We don't know how secondary ingredients like spreader-stickers might affect the soil and roots. All you need is a two-hour window of no rain for the spray to be absorbed. Load up the sprayer and watch the Weather Channel or the radar loop on the NWS site. Bayer Disease Contol will stop infections if they aren't too old.

Traditionally, before the technology of refrigerating them was developed, most new roses were planted as bare-roots in the late fall. Transplanting roses as bare-roots is much the easiest way to do it. In your zone, there is a risk that a warm December could cause roses to grow out, freeze back, and deplete the plants or even kill some of them. However, that's the way I'd do it, as opposed to the expense and labor of potting. Just dig them with 12" roots and canes, strip all leaves, label them and bag them. Store in the shade until you can plant. They should keep well at temperatures mostly between 25 and 40 degrees Remove any growth buds that break before spring. After planting, spray the canes with dormant-strength Wilt Pruf.

This thread makes me smile. Jackie, I love the fact that you are living and gardening in a place that holds so much history for your family. I have an own-root Peace in my garden, a virus-indexed plant that got from Vintage in 2008. It was originally planted in my Rose Field among similar HTs. Life happened, my Rose Field grew over with weeds and invasives and I didn't have what it took to keep it up at the time, and Peace seemed to be lost. Last spring, I waded through that section of the garden and discovered that Peace was still there ... small and scrawny, but very much alive. I carefully dug it up, and it is now planted in my front yard HT garden, with other own-root HTs, where it receives much better care and it is thriving. These HTs seem to need more in the way of nutrition, so it gets fed regularly. I do my best to be as good as I can about keeping to my twice-monthly fungicide schedule, too. In return for my care and attention, Peace is growing and doing very, very nicely ... producing the large, bright green foliage that I think of when I imagine Peace. My goal for this plant is to keep it healthy and vigorous and to bud a copy of it onto rootstock to see what a virus-free Peace can do when grown as it was originally intended to be. When the plant gets bigger (it's about a foot-and-a-half tall right now), I will propagate own-root plants and get them out of here into other homes who will also care for and preserve them. (The photo of Peace and her little bug friend was taken yesterday morning.)

It was NOPSI when I lived in New Oreleans, and in rental shotgun houses...NOPSI claimed a large part of my paychecks! New Orleans has a lot of Energy Raters, the highest concentration in the state actually. Entergy has made use of some of these raters in their efficiency program Energy Smart. here are a couple of links for you to check out: http://www.energysmartnola.info/one-stop-shop/ http://www.energysmartnola.info/for-your-home/ not being in that area anymore, I don't know how this program works..but you can find out if you are interested. my only advice would be to involve yourself with an experienced rater there in N.O. someone with experience in old homes...the newer raters I met may have the training... but couldn't tell gas from electric heat systems, or know how to identify balloon framing. so look for someone who has 10+ years of experience. La. DNR also has list of energy raters state wide, their efficiency incentive program isn't still in effect...but last time I checked the list of active raters was still online. DNR(dept natural resources) provided the training for all of us back in 1999. so they have a good handle on who knows their stuff...and who doesn't. it is hard to see detail in your posted plans. so I'll keep my questions fairly general. my first two concerns are air sealing & hvac system. I know you have a partial ' basement' (LOL) are electrical & plumbing exposed? was there ever a central hvac system installed? if basement isn't full size of house...what access is there to the part of the house without basement? how much room is there between ground & house? 3'...4'....more? is house all electric or is natural gas provided? as to heating...do you have a prefrence? if all electric..then look research heat pumps...great wintertime savings in our area. (I'm south central La these days) have you looked at mini split units? condenser unit outside, individual air handler units that hang on walls in rooms. I can't tell if your layout would work for this or not. is there a space in your home you could make into heating system closet? have you had any hvac companies come out to look at the house yet? involving hvac company never starts too early. it may be that ductwork will need to be installed during the reno. if you can't give up the sq ft for system inside house...I've seen people put the heating system in the 'basement'. quite a few flooded after katrina, but its not an everyday occurrence, and depending upon what part of town your house is located in...flooding is something to consider. I know uptown floods in a hearbeat with heavy rains...but areas like bywater stay dry. the top floor...full attic or are there walls of the living space that are shared with attic space? is attic space large enough to house heating system? air sealing.. there are really two ways to air seal. caulk, backer rods & more caulk which can be diy..or foam insulation. one is inexpensive & time consuming...the other expensive & fast. foam insulating the roofline will be biggest bang for the buck. then putting heat system & ductwork in attic keeps it in a semi conditioned space, so that you don't have ducts to cool the house in a 140 degree attic. by moving air & thermal barriers to roofline, a lot of the air leakage sites in ceilings are depressurized, so that house isn't sucking hot dirty humid attic air into the house to clean, dehumidify & condition when central unit is running. as most of our heat gain/cooling loss is through the ceiling into the attic space creating a tight air barrier, and thermal barrier (insulation) is very important. we use open cell in the attic roofline, depth to equal R-value required ( R-25 for cathedral for example is 6- 6.5" deep) also if house is balloon framed, foam seal at eaves to attic floor will stop air movement in walls. we need to air seal our walls...but insulating walls here isn't high on our list of things to do. foam in walls...is a huge waste of money. the next place for foam is under the floors. here we use closed cell. to keep moisture from ground from being sucked into the house. 2-3" is sufficient. this will also seal bottom of balloon framed walls. I've had issue with some of the foam insulators in N.O., because I am one picky b!tch. unlike most energy raters I oversee install of foam and test for air leakage with foam co on site, so that they can catch any leakage sites then without an added trip. as these companies expand into my area...they don't stay long. over the years I've learned which companies will actually create air tight seals...and who doesn't. and fyi...it isn't always the big companies that do it right. owner/installer companies are more willing to learn how to do it right. and the install of foam, just like the install of the hvac system is the key to the whole thing. ok...there are your questions to answer & things to think about for today. I'll check back after you reply. and think about investing in a blower door test of the house at minimum. this will identify leakage sites that need to be sealed. if you have ductwork, spring for the duct test also. better to know what you have to start with..what you need to do... and have it tested when completed. this way you have a goal to work towards...and an idea of how to do it. best of luck