As you may recall from previous posts, we were very fortunate to find a greenhouse that we can use for free, to start the seeds for our flower farm test field. This thing is huge in while I was given freehand to grow as much as I want, I’m also trying to be cognizant that other people may want to use it to. But still I have a lot of space that I can work with even in a fraction of the greenhouse area.

Enter my container roses. if you’ve read my blog before you know that I love roses more than anything, and I grow them in container because the roses I love, are not hardy to my zone here in Minnesota (Zone 4B). So far I’ve been growing them in containers for five years and it’s been great. The only problem comes when 1) they came out of dormancy a little bit too early or 2) you have to force them out of dormancy because you have to prune winter that back canes before it spreads down the canes. And winter die back is what I had to deal with this year.

Because I waited a little bit too long to take care of the winter damage (which manifests in black dead canes), I had to give them a hard core pruning. The problem with die back is that, if you wait too long, the damage travels down the cane. That’s what happened to ours, so I had to prune mine really low. This took care of the damage, but because of the pruning, combined with a week of warmer weather (even for an unheated garage), these babies came out of dormancy. The pruning happened about a week ago, and immediately shoots started growing.

That in itself is not bad. The problem was the winter weather that followed the warm spell. Now I had new tender growth and the prospect of it dying because it’s too cold. So, we decided to move the potted roses to the greenhouse. And boy— do they love it. Below I show you the difference that about 20 hours made (from Saturday to Sunday).

You can tell that the baby leaves opened more and the turned green instead of red. It’s probably because all the good light that they get it with the greenhouse. I’m so excited to see how much they love it there. I really wish that these were hardy to my zone because I think they would be just gorgeous around the front yard. Plus I wouldn’t need so many containers.

This is one of the reasons that the roses I am adding this year are all hardy to zones 3 and 4. After doing some research, I found two companies that breed cold hardy roses. These roses will go on the ground, so I won’t have to be dealing with the containers saga as much. Below you can see the varieties that I ordered.

From Heirloom Roses

From Burlington Roses

Just be aware that if you want to order from Burlington, they do not have an online store. To order, email them and request a catalog. Then you email them with the varieties you want to order. They are super friendly and very responsive.

As you can tell, not only will we be busy with the trial garden for Abeille, but also in my own private little garden, and I cannot wait. Roses are my love, and I am ready to get these girls going! Have a great week, friends!

Are you growing anything new this year that you are very excited about?

You may find me joining these wonderful linkups:

Mondays— Inspire Me Monday, Hearth & Soul, In a Vase on Monday, Mosaic Monday, All About Home Link Party
Tuesdays— Nature Notes, Tuesday Turn About
Wednesdays— Wonderful Wednesday, Soaring with Him, Wonderful Wednesday Blog-Hop
Thursdays— Imparting Grace, Heart Encouragement, Be Thee Inspired, Full Plate Thursday, Thursday Favorite Things, Runfessions
Friday— Floral Friday, Friendship Friday Grace & Truth, Farmhouse Friday, Floral Friday Fotos, Community - Five Minute Friday, Fabulous Friday Link Party, Encouraging Hearts & Home
Saturday & Sunday— Pink Saturday, Saturdays Sparks Link Party, Garden Affair, Six on Saturday

Monthly— Garden Bloggers Bloom Day