.5 hours with heavy frost.

The weather doppler 2 miles away recorded 39 degrees.

One of my best purchases has been a weather station so I can record what the temp is on my property.

I am so glad I covered my roses hydrangeas and veggies.

A cone flower next to the roses remained uncovered and now is toast.

We've had temps. in the low 20s the last few nights. As dumb as it may be, the sheets and towels have worked for me.

We had freeze warnings the last two nights here in central Illinois, with a low of 30F Wednesday 3am-8am. I covered the Itoh and tree peonies, but with 2.5 acres of roses, clematis, hosta, coneflowers, and other perennials, everyone is pretty much on their own.

I made the rounds this morning and other than a wee bit of nipped foliage on a couple of roses, everything looks grand. I knew the roses would be fine, but was worried that I would wake up to hosta slime. I'll be happy when we can get safely past these cold weather threats.

Whew I got lucky last night. I was up at 3am and checked the temp. It was 40 with a slight breeze,YEA! Tuesday night it got down to 30. I have a little damage, but with 425 roses it's no big deal. I have had my Rugosas open since April 3. I have Magic Carrousel open too. I am 1 month ahead this year. I am normally pruning now. I have ht's 5-6' tall this year. Unheard of! I should be bloomed out by May 5 this year. I just love these early Springs!

We've had temps at night in the low 20's and at least one night down to 17 degrees this past week. And yes, we had the 80 degree weather BEFORE Easter that fooled everything into leafing out. I was out pruning today and many of the roses will have to push out a whole new set of leaves - the first ones are crispy critters. I noticed some of the lilacs had blackened leaves as well. No covering here - with fabric or plastic as there are too many and I'm too lazy. The roses will be fine and will push out more leaves. (Actually, I've always read that fabric is preferable as plastic when it touches the plant beneath transfers the freeze.)

I was looking out in the garden today. I have more damage than I thought. I have bent over new growth and wilted leaves that indicate that the growth was froze. No herbicides used!
This is no big deal cause now is the time I prune.

urk - we are getting -3 tonight. will be out with the fleece.

I got some light damage Wed. night on purple new growth at the top of certain plants. The red-colored surfaces radiate heat better than green and would be more susceptible to radiation freezes.

Based on my 2007 experience, I would cut any affected growth way down until you reach white pith. I tried just cutting off the tips that appeared damaged and a week later had to go back and cut back more, the new tips of the canes had turned black. Sometimes it takes awhile for the extent of the damage to show up.

Dan, I'm a bit N. of you I believe and my roses have buds on them but some of them are wilted over on the tops. should I prune or let them grow on their own? I already did some early spring pruning.

I have some leaves here and there that look a little frost nipped but otherwise everything still looks really good for mid April! I took a count and I have at least 25 flower buds on my roses! Unheard of for this time of year in my neck of the woods. I also have two of my older seedlings that winter in the little greenhouse that have buds showing color already. The race is on now for who will open first!