#3 is likely 'Louis-Phillippe', the very best old rose for Florida. #2 could be 'Old Blush', though the flower isn't typical. If the foliage and habit are similar to #3, it is some kind of old China rose, and these are well adapted. 'Seven Sisters' might (I'm not sure) have trouble with the nematodes unless it is grafted, that is, if you have sandy soil. Is there a bulge where the canes diverge? If so, it is probably grafted on an appropriate rootstock (Fortuniana). Prune off anything that looks unhealthy and plant the SS. If to be potted, it would need a huge container, 25 gal. Give plenty of food and water, at least until they are well established. Rose Tone is a good fertilizer.

I will try to answer, altho I am not necessarily a rose expert, however I have grown many roses successfully over many years. Roses can be a complicated subject. That old saying a rose is a rose is a rose.....well, not so much. There are many categories of roses and the care of them can differ somewhat and also the pruning and the timing of the pruning. In general, roses need alot of sunlight, good air circulation, and like most plants, good soil and planting hole preparation with something like compost for the ideal. Now, the way I see it, the main difference for regular gardener folks is this: fussy hybrid tea roses, grown for long beautiful cut flowers and to "show" them vs landscape roses, which are grown to look beautiful in our garden beds and are more carefree. I favor the old garden roses, which are classes of roses that have been around for hundred years and more, I recommend Antique Rose Emporium website for good info on these. Now to your questions: for lots of flowering plants, if you "deadhead" them which means snip off the old, finishing flowers, they will make more flowers rather than feel they have finished their job of making seeds. 1. So, yes, snip off the fading, crumbling blooms below the rose and right above a 5-leaf spot on the stem. 2. Not sure if this is a climber and wanting to throw out long "canes" which would need to be tied gently to a trellis or something, or if it is just growing more on that side and looks unbalanced, yes, feel free to trim it back to a natural spot where it looks balanced. 3. No, I wouldn't mess with the soil around the roots, once I had dug the hole (usually dig wide but the same depth as the container was) and back-fill the hole and then mulch with a couple inches bark mulch or pine straw or something, pull the mulch a few inches from the actual rose canes. 4. Roses, especially the fussy ones, are prone to black spot, which is a fungus and the leaves get yellow with black spots. Other insects can chew the leaves (look under the leaves) and others can suck the juices out. you might want to post a message on organic rose growing or just roses, becoz there are many ways to treat this, but I don't use chemicals, so I would use organic method. You could go to a garden center with a specimen and ask them how to treat it too. Good luck.

Might I gently suggest, Ickle Cat, that you be patient and wait for that outdoor garden next spring and plant roses then? Keeping a potted rose happy inside a warm apartment is very difficult, indeed. Starting out with a boxed, dormant rose (especially one of those unnamed chopped & waxed poor things) is even less likely to reach success. There is a good reason that roses are not usually house plants. You certainly can keep the potting soil moist and let things go for a some more weeks to be sure, but it sounds like your rose pushed all the energy it had stored in its canes into some growth and then you cut it off. That kind of "pruning" does not, I'm afraid, "make them grow." It may be putting out new roots and it may send out more new leaves - you can mist the canes to help keep them moist (if planted outdoors, one would mound them to keep them from drying out.) Don't keep the pot in standing water in a saucer; you don't want to rot the roots - but keep the whole thing nicely damp. Be sure to allow it the maximum sunshine you can manage and then be patient. No fertilizer, please, at this time. Either it will grow or it won't and all you can do is wait and see. The real trouble comes in if it does succeed in surviving and pushing out new growth - then it will be your task to keep it free of spider mites and other troubles that plaque roses in the dry, warm indoor environment...and you're realistically looking to do this for a year? Well, not impossible, but highly improbable, IMHO. I've overwintered potted healthy roses indoors just for fun - and believe me, it is a lot of work to keep them healthy. Did it for a few years and was glad to put the practice behind me! ;-) Perhaps you could spend this year researching and learning more about roses, what they need and how they grow. There are lots and lots of good books on the subject and not to mention lots of information on the Web. Visit nurseries and gardens and ask questions. You'll be far more prepared next year to make good choices of roses for your new garden and to keep those choices happy and growing. Sincere good luck to you!

Nah, I won't throw in the towel because of a few pests - I won't let them bully me ;) I too have found it to be relaxing & a stress reliever, even if it may cause a stroke, lol! Plus I have lots of paper wasps/parasitic wasps, bumblebees, songbirds, etc, to take care of the pests. I do, however, need to find some native plants to attract more as well as plants to keep pests at bay. Being a beginner at roses, as well as having a certain mindset that they are difficult to maintain (as my mother always said but I'm overcoming), I've been babying them, need to let nature do its thing & sit back to enjoy my work thus far. I do thoroughly enjoy everything that comes with it: pruning, dead heading, making my own trellises, I even enjoy watering :) Thanks for the encouragement & input; that's enough to keep me moving forward! Nic P.S. I've checked for pests today & found nothing, but would've let them be if I did ;)