This past winter certainly seemed colder than normal. The humans who live on the South Coast are used to moderate temperatures, winter and summer. During December and January, we bundled ourselves up and grumbled about the frigid - to us - weather.

However, while we were grumbling, our roses, as well as other plants, were reveling in the cold. Those winter days have translated to a more lush growth, roses free from disease and a rejuvenated garden in general.

Roses do not experience true dormancy. Rather, they tend to slumber fitfully. Where winter temperatures are truly cold, with several days below 32 degrees, roses seem to produce better. The plants themselves seem to last longer. The colder temperatures kill disease spores and some of the insects.

On the coast, roses often will bloom through the winter. They rarely lose their leaves until the gardener removes them. Often, a plant will seem to peter out after about 10 years, with blooms lessening each year. This is the sign of a tired plant. Sometimes moving it will help but usually the only cure is to replace it with another.

In April, as the weather warmed and the rose growth really took off, many of you may have noticed a residual effect in your garden from winter. Some roses may have been very slow in producing new buds or the buds and subsequent growth could have had a strange look to it, almost as if the gardener had accidentally sprayed the plant with the herbicide Roundup.

This is one of the signs of moderate freeze damage. Usually it will strike roses that bloom in shades of apricot. The reason for this is that these apricot roses trace their color back to yellow roses, which are the most tender of all roses.

Freeze damage often will show in miniature roses first. Blackened canes are a sure sign of frozen roses. However, since most miniatures are grown on their own roots, cutting back the plant will rejuvenate it and by the end of summer you will note no difference from previous years. You can usually cut an own-root plant down to the ground and it will come back true from the roots.

Most of us no longer bother with winter protection for roses since it is so rarely needed. Those of us who have moved to the coast from colder climates remember how much work it was to protect roses in winter.

I first grew roses in Nevada where below-zero temperatures were not unheard of. Roses had to be bundled into winter coats or there would be nothing left in the spring but black canes. It could get very expensive to grow roses as annuals.

On the coast, I don't bother to winter protect my roses. I have lost roses to freeze damage but I just look at it as an opportunity to buy more plants. In my garden many of my miniature roses have black canes and I will soon prune these out. Two of the roses which are the most tender are the floribunda Bill Warriner and the hybrid tea Brandy.

I soon will apply my first dose of fertilizer. The roses that experienced freeze damage will require a little extra coddling this spring. I will use some extra organic fertilizer, mostly kelp and alfalfa, to spur growth.

If you have a small garden, this would be a good time to use a mild fish emulsion tonic. I will wait to do this until I begin irrigating, since I use fish emulsion in my fertilizer tanks that are linked to my irrigation system.

In May, it is very important to apply the first dose of fertilizer in the rose garden. The roses are producing buds and will soon be blooming. This is a critical time for roses and they need to be fed to produce all those blooms. A boost of alfalfa meal and Epsom salts also would be appreciated.

(Corinne Clifton lives near Bandon and grows more than 200 kinds of roses.)