I feed potted tropicals like begonias, fuschias, cannas, bananas, brugmansia, (plants that bloom and feed heavily)once a week with Miracle Grow. I have two kinds - one for blooms and one all purpose. Haven't killed anything yet, not with fertilizer anyway.

I use a pre-emergent without nitrogen and look for what's available at my local stores. Southern States had a granular product with Dimension (0-0-7) and I got that. I used something similar last year, but I may have gotten it from Home Depot then. If you plan to overseed in the fall, be sure to read instructions on how soon after using the pre-emergent you can reseed. That may affect which one you choose.

"Most gardening is simply done best in the ground.☺" For many folks, especially those unfamiliar with growing in containers and the unique set of growing requirements container culture demands, that is probably true :-) But not everyone has the necessary real estate or ability for inground gardening and that's where container growing comes into the picture. And you cannot equate inground gardening and its methods with container gardening and the different methods it demands. Using garden soil in that case is just not going to work well!! It is far too heavy and dense, with slow drainage and lack of pore space and necessary aeration, and the typical listed accompaniments, like compost or leaf mold, only exacerbate that problem. It is VERY difficult to assure necessary drainage and proper aeration for the roots of container plants in that sort of medium and a poorly draining medium will lead to stunting and lack of productivity, disease issues and even root rots and death. You CAN'T use just any soil and expect good results!! It just doesn't work that way! Anthony, I would urge you to read this thread carefully to help you understand the differences and with a greater understanding of container culture, then perhaps you will change your ill-advised suggestions :-)

I put about 20 of the to the left of my front door, about 30 of them in front of the house to the right side of the front door, about 12 of them in the side yard in the back, 2 of them on a trellis right next to the street, 5 of them on the fence, and the rest are in very big pots in a narrow patch of sunlight in the side yard. It's absurd how many I have when you consider the fact that my yard, which is mostly backyard, is mostly deep shade. I posted a pic of my backyard on Jin's "Roses for $7 antiques" thread. But I found places to tuck them in just about everywhere else. In about three years there will be roses everywhere in the front and most of them will still be blooming in the winter. I'll be "that crazy rose lady."