Question
Hi Lynnette,
First I have to tell you, your my life saver. Your answers are right on the mark every time. We moved here to Upstate New York Zone 5 three years ago. I'm going nuts with all the clay! My question for you is: I planted three blaze climbers along a cyclone fence last year and they did well over the summer. A couple of weeks ago we had a warm spell and than ice storm. I noticed that a few of the canes turned almost black on two of the bushes and on all of one.
Did I lose them? What should I do?

Answer
Thanks for your nice comment. I hate this weird weather everyone if coping with. No, your roses are not dead by any means. These nasty little freezes kill the tips of the new growth and even further down. This climber will come back from only a couple of inches of canes, so go ahead and cut back the dead canes even to the base if necessary. I would then throw some soil, mulch, anything you have, to make a mound at the base of the climber that was hit hard. This way it won't be totally killed if you have a few inches left if it happens again. When you cut the cane keep going lower until the colour is a pale green with no brown in it. The hard hit one may take more time than the others to start to grow but don't give up on it.
Bear in mind that clay soil has many of the goodies roses like plus other plants so clay soil can make a much better garden. Keep in mind that there are different types of clay soils and what works on one type will not do well for the others. It does pay to do your homework in regards to the type of clay you have so you don't use up all your energy doing the wrong thing.