Buy enough seeds that you can experiment (say from Geoseed). Plant at different times of the year. Plant seeds as they would reseed in nature. In other words when do they drop their seed? (usually spring, summer, maybe, maybe the fall). Most seeds just drop to the ground. Most are exposed to the sun; some drop under the mother plant, thus need shade to germinate but that is not as common. Give your seed looser soil so they have a fair chance to shot their roots into the ground. (Ants can carry off seeds.) Consider where a plant orginates. Always plant 25% more varieties then you need to make up for those that do not germinate. Don't count your chickens before they hatch. Feel lucky if you get some seedlings from each variety. Plant seeds in 1 ft squares. Then move them. A neighbor walked passed the yard today and told my wife that she will start a garden next year to compete with my flower gardens. I know I had a puzzled look on my face when my wife told me. She thought I didn't like the challenge. I told my wife, no I would be glad to help guide this neighbor anyway I can. The weird look I gave her was because I didn't really plant the speculator parts of our garden. The plants planted themselves. No one could have a garden like this unless they introduced self seeders and let the plants plant themselves over the years. My role is to keep them under control and move the seedlings around so that they are organized. Example, I have some amazing vincas this year. No, not from the 6 varieties of seeds I bought, but from a fluke Cora Vinca who should not reseed, but did. I moved her seedlings all over the garden. The different colors and size of bloom are breathtaking to me. That's one example. Another is Guaras which look really great in a garden. I tryed to plant them from seed; had no luck. A plant I bought on the discount rack at Lowes reseeded at it's perfect time. Now I have self-planted guaras every year. Incidentally the down side of having a garden of reseeders is that you really can't disturb the soil much or you will bury the seeds. Bob Here is a link that might be useful: Geoseed

For exactly this reason, I don't set potted roses directly on soil. It helps to place a couple of bricks under the pot to prevent soil contact. I once lost a rose when this happened in my own garden. It did not survive the double shock of losing the root that grew out of the bottom of the pot, and then being transplanted into the ground. For that reason, my thought is that you might consider cutting off the root at the bottom of the pot where it emerges, and moving the pot to a place where this cannot happen again. Then wait a couple of weeks before planting the rose. That will give it time to adjust to the loss of the root. It is was a particularly big root, I would prune the top of the rose a bit to keep root and top in balance. Good luck to you. Rosefolly

Eduarda do plant a winter jasmine I think you will really enjoy it, this is a bit long winded but....I also grow winter jasmine, mine is quite old somewhere around 40 years. Not only a beautiful plant when covered in flowers but is also very attractive when in the green, so to speak. It is tough and reliable, depending on the weather it can start blooming in November and continue on through the winter or if it's a really cold and stays cold I've seen it hold off on flowering till the beginning of March. The year it did this it put on a magnificent show. My or I should say taken ownership of W.J. is growing on a trellis on the side of the neighbor's carport, why on the neighbor's carport you might ask, well my neighbor at the time planted it on her carport but it's planted in our driveway. Years later after their place had been sold several times another survey was done and what do you know the carport encroaches 8 inches onto our property as does the concrete retaining wall. The poor lady who owned the house at the time had just sold to a young couple and the whole deal was going to fall through, we went to her lawyer with her and signed a waver to the effect the new owners could have access to our driveway if they need to work on their concrete carport. I've also claimed my side of their concrete retaining wall (on our property too) I've covered it in ivy, clematis and other stuff. This is now the wall that helps contains my little courtyard, use to be the top end of the driveway but that's another story :o). I prune the jasmine right back to stubs every spring and I'm rewarded with fresh green growth by summer which is lovely to look at even when not in bloom. Annette

Lozza, you could impart a lot more information to people if you didn't do it in such condescending and sneering manner.... Yes the various states have their Rose and Horticultural Societies, and yes they usually have people only to willing to help out those seeking information about growing roses, and anything else (I guess I can say I speak from personal experience here, my Mum was a member of the W.A. Rose Society, Gosnells Horticultural Society, accredited Rose and general Horticultural and Floral Art judge with the W.A. Horticultural Council. That was the environment I grew up in. The info was always there at hand.) But today, for the average person just getting going, sure they can ask at their nursery but unless they happen to come across an exhibition being staged somewhere like at one of the big shopping centers, they are not going to come across Rose Society members,or other types of horticultural people or even think about consulting with them. Most of them would be too afraid of being shot down in flames for their ignorance, such as I have seen here,after watching the carrion fowl circling and waiting, after reading back through some of the archived postings.... Wal, listen to Misty, she is already doing it your area so to speak. In the warmer climate, proper dormancy is not going to be achieved; MISTY, do think your roses, when they were under water stress, went dormant? I would choose to do it at the time of the year when the weather was at it's coolest for your area. Although this is probably going to be your driest part of the year it shouldn't be a problem. If you are going to be keeping them in pots, for the purpose of transplanting them into your new garden arrangement, I am sure you will be pretty diligent about watering them. I was always taught that you reduced the canopy by the same degree that you reduced the root mass/ball... I have relocated a lot of roses into pots at one time..., (the ones that I could save from a malevolent ex)(if it were people, I think they call it forced migration) about 300 of them. But because we have such sharp winters here, I could hold of until they were truly dormant. I dug up, with a great deal of grunt and push and effort, (ladies think of childbirth) plants that had been growing in the very fertile Donnybrook soil for about 6 years. Most of the H.T and Floribundas had exceeded their growth stats as described, and as for the D.A.'s, if they weren't 7ft tall, they were 7ft wide, and as for the O.G.R, well, digging them up was another challenge. But we did, a sister and a friend came out to help. Totally backbreaking ... heartbreaking as well, but we got the plants dug up. Then, because the only pots that we had managed to acquire in enough numbers were 10- 12" ones, that's where we made things fit. There were a handful of larger pots, that we managed to put in the larger plants, like my beautiful Albertine. But mainly we dug and heaved and grunted, got the bush free off the...