Why I Oughta...

Yesterday, I posted photos of how I'm attempting to overwinter some Dahlia tubers in the ground and in a couple of those pics, you might have peeked at the chicken wire cages next to the piles of mulch on the dahlia tubers.  Those chicken wire cages are full of fallen leaves and are set on top of the three Disneyland Rose crowns along the southside of our house. See below for a couple of photos showing how I set up the ring of chicken wire and filled it with mulched-up leaves: These roses struggled this year, so here's hoping this little bit of extra Winter protection is going to help them get through the cold.

Yesterday, I posted about my first experience with trying to dig up and save dahlia tubers using the "saran wrap method" .  In that post, I talked about how I decided to leave a couple of tubers in the ground to see how they would do.  We're in Zone 6a/5b, so dahlia tubers are *not supposed* to survive our Winter.  But...because of the unique setting, I thought I'd give it a shot.  By 'unique setting', I'm talking about what I think is a small, potential 'microclimate' that exists on the side of our house. By 'microclimate', I mean...an area that is slightly "warmer" than the rest of our garden.  I'm not talking a huge difference.  But, I suspect there's some difference. Why?   Well...experience, mostly.  And, the Disneyland Roses.   I had Disneyland Roses up front and along the side.  The three in the front...lost their first Winter.  The three along the house?  All have survived. What makes it unique?   Fi...