Hi Jameya You ask good questions and you have a good garden sense. Even though body bags are not usually the healthiest options for buying roses, you've been able to pick some good ones and they're clearly thriving under your care. Part of gardening is learning to trust your sense of what's needed, and being willing to do some trial and error, while still avoiding the bigger errors as you can (like the catnip). Picking roses that you see in stores usually comes down to body bags and potted roses. In both cases, I judge a rose plant from the bottom up. Does it have a good established root system (if potted), do the canes look healthy (no splits, canker, damage), are the canes ready to grow if not already leafing out (green rather than brown canes, hints of growth nodules). Once you see what your own roses look like when they're ready to start growing, you'll get a better sense of what a healthy rose looks like that you purchase. I tend to buy most of mine through mail-order companies, since stores don't carry what I want, but those recommendations are a topic of another discussion (though you could google Chamblees Nursery as a place to start). With the catnip, I really wouldn't plant it anywhere in my garden, even in a pot. If you miss a single flower and it goes to seed and blows into the yard, all of a sudden you have the potential for an invasive thug for life. Some things aren't worth risking, and the seeds are a cheap thing to redirect. If you want to use them, put together some pots of catnip as indoor plants as presents for cat-owning friends of yours, or to sell at a local benefit or garage sale or something. A rule of thumb is any plant that's advertised as "vigorous" or "spreading" or "fills in empty space" is probably a potential thug and something to consider very carefully before you plant it. Mint is another plant you need to keep out of the ground and in pots, for similar thuggish reasons. As for watering, Jim is right that it's another thing you get a feel for as you watch your plants in your conditions. The rule of thumb is that most plants (including lawns, BTW) do better with deep watering less frequently than frequent smaller watering. Deep watering with breaks forces the rose to put its roots deeper into the ground to dig for water residuals, and in a cold zone that is totally a good thing for winter survival too. My roses never actually get the inch of water a week they're "supposed" to get, since we're a pretty dry region - I want them to adapt to the local conditions so I don't have to baby them all their lives. Still, you're right that new plantings want more water than more established ones. The more you mulch (within reason), the more the soil retains the water and provides a consistent environment for the new plantings. I would increase the depth of your mulch to at least 2-3 inches, and you can draw it up closer to the base of the rose. You'd like some of the root zone of the rose to have mulch so there's more water retained for the roots, you just don't want to have the mulch nestled up against the canes and cause canker from too much moisture on the wood of the canes (though I violate this frequently). In your wetter climate, caution is a good thing, but I think you could leave a 2-3 inch distance of the mulch away from the canes and be fine. Jim's soil and climate is more similar to yours than mine, so start with his recommendations. If the roses start to droop and look stressed, water earlier than expected and deeply, then adjust accordingly. You can always stick your finger into the soil to at least the middle knuckle to see if you can detect moisture - if it's too dry at that distance it's time to water. As for the milky spore, I've never used it but it's apparently a lawn treatment kind of like the crabgrass prevention. It's sold at most garden stores and has instructions, and pay attention to the timing of when to put it on (it's later than crabgrass prevention). If you still have more questions on those issues, you might start a new thread. Bottom line is to trust your sense of your own garden as you go. If something's working for you, go with it. The older plants that are buried with the graft higher than I'd recommend look like they're doing fine, so I wouldn't do any serious messing with them. If you add some lovely compost around all the roses for 2 inches or so of depth, then mulch on top of it and add some extra compost/soil around the base of the existing roses, I think that's a simple addition to an already working system. All of that helps with water retention, and makes for less work and happier roses in the long run. Have fun Cynthia

This past winter was my first winter in a cold zone. Up here in the N. GA. Mts it gets cold. (The movie "Cold Mountain" was filmed in this area.) I brought 23 new roses with me when I moved from SE FL. last Sept. Everything was in 3 gal pots. The old lady living next door to me has 3 old HT's in 25 gal. pots in front of her porch. She showed me how to winter protect everything. It worked like a charm. 5' wood stakes, burlap and chicken wire. Put the stakes up around the pots in a square staying about 18" from the pots. Wrap the burlap once around the entire area using a staple gun to keep the burlap in place. Then put the chicken wire around the burlap using the staple gun. Then pack everything with fall leafs. When she gets up to about 4' she puts a layer of news paper on top of everythig, going around all the canes that are still sticking up. Then she finish's everything off with leafs. In mid March she takes everything down and spreds the leafs through her bulb garden (where her roses are), prunes everything up and bingo! Mr. Lincoln, Double Delight and Peace have been stunning all spring and summer. Mine, being in 3 gal pots I did just a little different. Packed all the pots together, covered everything with leafs, threw a layer burlap on everything and put more leafs on top of that . I didn't loose a single rose under this protection and all my roses are on cold sensative fortuniana root stock. And yes, several mornings at 5 degrees and a steady 20 mph wind is fair chilly. Many,many days we never saw anything above 25 drgrees. So I know with proper protection, roses in pots can survive a cold winter.

Thanks Tom. I have 2 plants of Louis Phillipe, but I have yet to get them big and bushy. I love the roses. I'll have to prune them better and see what I can do. Amberroses, Windermere is an English Rose. I was surprised too that it does so well. The other English Roses I have are Ambridge Rose, Wildeve, Graham Thomas, and Gruss An Aachen. They are all grafted. Ambridge Rose does well, it's just a 3 ft rose however. Beautiful flowers. Wildeve is another small rose. I have it in the wrong spot so it hasn't done anything. I wouldn't live without Graham Thomas. Love the flowers. It does get some blackspot and defoliates. Gruss An Aachen does well, I just don't love the flowers. I'll post some pics.

I looked back into my log records and found that trialed the "Rose" variety in 2001,; I was growing for restaurants at the time. My records indicate I got the seed in a trade from SE PA (indeed, that is Amish country). Some of my end of year ratings were as follows: Folliage desease tolerance/resistance 2.3 on a scale topped at 3.0. (Rutgers rated a 2.0) Size typically 3.5 to 4.5 OD X 2.0 to 2.5 deep. Yield 70% to sales, 20% to sauce or juice. Comments--Shows promise, very good tasting attractive fruits. So, I saved seed and then somehow forgot all about the variety. We were involved at the time in negotiations to sell our orchard and home to a developer, and 2001 was not one of my better managed years! Seeds now out of inventory and on deck for a 2010 growout!