How you prepare your soil depends on what kind of soil you have. If you have heavy clay, I'd dig deep, much deeper than the plant will go in a coulple years and loosen the soil. I wouldn't amend, though I would plant the trees high (clay soils tend to drain poorly and also can pool holding water and drowning roots). Personally I do little in the way of preparation this time of year, I do compost and pile my beds high with leaves in the fall. I add leaf mould (rotted leaves from the fall before) and mulch around the new planting (2-3 inches deep and away from the stem) just after planting. Digging in the wet-cold soil (too much) only serves to damage the structure of soil and leave it clumping and hard. Wait til the ground warms a bit, if you ordered from a good place they will not ship until it is appropriate for you to plant anyway. (for me, also zone 6, that will likely be around the end of April/beginning of May). Anything that comes in before that will get 'heeled in' in one of my vegetable raised beds (any good soft soil will do) or in a pinch I'll pot them up in 2-3 gal containers and place in a protected part of the yard. If you start digging too close to young trees you risk damaging roots (ignore the myth that the roots of a tree are a mirror of its top, imagine instead the roots being more like the tree's shadow, only extending about 1-2 feet below the surface (there are exceptions of course)). If you plant a grape vine at the base of a cherry, it will quickly overgrow and smother the cherry. Also, sunlight is necessary for the ripening of fruit and a grape in a cherry would only serve to increase the chances and severity of disease in both plants. ~Chills

I think I'm going to get Mrs. B.R. Cant and put her behind my future arbor. I measured the spot and it's a 6 foot diameter from the arbor if I start from the corner. That should do ok, right? There and Eden cl there right now, but I think I'd rather have Mrs. BRC there... I've heard a lot of folks say that Eden cl makes a nice pillar or climbing on an obelisk, so I'm thinking about moving Eden to something like that for a height accent somewhere else. What kind of size on Archduke Charles? 5 feet?? Ken (or anyone) I'd love to see photos of your Archduke. :) Thanks for that, Jeri! :D Jeri, I guess I don't really mind if it's indicative of a china or not. I just thought it was pretty, I suppose it's a minor plus that it's "called" a china. (it seems more like a tea to me??) but I really like the changeable quality. I like Sanguinea... but I hadn't seen Louis-Philippe before... it looks really gorgeous from the photos on HMF. I wish I could see one in person. I wonder if there's one around locally somewhere. Ken, I'm always open to suggestions! Leveson Gower was on my list but I'm waffling on it becuase I have a good amount of full double/complex blooms in that color range and I think I'd rather have SdlM (white). (Though I know people say that Leveson Gower probably isn't a sport of SdlM, they do look similar...) Masha - well it is my birthday soon.... ;)

Actually, re the size I meant at maturity because if they will be all different sizes you might want to group them differently, you wouldn't want the row lop-sided or perhaps you might. We all arrange things differently, but you will definitely want some idea of their mature size or you'll finish up moving them around like a lot of us do, me especially! Jane

The Austins will sell out quickly and Lowes may not get any more, so I'd get back to the store in a hurry if you want to exchange it. Some roses have a second, smaller tag in addition to the pretty picture tag. You might check your roses and see. The fancy tags go on at the last minute, so when there's a little tag it generally has the right name. HTH.