On Friday, Reformation Day, Arkansas got much colder and our area reached 20 degrees at night. Frost nipped the roses, but KOed the pumpkin vine in the compost. The pumpkin had previously done well, even in a relatively shady area. I gave it water every day when it was starting out. Pumpkin leaves are especially large and prone to wilt when water is scarce. The roots got deep enough into the compost to find a constant supply of water for the vine, and heavy rains later helped.
Now the vine and the roots are decomposing, as planned.
Plants thrive in weather for which they were created, a fact that stymies many. My neighbor put in a winter garden with free plants from a local store. Cold loving plants include the cabbage family, lettuce, spinach, and peas. Winter may arrive too soon to make much out of his winter garden, but I have a things going in mine.
The spinach in the front row of mine is doing well, but it will go dormant in the winter and be covered over with a blanket of autumn leaves. Spinach will wake up in the spring and produce the best possible leaves before the insects and the heat ruin the plant. The garlic cloves we planted will be full grown in the spring. Those who like to plant tulips and daffodils might as well poke garlic cloves into the ground as well. Nothing multiplies faster than garlic, which is immune to all insect attacks and a plant giving health and strength to nearby plants - especially roses.
We had plenty of late rains, which gave us a bumper crop of roses and black spot. Our helped wondered what we did wrong. He got the job of removing bad canes and leaves. I told him, "Ever since the Persian yellow rose was bred into roses for color, black spot has appeared. Some plants are vulnerable. Others crawl with it. Still others are almost immune."
Black spot is a bad fungus that weakens leaves, canes, and the rose plant itself. The fungus dwells in the soil so everything bad has to be gathered and removed completely (John 15:1-10; same process)
I am not going to spray for black spot, but I do try to avoid popular roses known for the weakness.
The Knockout roses were not KOed by black spot. They showed virtually no damage. Our helper asked about cloning some of the bushes from the canes, which is relatively easy to do. A cane will root in a glass of water and form a new bush when placed in soil. The resulting plant will not have a wild rose base, but that is not a big problem in many areas.
