The first thing on my list was to pot up some of my rooted cuttings. This fall, with my mist system dismantled because of the greenhouse construction, I went old-school with propagation ... using the milk jug and soda bottle method that I learned years ago. (This is still the best low-tech method I know to propagate roses. For details, click HERE to go to the tutorial on my nursery web site.)
These cuttings of 'Dr. W. Van Fleet' have been in this container for three months.
There were eight cuttings in this container ... all but one of them lived and grew roots!
Each of the live cuttings has a healthy little root system. I carefully potted each cutting into its own 3x3x6-inch pot, put the pots into a tray, and put the tray onto one of the greenhouse benches in the sunshine.
Look at those roots!
After I finished the cuttings, the next item on my list was to whip my own little potted roses into shape. Most of the space in the greenhouse this winter is dedicated to my OWN roses ... the ones that I have collected but haven't put into the garden yet. Most of these roses are miniature roses in one-gallon pots, and I don't want to take the chance of losing any to winter cold and wind, so I brought as many as I could into the greenhouse for protection.
The warm temperatures in the greenhouse have been ideal for weed growth, and most of the pots have varying concentrations of an assortment of weeds on the top of the potting soil.
I carefully tipped each rose out of its pot, holding it in my hand, which makes it easier to remove the weeds along with as many of the roots as I can. Then, I return the rose to its pot, add some potting soil to the top if necessary, and move on to the next one.
I kept this up at a pretty good pace, and I did fifty pots.
I only have about 150 more pots left to do. I'm tired now, so these can wait till our next sunny day.
Working in the greenhouse during the winter is a great way to spend time ...
it's almost like Florida in there!
