Okay--another question for ya--have you considered miniatures, since you'd prefer something more mannerly? Many of them have fabulous bloom form that never collapses, especially if you're looking for that perfect, tight spiral. Most minis aren't that fragrant, but there are a few that are fabulous. I'm sitting outside right now, so I'll give you a rundown of some of mine that fit the bill: Voodoo - Tall & narrow grower. Lovely orange-juice colored blooms with yummy fragrance that are phototropic and change in sunlight to a screaming scarlet-orange. Pretty darn good disease resistance. Jean Kennealley, an apricot miniature. She has the bonus of fragrance, and gets pretty big for a mini. Spent blooms will flatten out & fade to nearly white, but I think she's spectacular. She's held a very high rating for a long time. Folklore is a hybrid tea with perfect spirals & yellow reverses to coral petals. Lovely scent, big shrub, good disease resistance. Grows taller than it does wide, at least for me. Gemini is a drop-dead gorgeous hybrid tea. New blooms open ivory with just a hit of a deep coral picotee, then it changes with sunlight to almost a completely coral flush. Mine like to pitch candelabras and I think that's due to the Grandiflora breeding line. Great scent. Flawless is a true, medium pink miniflora with a nice scent. It is very disease resistant for me & blooms like crazy, but it tends to have more decorative or frilly blooms than the classic high spirals. I love it nonetheless. I really want to recommend Secret, but I have to spray her to keep her happy. The scent and the blooms are worth it, though. It does not mind the heat and rain does not spot her blooms as badly as most of my other light-colored roses. How white is your white requirement? I grow Irresistible, another miniature. It has no scent, but oh MY!! The blooms retain their form for at least a week and a half, it grows spectacularly, it's very mannerly, and disease resistant. It is a bit cream-colored upon close inspection but looks white from a distance. Also in my white-ish category is World War II Memorial. It's technically a mauve, but from a few yards back it appears to be white. It has glorious scent, very good disease resistance, and I just cannot describe the way the blooms contrast with an almost forest-green set of foliage. The aroma is incredible. It does spot with rain, unfortunately, but it's one of the few whose spots aren't that unattractive. If we get rain while there are blooms present, it looks like a white rose with pink freckles. One of the hardiest I have is Garden Party, but I'd describe it as an ivory rose that likes to have pink petticoats every now and then. Very good disease resistance and AWESOME fragrance, but mine grows like Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors. I think I witnessed her eating a rabbit this morning. [Or maybe it was that Swamp Tea.] All of these are repeat blooming, and I'd say that Flawless, Folklore, and Irresistible are the quickest to repeat. Gemini is sluggish, but when she blooms, she chucks out about 30 at a time. I live where blackspot pressure is very high due to silly nighttime cooling and condensation. I spray for blackspot, but these are the best of my 60 roses that fit your bill. And since I am too lazy to edit my post [Swamp Tea again...dangit], I totally forgot Tahitian Sunset. I am in love with this rose and put her in a bad spot where I can't admire her while on the deck. It is a skyscraper of a hybrid tea with apricot to pink blooms that have a perfect spiral, and the scent is unusual. It has been described as anise, licorice, myrhh....but everyone at work loves to stick their nose in her when I bring her in. Very, very good disease resistance. These are some of my faves, and if you haven't been over to HMF to check out people's rose pics I would encourage you to do so. There is no better enabler for rose buying than this website and that one, combined.

I've been growing icebox size watermelon (sugar baby and its hybrid cousin tiger baby) in a 25-gallon half whiskey barrel for the past five years, and it works well in my situation. I plant my seeds indoors and transplant them very gently when they have just formed their first true leaves and daytime temperatures are reliably above 70. I've grown four or five plants in the barrel and gotten an average of two watermelons for each plant. I did try trellissing them, but as soon as I see the melons begin to form, I gently rearrange the vines so the fruit is resting on the ground or some sturdy platform. The vines still range over the trellis, which is very pretty, but eventually they climb out of the pot and extend a few feet out from it on the ground. My melons are usually around five pounds, which may be a little smaller than ones grown in the ground, but they are so sweet and clean. The planting mix I've been using is the 5-1-1 they talk about in the Container forum. It's five parts pine bark fines to one part each perlite and peat moss. My situation may not be ideal, but I can't grow melons in the ground, and this works well for my small family. Here's a photo from last July. And here's one from June, a year earlier:

I'm about a hundred miles south of you, in Gloucester, VA. It's zone 7B here, but I used to live and garden in the DC area, and I don't think there's much difference. Yes, it's fine to move things and plant things in the fall. September is excellent. The limiting factor is lingering summer heat, not oncoming autumn cold (as if!). I'm going to be moving roses and planting new ones starting this weekend, and I'll just take care to keep them well hydrated. We can still have 90-100 degree days ahead. Make sure you give your roses good deep drinks when you move them, and keep an eye on them especially on hot days. I always give a solution of root starter fertilizer (Miracle Gro Quick Start) when I plant. If you use systemic granules, you can also put those in the hole. btw, with climate change many of my roses are no longer going dormant in winter at all. They don't grow, but they do keep their green leaves. Very last blooms are usually in November.

I entirely agree with Seil. Connect your hose. Give them a good but slow drink. You need to get the disturbed soil settled in, and only a deep, slow watering can do that. That will thereby cause the numerous, transplant created air pockets to be eliminated. You really cannot risk entire bush dehydration or possible extensive feeder root-tip die back. Once they're well watered in, its a wait and see period until spring, if any additional watering is needed in the weeks ahead. Probably no further watering will be needed, unless a very dry spell occurs as winter continues....unlikely as that is, it is a possibility. Moses