I can give you a little information on some of your unfamiliar roses. For Toro/Uncle Joe, it is a show rose that has been around a long time. It is a big, beautiful red, but do not expect a lot of flowers from it at any given time. The reason is that it has lots and lots of petals and really doesn't open all the way very easily. It takes the plant a lot more energy to make a heavily-petalled flower than a flower with fewer petals. Sugar Moon is one of the best whites to come along in a long time. It gets quite tall and has lots of very fragrant flowers. I could have more of this one without complaint. It also, so far, has withstood a late, hard freeze rather well. We may be getting another one in a couple weeks if the long-range weather forecast is correct. Garden Party has been around since its 1960 AARS award. It is a good white rose that has seen its day on show tables. It is one of the better whites with a tinge of pink on the petal edges. Perfume Delight is also an AARS winner from 1974. It is a fragrant, solid pink rose. I have not grown this one, so I can't comment on it other than its past history. Cl. America is a coral/salmon climber with hybrid tea-type flowers that are quite fragrant. It is also an AARS winner from 1976. I have not grown it, but I have seen it on show tables and in various gardens. If you know Fragrant Cloud, it was in the parentage of this rose. Chicago Peace is one of a number of sport mutations of Peace. It is quite colorful. If you really want to see this one look really good, just feed it a little blood meal if you don't already do so because the iron in the blood meal will make the colors light up, especially anything based on red. This is true for all the rest of the roses also. Like other sports, this one sometime reverts back to its Peace parent. Sometimes it is only half of the flower. Half is Peace while the other half is Chicago Peace. It is strange, but cute. Other sport roses, such as Winchester Cathedral, have done the same thing also. Double Delight has won a number of awards, AARS 1977 being one of them. It is colorful and quite fragrant, but it is prone to a lot of split centers, a no-no if you are into exhibiting. If you want it just for the garden or cut flowers, it should be fine. It is good for smelling. I hope these little comments help a bit.

Lol, Vettin, I don't mind sharing info but I'm no expert as proven by how many I lost this winter. If you PM me with your email address I can send you a paper I did on it for my rose society. Pot size depends on the rose but bigger is usually better for a full size rose. They get tall and top heavy in the wind if the pot isn't big enough It also takes longer for them to get root bound too. Eventually they will though so you'll have to do root pruning then. You can put minis in smaller pots but you'll have to watch them because I've had some minis out grow them and go up to the big pots with time. The smallest pots I have are about a foot tall and wide. The biggest ones are about 30 X 30 inches. I've been lucky to find some good ones at clearance sales because the big ones can get pricey. I only use plastic or foam/resin ones because terracotta/ceramics are too heavy and won't winter here. I also look for squat shaped pots rather than the ones that are wide on top and narrow at the bottom. The squatter ones are less tippy. If you have a lot of wind that's a consideration. A full grown rose with a lot of foliage acts just like a sail in the wind and it will tip. I keep all of them up on those wheeled pot trolleys so they're easier to move around. With a mature rose and wet soil they can be unbelievably heavy! Even if you think you'll never move it, trust me, something will come up and you'll have to! Whatever pots you chose put extra drainage holes in the bottom and take off any trays. Drainage is VERY important for potted roses. Roses hate wet feet! I just use any good quality potting soil I can find on sale when I need it. Just be sure it is POTTING soil and not garden or top soil. Lowes Stay Green is good and I've used the Miracle Grow potting soil too. I try not to get ones with fertilizers in them because I want to control when, what and how much fertilizer they get. But it's getting harder to find ones without stuff in them. I've used those water crystals as well but I really didn't see that they made much difference in how often I had to water. Watering depends a lot on your weather. In spring and fall about every 3rd day is good. In the summer that may go to every other day and even every day if it's very hot and dry. I have a moisture meter that I use to test for water and that helps. But you will probably need to water your pots more frequently than you do your roses in the ground. They dry out quicker. And because of that you'll also need to fertilize them more often too. Fertilizer gets washed out quicker in the pots than the ground. I fertilize them about every 3 weeks and the ground ones only get fed once a month. In early spring they get a slow release dry fertilizer scratched into the soil and after that it's all liquid foliar feeds. Any brand of good balanced fertilizer will work just fine. Sometimes I'll add some fish emulsion into the mix too. Sun is the same as any rose, at least 6 hours, 8 is better. If they're not getting enough sun they'll grow some but they don't bloom much. Hope that helps and if you have questions just ask!

A few years ago I bought some big glazed pots at Christmas Tree Shop that were supposed to be frost-proof. I was a little skeptical since they were inexpensive, but so far they're doing OK, even though I don't empty them. I bought a big concrete planter a couple of years ago and I like it so much I'm trying to be careful with it. It's too big and heavy to move much and we have no room inside, but I've been emptying the dirt out, turning it upside down with a couple of 1 x 2's under it to lift it off the bluestone under it, and putting a pebble over the drain hole. So far so good, though this is only the second winter. Other glazed pots or terra cotta pots haven't fared so well, and they tend to spall and break in layers rather than just cracking in place. I missed the Mahoney's sale so far, probably just as well, though it sure sounded tempting. I did go in briefly on the 26th to see if a PVC Christmas tree I liked was left--it wasn't. I drooled over those coppery pots from a distance but didn't realize they were on sale, otherwise one probably would have gone home with me! I keep wavering between my vow to not buy any more heavy planters, and my lust for the gorgeous ones. But I only have so much space! I did successfully resist a really nice concrete one by Campania at Homegoods that was marked down to a very low price a few weeks ago. Someone got a good deal on that one. Why is it that really nice resin or fiberglass planters are as expensive or more so than pottery? They're SO much more practical, but hard to afford. I'm pasting below a link to the care instructions posted by Campania, the maker of the cast stone (AKA concrete) planter I mentioned above. Here is a link that might be useful: Canpania planter winter care instructions

Official Plant Purchase Enabler reporting in.This week's sale there. best, mindy