Hardwood Rose Cuttings Experiment

I had never taken such late softwood cuttings for mist propagation as I did this last September.  The cuttings were placed under mist on September 29, 2014.  Below they are shown with evidence of excellent rooting when I pulled them out for transplanting into pots 2 days ago.

So, I thought, if roses can propagate this well under mist late in the year, I wonder if I can propagate hardwood cuttings under mist in the wintertime.  It is fairly easy to get hardwood rose cuttings to root outdoors in the wintertime in our climate, but you have to wait until the following winter to dig them up for transplanting.  If they root well under mist, I should be able to transplant them in early summer from the plug trays.  I had an unused tray on the misting table that I decided to use today.  I ignored the moss growing on the surface of several of the cells and just pushed the cuttings in.  I will report on the outcome of this experiment in a later post…

Winter, Spring or Fall?

Well officially, it is wintertime.  We have only had 4 days with temperatures below freezing, with the coldest day being 28º F.  The forecast for next week is for springtime temperatures in the lower 70's.

With the milder weather, many of the roses are still exhibiting nice fall colors.

And, fall colors where roses are concerned, would not be complete without rose hip photos.

So, here we are in the middle of winter, with fall colors, springtime temperatures and new sprouting roses.  Soon we will have blooms.

Let The Germinations Begin!

Yeah!  All the rose seeds have been planted.  Let the germinations begin!

A lot of work went into getting the seedling beds ready for planting, and then more work in getting all of the seeds planted.  Soon, instead of the "white" of the perlite being the most prominent color in the greenhouse, it will be the "green" of the new rose seedlings.  

The most fun time of the year is about to begin…