They'll be safer in the ground than in the garage. That far south, roses probably won't go or stay dormant in a garage because it would be too warm. Since they are growing plants, and not bareroot, there isn't the usual problem with fall planting of roses that leaf out in the fall, then lose the growth and the energy to cold.

I agree, plant them now and give them a half gallon every sunny day or two until it cools off some.

We call those tiny plants "bands" after the type of pot they come in.

Good luck with your new roses.

So THAT'S what "band roses" are! I've heard of them (probably reading on this message board) --- and from what I heard I thought "well, I'll have to stay away from buying those...". LOL! I love the ones I've bought so far.....

Now I'm thinking..... I guess one of the "cons" I read was about how you have to wait so long to have them grow up and become a full size rose. That certainly is understandable, and if all my roses were that way it would be hard to wait. But for now, I am loving the journey. It's fun to raise up a baby rose.

They should be fine if planted now, as long as they are kept well watered. If not, they will be fine to plant in the fall. That's a really good time to plant around here.

I'm in AA County and have several roses. In my experience as a Master Gardener, as well as many other fellow master gardeners in this area, almost ALL roses will fight black spot and many insects. We don't usually recommend treating something until you see symptoms but with roses, it's best to treat BEFORE you see things since it's almost a guarantee they will get something. The 3 in 1 type (fertilizer, insecticide, fungicide) works well.

The best time to plant roses is when your ground is prepared and you have the time to do it. A rose growing in a pot can be put into the ground almost any time the soil is workable. I am an hour or so south of you, in Stafford County, Virginia, and I can be found planting roses from April (or March in a good year) until November. My roses actually grow faster and better in the ground than they do in pots.

My David Austin garden, planted last fall, is a good example. A friend helped me, and we planted 36 DA roses of varying sizes as winter was bearing down on us ... not an ideal time, but it was the time we had. Some were in large pots, but most of them were gallons and half gallons ... three of them were still in their band pots. Every single rose survived the winter, and all of them are growing and looking great.

My rose field (a large garden of 300+ roses) was planted in June and August of 2008 ... again, not a text-book ideal time. A rose that you are holding in a pot will do better when it's planted in the ground.

I recommend against using combo products in the garden, especially if it's a soil drench. I believe in direct treatment of an identified problem ... fungicide for blackspot, fertilizer to feed the plants, and I don't use any sort of insecticide in the garden.

Go ahead and plant them!

Connie

P.S. What roses did you get? We ALL want to know. :)

Thanks, everyone, for the encouragements to plant now if my soil is ready!

Connie - from reading this board over the past several months I was led to your blog and discovered all you are up to just down the road from me. Back in the spring I think you were going to be giving a talk that I even considered attending --- but I didn't. My spring was very unexpectedly interrupted by my husband having to do a business trip to Hawaii, so I spent all of May and part of June with him there. This definitely set me back time wise in my yard work and I'm just getting back into it. (I'm only complaining a little bit).

My new house is surrounded by woods, and I don't have very many sunny spots available to grow the "thousands" of roses I'd like to. I have basically a couple of spots in the front to greet my visitors, and two in the back - one smaller one (100 sq ft) is already "gardenized", and waiting, and the other "main" spot is the one I've been working on, and it's prominently visible from my back windows. It backs up to the woods, but gets full southern sun shining on it. It's been weeds and unkept, so I've been getting rid of the overgrowth and bringing in truckloads of top soil and compost. It's about 350 sq. ft, with about that much more available when/if I want to spread the borders later on.

My main concern - other than getting enough sun - has been deer. They act like our very own outdoor pets. I've been experimenting with Liquid Fence on the other deer food plants in the garden, which has been working well ... and I just bought Sweeny's dried blood disc-things, but haven't put them out yet. I'm kinda scared about this aspect of wanting to have a yard full of roses.

QUESTION (to all who have masses - hundreds or more - of roses): When you plant so many - the DA garden you planted last year,and your field of roses - do you put thought into "what goes where" design wise (co-ordinating colors? sizes? types?)? Or do you just "plant", and it all just looks great ---- because they ARE roses after all!

I've bought these so far:
Therese Bugnet (hoping to put them in some of my semi-sun places)
Living Easy
Buff Beauty
1 Crepesecule
1 Garden Sun
1 Compassion

Since Heirloom is having a free shipping sale right now, I took the opportunity to order these, and they are on their way to me:
Easy Does It
Peace (Have mostly gotton away from HT, but this is a special love of mine)
Martin Frobisher
Heritage
Julia Child (simply based on so many recommending it)

Others I plan on getting first thing next year are:
Borderer
Belinda's Dream
Bonica
Well Being

I ordered 1 - 3 of each, to "try". As I figure out which ones work best here in the yard I hope to follow up by ordering more for mini mass plantings. (Also - I am afraid of the deer overtaking my plants and best efforts).

Back in the late '90s I first started growing roses - all were showy HT. I got my feet wet with them -- and learned some basics about fertilizer, blackspot, JAPANESE BEETLES!, etc. But, we moved away from that house soon after, and weren't living where I could have my own gardens. Now I"m resettled, and hope to bring Rose Love back into my life.

Thanks for asking!

(For my shady areas I'm concentrating on planting either Rhododendrons or Hydrangea).

Where are you in Maryland? I live in Gaithersburg, with about 70 rosebushes.

Plant your rosebushes now if the soil is ready. Plant them a little bit deep, to protect them in winter. That is, if they were grafted, plant the bud unions 2" deep; but since they are bands and own root, plant them 1-2" deep. It gets really cold and icy sometimes during winter.

Try to imagine how big the plants will eventually get, so give them space.

Rabbits will sometimes eat very small plants. Deer definitely eat larger roses.

Rabbits (and chipmunks digging) only eat a few bushes - so buy chickenwire and cut it in half to be about 12-18" high and put a cylinder (1.5 ft diameter, say) around the bush. YOu need to do this only for a few bushes, but it is hard to predict for which.

For deer, they get used to sprays I think, or if they are very hungry, they don't care, so I found one needs to place stakes and hang black netting around the rosebed. You can buy 7' x 50' black netting at Merrifield Garden Center, Behnke's, and other locations - maybe even Home Depot. Brookside Garden has an 8 ft fence around their entire property, to fight against deer.

The deer got to be a problem only about 10 years ago. We have an older neighbor and he said as a child (1950s) there were no deer in Gaithersburg; it was a major event to see one.

Good luck! Kathy

Agreed with Kathy on the need for fencing against deer. I just began growing roses this Spring. My roses are blooming beatifully until one night these buggers eat all the flowers/buds/tender new growth. My roses have all come back now and start to re-bloom, but I lost at least a month of blooms.