Everything you have planned sounds good. As long as the manure is well-rotted it shouldn't be a problem. Some people also put in Epsom salts and bone meal. Peat is a good idea too- holds the water. I amend the soil with rotted mulch, peat, Black Kow, bone meal and occasionally sprinkle Ironite.

Let me know how the Playboys work out down here, I've been considering that one as well. They should probably be grafted on Fortuniana - I think that Coolroses carries Playboy on Fort.

Enjoy!
Avalon

Wow, sumognat! You have your own horse manure factory!!!

When I dig my beds, I take out the depth of a shovel and replace it with everything you mentioned. Perhaps if I were younger and stronger, I'd go 2 feet deep, but I feel like a wacko as it is. Though the soil does become black in several months from all the added organics, my big question has always been "what happens when the roots extend beyond the amended area into the native sand?" So I guess I'm saying to go for the 2 feet if your back and pocketbook can hold up. I'm sure you can get good topsoil & compost in bulk. It's cheaper that way. I get my horse manure compost for free from a horse farm down the road. This year she said she "sanded" her stalls more which made the compost very heavy. I know she thought it was a good thing (and I don't know for sure that it wasn't), but I gasped at the word 'sand'. After all, I worked hard to get rid of the sand, and now I'm adding more! I don't know anything about horses or their bedding needs, but I do know the straw will pull nitrogen from the soil so you need to add extra nitrogen. I use a lot of Milorganite. The worms love it. I use Rose-Tone or Holly-Tone because that's what Lowe's carries, but I occasionally get a big bag of Purely Organic from a man in the local rose society. I use cottonseed meal, blood meal on occasion and lots of alfalfa in preparing the bed. Last year I used up a 50 lb bag of greensand in the beds I dug. It adds potassium (N-P-K: 0-1-6). Florida sand is typically very deficient in K. I found a company called Fertrell who had a local rep who sold their organic products out of his home so that's where I got it. I use Mycorrhizae - microorganisms that you add at planting that greatly enhance root growth. I sprinkle them directly on the roots before I put the plant in the hole. I also use "Vitamin B-1 Plant Starter" by Lilly Miller (from Lowe's.) This is very unscientific, but I forgot to use it once and several of my potted up roses withered and died. :(( At least it's cheap.

I have limey sand so I use soil sulphur. I mostly grow own-root Old Garden Roses. I have a few on Fortuniana but 20 times as many on their own roots - Chinas, Teas and Noisettes. Hope this helps.

Sherry

Thanks for the feedback Avalon and Sherry--it's good to know I'm on the right path! :) I'm glad I ended my rose acquisition at 4 bushes--they are work (but worth it...I think =p).

Avalon - I actually bought these roses from Greg at Cool Roses, so they are on Fortuniana. :) The Playboy roses are working well for me, but they are still in their containers. They are in full sun all day and probably the only reason they don't look as good as they could is because I don't water them as often as I should, which is why I really want to get them into the ground. They are definitely not "no spray" roses, you can probably spray every 2 weeks and have some blackspot. If I spray weekly, I don't get much blackspot at all. I haven't been spraying much, so I have had to cut leaves off, but they really are growing and blooming like crazy, so you really can't tell too much. Since they bloom so much, deadheading often is a good idea to get them to re-bloom quickly. I do get a lot of aphids on new growth, but they seem manageable if you go out and spray the bushes down with water weekly. They lady bugs have also helped quite a bit, and I see a number of aphid skeletons quite often.