Well, You will need to add my name to the list of "those fools"...LOL I actually purchased two (a red and a pink) today. So I come here and I see the post "How to save a groc mini... " I have always loved a challenge to get something to grow.. Mine were on sale for 2$ each.. I have tons of pots and two 50lb bags of potting soil. SO, I am up for the challenge... Come along for the ride w/ the rest of the fools..

I just got a valentines rose that looks like a miniature version of a David Austin English rose in a pink-burgundy color. How could I resist?

Barb, don't give up on it! First thing is probably to get it out of the small pot it's in and get it into a larger pot with better soil. It's probably 3 or 4 small rooted cuttings stuck together and you can try and separate them but that's chancy at best so I never try it myself. Then put it on a tray with pebbles and water. Just don't let the level of water touch the bottom of the pot. This will bring up the humidity around the rose. The thing that roses hate the most about being inside is how dry the air is usually. None of us keep our homes as humid as it is outdoors. Then put it under a light. Any florescent light will work just fine. It Doesn't have to be a grow light. I think that you find you can keep this mini alive that way long enough to get it outside in the spring. I have several that I've done this with and had good success at keeping them alive. Once outside they do great just like any other mini rose.

You CAN "rescue" them once out of flower. It just takes a bit of work. I had a gardening client who wanted more 'durable' color for her flower beds. While in a local garden center, they were collecting all of the past-their-prime potted minis in a shopping cart for disposal. Normally, they offer them for $3.99 a pot. I asked and offered them a quarter a piece, which is a bit better than the nothing the dumpster would give them. I bought a shopping cart full for $30.

Once home, I cleaned them up, made sure they were removed from the pot wrappers and had sufficient soil in the pots. I have nursery flats and had enough room on the patio to spread them out in filtered sun in flats. I watered and hit them with Miracle Gro. In a few weeks, they were in bud and bloom again, when I took them to her garden and massed them by color in various beds. She got a great deal on them because I got a great deal on them. They sold the house a few years later, so I lost track of the roses, but they were just fine for that use for at least three years. They got the same food and water as the other roses and perennials and were basically dead headed with the garden hose. Pruning was just grabbing hold of them and whacking them all off even as you would most perennials and grasses. They made no complaints.

It can be done and they can perform just fine for many uses. They're a whole lot more durable than they appear when grown in too small pots in the wrong conditions. Kim

Got a red one (Kordes potted mini's) 4 years ago. After a couple of days in the house my wife asked me to try and save it for the garden. A little bit of work but what the heck. Beautiful dark red with great foliage.Cut the spent blooms off. Moved it (all 4 stems) into a little larger pot with good potting soil. This way I didn't mess with the root system at all. I didn't want it to go into shock at all. I took it outside and placed it on the S.E. corner of the house during the day. At night I brought it back in and put it in a closet I don't use much. Did this for about ten days. Then one day I moved it to a half way sheltered area on the east side of the house and covered it with a pile of leafs. Left it there until spring wake up time. Most of the foliage had fallen off but ALL the canes had a bunch of new growth. Late spring after it bloomed it's head off, I moved it into a 18 inch decor pot and it took off. It's been in that pot ever since and just as happy as it can be. Every winter I just move the pot into a sheltered area away from the cold north winds and bury it under a pile of oak leafs. Also did a yellow one like that 2 years ago. They make fantastic statement mini's.

I can't keep minis alive in the house. So when I couldn't resist the deep red one on valentine I took it outside and planted it. Of course I expected that it would die. It didn't. It's tiny but it has already put up two flowers. One of the rooted stems did give up the ghost but I'm real happy with it.