I started out with Fafard because it was all I could get last November when I stumbled across the WS forum. When that ran out I bought another oneÂfrozen solid of course. #3 was Pro-mix because by then thatÂs all I could get. It was more expensive but not by much. A few weeks ago I went to a nursery supply & bought 3 bales of Fafard. I had great results with both that & PM so IÂll use it again this time. I did blend in some Maine Potting Soil when I first started WS but by the time March rolled around I was using just the Fafard/PM. For comparison, my neighbor who brought me all the milk jugs decided to WS some seeds in his own compost. His results: zilch, nada, no sprouts at all. This year weÂre trying an experiment: heÂs going to try some of the Fafard and see what happens. I agreed to try his compost for comparison. WeÂre going to sow the same seeds on the same day in the two different mediums and see what happens.

Pot your one-eye wonders and set them in a constant 2" pool of water till the fall. Come fall, when the leaves die back, bury the pots level with the ground. You may throw a handful of soil into the pot so the soil in the pot is level with the rim (to prevent water pooling & freezing inside the pot). Do NOTHING else till the spring, when the hostas will naturally spring awake. Feel free to gently dig up the excess soil cover from inside the pot when spring activity begins (but GENTLY!!!! you don't want to damage any new eyes springing up!)

What I've learned is even with organic - liquid- granular ( etc...)fertilizer, they can burn easily with too much. Make sure u water super duper well before n after fertilizing. So in ground would be 1 cup ( if bush been in ground over 6 mo) and half that (1/2cup) if it's been in ground under 6 months. in pots. it would be half of that ( 1/2cup ) for a bush been in pot for over 6 months and (1/4 cup) for bush been in pot under 6 months monthly. These are recommendations I was told by Mr. Hardin who owns Hardins nursery here in Tampa Florida and he has 3-4 thousand roses in 5 gallon pots always huge, beautiful and flawless! ....BUT!.....we have super hot weather here! so if I where u, I would use even half of these recommendations and also make sure u figure in how big your pots are and how often u do water your roses bc if left to dry out after feeding they will burn fairly quickly with chemical fertilizers. I also learned to go lighter on the feed when weather is super hot bc of burning. So They say- the more u water your roses, the more often your able to feed them. So if you don't water often be gentle on the feed. I've burned many roses since I've started so from experience, it's always easier to add more later! It's far from easy to fix a burnt rose! If I where u , I would also read the labels and maybe dilute what the recommendations are and I do know that organic takes longer to break down n start working and doesn't burn as easily as the chemical fertilizer however, chemical fertilizers give u faster results. Good luck!

I agree with Jackie, it's too early to move them. Once it warms up and night time temps are consistently above freezing you can dig them out safely. Dig as big a root ball as you can handle and take off ALL of the garden soil from the roots. You can rinse the root ball under a hose to get it off. Try to save as many of the small white feeder roots as you can. Find the biggest pots you can (I always suggest plastic or resin ones, they're much lighter if you have to move them, and you will!) and put extra drainage holes in them. Fill them with good quality potting soil. You can not use top soil in pots. It's too heavy and the pots won't drain properly. Roses in pots usually require a little extra watering because they dry out quicker. They also need a little extra fertilizing because the nutrients wash out. In zone 7 it would be very iffy to try to keep them outside all winter unprotected. If you have a garage I would say store them in there. Just remember to water them at least once a month until you can get them back outside in the spring. If you have to winter them outside I would suggest putting them together against a sunny wall of your house and wrapping them with burlap and packing them with leaves. I do this for my rose pots here in zone 6 and it has worked very well.