LOL....I did say I had alot to send! I over collected last year,it was my first year at seed trading and I went way over board! I am glad you are happy with them and they all do well for you....well maybe not all of them considering the amount you have! ;)

I haven't paid any attention to the 5-leaflet rule for twenty years. It is OK (not necessarily optimal) if you have only hybrid tea roses, but harmful with some cluster-blooming roses, where it can lead you to discard half the plant unnecessarily. These are varieties that form large trusses and candelabra. Deadheading only helps the plant if that variety sets a lot of hips (fruit), and many varieties do not. Many roses do just fine without being deadheaded. If you want to fuss with your roses, just pop off the blooms as they fade. When the whole cluster is gone, you can either leave the branching stem tissue or cut it back some, but don't sacrifice a lot of cane unless the plant is getting too tall. The branching stem tissue is capable of producing shoots wherever there is any kind of leaf or leaflike bract. Once the rose produces new shoots, you can cut off the stem tissue above that if you want. The only rule I follow in deadheading is to remove the minimum stem tissue until the roses gets as big as I want it to be, and to take long stems if the rose is getting too tall or floppy.

sometimes I have nothing better to do than think up questions like this ====>>> i think you kinda summed it up yourself.. lol ... ROS NEED NOTHING FROM YOU>> EVER >>> until it gets too big.. and you run it over with your truck or car ... and then it grows back ... or.. you get rid of it ... due to all the seedlings .... unless this one is barren .. now get back to work on important things in the garden .. lol ken

Just wait they decide to bloom when they are ready, feeding them will not hurt. Right now I have 5 different ones 2 doubles and 3 singles and they bloom when they get ready. The rains we have been getting lately have kicked them up and they are blooming once again. My single purple seems to bloom all summer long. I lived in West Virginia for a year and they are even hardy there.