I've already moved 11 roses into a new bed--the ground has already thawed!

Eric, they look great. One thing I'm doing in my large pots of minis is putting empty soda cans and water bottles (with caps) in the bottom to take up space and save weight for easier moving - also for a smaller rootball when transplanting in your case. Very effective use of your cash. Can't wait to see your fashionable roses when they're leafed out and blooming.

Sherry

Eric, those are very nice looking roses. I'm glad to see what Pickering bare roots look like. Do you plant your grafts low so that maybe the grafted rose part will develop roots on its own?

Miriam Wilkins had a lot of roses in buckets in her yard. The buckets had deteriorated and the roots had escaped. So, based on her example, you can just keep those roses in those buckets forever!

Great-looking roses, good selection. We certainly saw some beautiful Mrs. John Laing in Wooster last year. I love, love, love my Chapeau de Napoleon. And Apothecary Rose is an icon. I don't know if I'd plant its graft low, though - unless you have room for it to wander.
Anita

Zack, at the time these came, only the first couple of inches was unthawed

Thanks Sherry. I needed every bit of room in the buckets to fit the roots in! Good idea for future plantings though.

Harborrose, for the few grafted roses I do buy, I will bury the graft a couple of inches below the soil line to encourage them to go own root. As for roses that tend to sucker, like Apothecary Rose, I may not.

Thanks Anita, if only had Miriam's climate :) These guys will have to be in the ground before next Winter. Wooster's Mrs. John Laing is the very plant that made me want to get her.

Eric

Eric, what a great idea for inexpensive, as well as lightweight, rose containers. The handles even make them easy to pick up and move....at least until they get real bushy. Thanks!

Sandy

That is brilliant!! If you need REALLY big cheapo "pots," check out Home Depot for an 18-gallon tub with rope handles for about $6. I can't find it on the Web site, but they were near the inside garden area. I picked up a bunch to make self-watering containers for my tomatoes. Looks like Lowe's carries a near-identical 20-gallon tote for $6.98, and a 10-gallon model for $4.88. If you ever want to sink potted roses in the ground, that might be just the ticket.

I guess you could just as easily use the standard rectangular tubs they use to make fake Earthboxes, but round ones are easier to cage (in the case of tomatoes) and probably easier to bury.

Aaaaaaaand it just occurred to me how to "plant" blueberries in the ground in my alkaline soil!

Here is a link that might be useful: Lowe's search for buckets

Sandy, I'm glad I found them too. I think the handles are already out since I've got some good canes to work with.

That's a good idea about the totes. I too have alkaline soil and have always wanted to grow blueberries.

ERic

Sherrycola thanks for that info I never would have thought about that.

I would try Craig's List and look for garden pots in your area. We have a lot of landscaping companies in the Tampa Bay area. I got hundreds of pots all sizes , plus, I do not know the name of them? carriers, so you can put 6 roses in a tray? so a flat ? But I got them all free all sizes from "cells" up to 10 gallons! I will not have to look for pots at all this year. I just clean them before I use them. Better than having them in the junk yard IMO.

Hartwood roses is almost my "hero" with some of the stuff she has scored from Craig's List. All I had to do was unload the pots, as I had a friend that lived closer than I did, now my shed is full!
Regards,
Andrew Grover