Aw shucks. :-) Our inventory of roses is at Rogue Valley and can be purchased there. Our rose collection is in about 3000 pots behind my house here at our farm/home. Now that's a pot ghetto! We are trying to find a permanent home for the collection. Preferable in a public setting where we can make a proper rose garden out of it and use it for education etc.

In my experience, rootstock roots buried 12" or more deep don't develop much but just sit there in case they are needed during drought. If you have deeper soil with better drainage than I have, it might be different. However, I do have one bed that is well drained, and the same thing happened there. The natural crown of the rootstock was where the fleshy roots diverge, 6" below the bud union. Originally this crown established itself only 1-2" below grade, and the plant grew that way in the field. Also bareroot roots are often bundled to make them more vertical than they were when growing in the soil. Of course, the shank length (natural crown to bud union) can vary from 10" for Fortuniana plants produced in Florida, to 6" for western-grown plants, to 2-3" for Canadian plants on multiflora. Long shanks are more convenient for the budder, but short shanks are helpful to northern gardeners.

Just for the fun, while I was on the American Rose Society site I did a little browsing around. Did you know that there is an entire web page devoted to caring for roses? The page is called "Rose Care Articles" and is comprised of articles taken from the normal publication and these articles are available for download in PDF form. If one scrolls down the page, there is an entire section on Fertilizing. "Fertilizers - When and How" is an 'interesting?' read. My synopsis: Do I hear once a month? Once a month; now twice. Do I hear twice a month? Twice a month; now every week? Every week. Every week going once, twice, sold to SockITTO'EM in the front row. Reading that along with just the title of the article on Natural fertilizer - as in "A Look At" prevented me from pressing the Free I Believe button. karl_bapst_rosenut: I'd like to say how encouraging your words are. Thank you for them and for your personal efforts and your example. Maybe I missed it, but I haven't actually read anyone complaining about your comments and I think that's the best part of all. Here is a link that might be useful: Rose Care Articles

If you think you can't grow roses, this is a perfect event for you to attend. Paul Zimmerman is all about growing roses easily - no pain, no strain, and beautiful garden plants! If you'd like to join us on Sunday in Auburn, WA at 1 pm, drop me an email and I'll send you the details. Sue