Think about all that for a while and you'll have a small inkling of how I felt yesterday when Mrs. ProfessorRoush called to tell me that my new roses had come in and asked me what I wanted her to do with them. Yipes! Like many other rose-lovers, I had jumped at the 50% off sale that Heirloom Roses announced a week or two back and I ordered seven rose bands at that time. Yes, I knew that it was the wrong time of the year to order roses for planting in Kansas. I was counting on slow order processing in a time of increased demand, and on the promise by Heirloom that "once my order was reviewed by staff, I would receive an updated confirmation with details on the expected shipping date and the official order number." I planned to follow through on their offer to make adjustments to the shipping date, if necessary, once they informed me of the likely time of arrival. There was, however, no followup email confirming the order, and now I've got to figure out how to keep seven baby roses alive indoors (which I'm not very good at) until the +100F heat wave breaks here in Kansas (which may take until the end of August at this rate!). Planting these greenhouse grown plants outdoors right now would be approximately equivalent to applying a blowtorch to their tender leaves. I would expect their survival time to be numbered by hours, whether I placed them in shade or in sun and regardless of watering schedule. So, indoors they are and indoors they'll stay for, at the least, several weeks while the calendar moves closer to the Autumn Solstice. An incredibly sunny window, an old aquarium, and, I'm certain, some chemical fungal preventatives will be required. On the plus side, these are incredibly vigorous and healthy looking plantlets, perhaps the best that I've ever received by mailorder from any nursery. Even with that, I'll be lucky if the seven innocent little green creatures aren't seven brown sticks before I get them outdoors.
You know it's close to Armageddon when every Nursery has left over plants and is clearing them out. Every nursery I've purchased from has sent info to me on 50-75% clearance. And I imagine all the plants are mature in their 4" pots. I've had t restrain myself also.
ReplyDeleteProfessor, it's so unlike you to panic. Of course, you don't want to plant them in the garden now, but you need to get them into bigger pots so they can be growing. Pot them on into 1-gallon pots, set them in the shade and keep them watered - or maybe you prefer 2-gallon. I did mine last evening. That said, I don't know how fall planting of 1-gallon roses works for you in Kansas or how they'll do in your garage. My plan is to plant them in the garden by October, but my winter is from a different planet than yours. Perhaps it's time to invest in a greenhouse.
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