Why did you get them so early? Roses are not indoor plants. You should have waited until this spring when you could plant them outside. Indoor heated air is dry and pulls moisture out of the canes. That's why when planting bare root roses outdoors it's advised you hill soil over the canes until new growth appears. Unless you can move them to a greenhouse where they'll get humidity and the conditions are more like outdoors, I doubt they'll survive. Two months ago means you got them the first of December, way too early in your zone 5b. I suspect Palatine shipped them because they thought you were going to plant them outdoors. Normally they don't ship to zone 5b until spring unless requested to do so.

Donna thanks a lot, had not heard of those. I'm not sure how I would fasten the trellises to them as I was thinking of some metal strips bent at right angles on the ends to brace against the fireplace/clips and on the other end to to the trellis (I'm not very mechanically-minded). I might be able to use something like that inside, too. They look stronger than velcro. I will ask my son how we could make them work as they are the best suggestion so far, we talked about it last year for a different trellis I was going to make out of wood, and that involved a masonry bit and some kind of fastener, bolts or screws. At the link is what the trellis is like; it's very tall, still in the box, 3 sections vertically I think. Scroll down to linrose's post (about 4th) on this thread; she's got a triple, mine is just like that only black and need to wire two singles together to make it double, brickwork wasn't wide enough for a triple like hers. Hers looks almost flush against the brick, I want mine out and away more but straight and not leaned, like hers. I thought about using fence posts, but that would look kind of unprofessional and tacky & might not hold well, but I have to improvise a lot around here. Those roses have been bugging me. I think I have them all figured out, looked at Pickering again and also HMF. Now that one has to be Evelyn, and the darker pink one has to be Hyde Hall. A few of the blooms look more like the photo at Pickering but it is the same bush. Miss Alice & Wisley are on the other side, Wisley's blooms nod still. Miss Alice and Rosemoor are on either side of my french drain, probably get their roots too damp or just too obstructed, not doing well compared to the others. Here is a link that might be useful: Linrose's triple trellis from Plow & Hearth

Thanks for the feedback so far. I have had roses down here before, and perhaps went a big hog wild trying to fit as many roses as I could on a very small property before. These are the ones I've had before: Ducher Lamarque Ruby Vigorosa Souvenir de la Malmaison X Pink Gruss an Aachen X Buff Beauty Belinda's Dream Old Blush Cl. Cramoisi Superieur Duchesse de Brabant* Most of those did fine (SDLM and Pink GAA as the big exceptions). I absolutely loved the DdB and am actually thinking of getting her again. I love her fragrance, and she seemed to do rather well considering what an over-crowded area she was in (the last 7 roses listed were in a strip about 5-6'x20'). But because I have such limited rose space at the new house, I want to make sure that whatever rose(s) I get I'm going to absolutely love, and with the exception of the Duchesse, none of the others qualified for me. So based on the comments above, perhaps my list of finalists should now look like this: -General Schablikine -Mme Abel Chatenay -Mme Lombard -Mrs. B.R. Cant -Radox Bouquet -Duchesse de Brabant And in terms of size, I'd like to be able to keep the bush to a 6' diameter. Will Mrs. B.R. Cant be able to withstand that much pruning?

Hi, I think we're going to have to presume a "worst case scenario" here for the sake of argument, to get at the roots of this dilemma, and clarify the issues. (But we can certainly hope for the best!) Worst case scenario: Daughter tells you ---for whatever reason (BM interference or her own personal feelings)--- "no way", she won't consider inviting them and she wants only you there. Your decision now is whether or not you go solo. I feel very strongly that you should, and I'm going to explain why via responding to your list of concerns one by one: "1 - My fiancee is very family oriented and has gone out of her way to bring us together as a family" That's fantastic, and to me is evidence that this situation ---even in the worst case scenario--- will work out fine b/c if she's very family-oriented she will understand that you need to go to your daughter's wedding with or without her, as this is an extremely important day for her and b/c your kids have recently expressed their need for you to be there for all of them. I don't think I need to tell you that if you, as her father, were not present for her wedding, especially after the recent conversation about "being there" in general, that would definitely spell the end of that relationship at great loss to you and she. But it is not going to spell the end of what sounds like a great relationship with fiancee and kids if they don't go. It's the most important day of your daughter's life but one family function out of many to come with your fiancee and her kids. "2 - If my fiancee finds out that she and her kids were not invited, my fear is that she would feel rejected and possibly think it was her and call off our future so that I can be closer to my kids." Again, I really don't think that's going to happen, based on how family-oriented she is. And the way she feels about it can be somewhat modified by how you present it to her and what you do for her to ensure that even if she feels rejected *by your daughter* that she is not rejected by *you*. You might even be able to soften the blow of rejection altogether (i.e. "ex-wife's relatives are being crusty and old-fashioned about this and don't consider fiancee part of the 'family' until you're married...it's nothing personal", or "the guest list was made a long time ago and they can't change it" or "this wedding won't be the last chance we'll have to be together as a family and forge family bonds"). Yes, she'll probably still be able to detect that there's opposition to her being there behind whatever excuse you give, but then she has a choice: push it or not? A matter, for her, of picking battles. She's still relatively new in this situation and also would be well aware that if she pushes coming, she would be putting you in the same "middle" spot of having to choose that others may be attempting to do. She's most likely not going to want to do that, nor take the gamble that an ultimatum will fail. She'll probably decide to let this one roll off and do her best to form family bonds at future functions. And then you can further help the situation by encouraging/arranging plenty of those future family functions. "3 - My kids seem to like my fiancee but have not gotten close to my fiancee's kids" What are the age differences? Also, if they haven't seen each other but a few times, and never alone, they probably haven't had the chance to build bonds just yet. Especially because the blending of families is always an ambivalent thing and takes plenty of time. As I wrote above, this wedding will not be the only chance for the new family members to be together and grow closer. "4 - No, I did not have an affair with my fiancee before I divorced. I think my ex-wife still have not gotten over the divorce nor admits we had problems while we were married for 19 years. She has also stated that she doesn't ever want to meet my fiancee." Well, that is her issue to deal with. Hopefully she will be an adult and not continue to pressure her daughter to make an "either/or" choice which bio parent she wants at the wedding, thereby also setting the stage for others to possibly insist you make such a choice. Maybe BM will remove herself from the equation if she really can't handle co-existing at the same geographical location for the sake of her daughter's important rite of passage. But unfortunately we can't count on her rising to this level and certainly not her backing out. So you have to make a firm decision on what you will do regardless of what BM does. 5 - Yes, I'm paying a large portion of the wedding but this is not a leverage that I care to use - it is not a financial exercise. To me, it is all about bringing together my old and new family as closely as possible. I desperately need this.... I really hope your daughter and/or BM will be gracious adults and not exclude their soon-to-be-new family. But even if they refuse, this one event is not the last chance ever to bond, and is not insurmountable as a slight if you handle it well and make an effort to be as inclusive as possible in the future. Remember: your daughter's exclusionary behavior in this instance doesn't have to keep YOU from being all-inclusive. Hopefully, it might even encourage her to be more inclusive in the future, once she sees how welcoming you and fiancee are to her and those bonds continue to be formed over time.