Sounds like the old favourite quotation for newly planted trees . . . "First year sleep, second year creep, third year leap". In the first two years they are mainly re-establishing their shattered root systems, but that's not visible to us. Resin

Hi - I'm in zone 6, so take what I say with a grain of salt (mad gallica makes a good point about warm/wet being a danger!) And of course if you are new to roses, its hard to know what to expect the first year! Anyway, for what its worth, here in zone 6 NJ, I do protect SOME of my roses. Our winters are very variable, some very cold, some quite warm. I'll winter protect most of my first-year roses and any who are on the tender side (generally yellows and peaches, anybody with tea or noisette background, and anybody who still looks kind of small and puny. Or anybody that for whatever reason I just feel paranoid about). I mound the base (with soil or straw or leaves) and then wrap the canes. I have used burlap for this, but my absolute favorite is to use leaf bags! you can buy these in the grocery store, or at home depot. I cut the bottom out of the bag, so I have essentially a paper tube. Then, I drop this over the rose (if the rose has a lot of canes, you might have to tie them together). Then, to fasten it to the ground, I stick bamboo stakes through the base of the bag and into the ground. Finally, I tie a little twine around the whole thing - this ensures that the bag won't blow off in high winds (the stakes help with that, too). This has worked really well. It protects the canes, but the rose still gets some light and air through the top. The bags are made of such thick paper that they hold up really well - I usually get a couple of years out of them. And they dry out much faster than burlap, which sometime stays soggy for too long. Using this method has been pretty successful for me. On some roses I'll get some dead canes, but mostly, they come through just fine. Good luck, just use your best judgment and don't be too hard on yourself if some of them don't make it. Remember, gardening's a learning experience, and we all lose a few roses in the course of learning!

My....ummmm...."lunch-lady" cap was at the cleaners...... Yeah, THAT'S IT!! Francy, You mean I could get Women to come into my backyard, spray a few sections of fence, and THEN PAY ME for the "highlights"....??!??!?! What in the world would DW say?!?!?? Faron

Dancingirl, Thank you so much. Batting never occurred to me. You see, I don't really sew - I just thread the machine and press the foot peddle. Batting makes perfect sense. It's not really a pillow. It's for play. As felt sticks to felt, the ornaments should stick on the tree so that my little babe can decorate and redecorate to her hearts content. She's just starting to learn her colors and the names of animals, so there's plenty of chances to work in learning games with this too. Again, thanks for responding so quickly with the tips. I hope to shop for the materials this week.