Crunching through the snow.

Now that winter is mostly over (I hope) I crunched through the half-melted snow to check out the damage it inflicted on our roses. This was the first winter for most of our roses, so I was plenty worried. I wasn't able to check on Evelyn because she's still buried under two feet of snow, but most if not all of our roses appeared to have made it through alive. Some of them have mechanical damage, but even the questionably cold-hardy roses like Heirloom (Zone 7? More like Zone 4!) and Enchanted Autumn don't seem to have suffered any cold-related die-back. I'm very glad that my tiny Allegra band has pulled through. Happy indeed that my large Jude the Obscure is still a big boy.

Duchesse de Montebello is really a tank. At some point she had 4+ feet of snow piled on her and the box protecting her busted, but she never did. Those canes must be made of steel, 'cause she just bounced back! She and Rook are already greening up. I don't know if this is a good or bad sign, but they look healthy!

I'm trying really hard to stick to a budget this season, but I broke down and ordered some good-quality rose gauntlets. Bare-root Claire Austin, Carding Mill, Crown Princess Margareta and Princess Alexandra of Kent are showing up in a week, and I'll be damned if I rip up my hands trying to pot them up.

Scepter'd Isle is poking through the snow outside my bedroom window, green as a string bean. I hope that mostly good things happen to us this year. I can hope!