On Thu, 02 Oct 2003 15:38:39 GMT, "Joe"
wrote:

We've had an early start to fall in the past couple of days. the
nights have been more like Halloween. it got down in the upper 30s
last night. But it's warming up nicely. We had a mild spring, a
moderate summer (only got hot toward the end) and now I wonder what
the winter's going to be like.

Normally I have blooming roses well into November, but I wonder if
this early cold snap is going to trigger premature dormancy. It
wouldn't bother me in the least, but it *will* be interesting to see
how the roses react. As I said, we seem to be about 3 weeks ahead of
schedule.

In Calgary its about the nicest fall you could want. Daytime highs are
still 70 and the nights about 35. There's still new blooms opening on all
my roses, and some like the Mordens look much better now, colours intensify.
Clematis, cranesbills, dianthus, delphinium, and campanulas are also still
putting on a show. Leaves are only just turning yellow on most trees.

To answer you and Theo, i was just commenting on the unusal nature of
the early cold. I don't expect the plants to instantly shut down, but
I'm wondering what effect the premature temperature triggers will have
on the roses. We had a really mild time last year until the end of
November and that's what my roses are acclimated towards.