I'm down to the last 18 to plant. I added around 121 different kinds this year- slightly more because the mini's were multiple and I forgot to add how many I bought of each of those. Maybe 140 including the multiple mini roses?
Had my first growing season rose loss- usually I just lose roses during the winter. The loss was a Joseph's Coat planted earlier in the season that just kept struggling and never had more than the slightest growth. It's last branch fell off last week and I dug it up to find the rootstock was just dead. It had hardly any feeder roots when I planted it- but, that happens sometimes. It was one that came packed in sawdust and the sawdust was noticeably hot from breaking down. I don't really like grafted roses here in zone 5. They were a necessity when I lived in Florida in the land of root knot nematodes. Here in northern Michigan though, they are absolutely a liability. They just add that extra wrinkle where they can be failing even though the top of the plant was healthy. I need to make a real effort next week to get all my grafteds air-layering so that I can snip and overwinter some props indoors.
Planted a Gemini 'bareroot' today that has a similarly crappy grafted root system. Stuck three air layer pods on it. That thing is not going to survive the winter. The graft is already splitting as well. I filled the crack with wood glue just so it wouldn't rot before I can get some air layers off of it. To be fair, it was Home Depot clearance for $1. But, if I can get an own root off of it, will have been well worth it. Either way, $1 isn't much of a gamble. It did bloom correctly- so that's nice at least.
I worked in a light rain this evening- because that's the point I'm at. It was brisk.. lol
Tomorrow should be great for garden work- cool, overcast but little to no rain. Hoping to get into the garden for about an hour before work and then from 6-8:15 or whenever it gets dark.
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