Hi Vuwugarden The idea that all roses are best grown ownroot is just plain wrong. Some roses do very well ownroot, old garden roses, some hybrid perpetuals, knockout-/explorer-roses, some Kordes hybrid are not comparable to most modern roses. Now and then even the odd hybrid tea does well(I grow Peace in a container, selfmade from cutting). Even in warmer climates grafted roses can do better, in general grafted roses will grow a bit taller than ownroot. These are results from large test in the fields of many countries and observation has been as much as 7 years or more. If you live in area with fairly cold winters and a short growing season I dare state that modern roses will perform considerably better as grafted plants. Not all roses does well on the most common rootstocks, but this is something the large nurseries know. Suckers are not a big problem, if you check your roses two times a season or something like that rootstock will never have the chance to take over. You simply take out some leather gloves and pull them off. Some rootstocks sucker more than others, but you will probably not see more then one or three a year per 60 roses. Catrose: when the roses gets olde they will all form a "fist" of older wood near the ground. In fact, it is not that easy to tell the difference between a grafted and an ownroot after a few years unless you do some digging. Graftpoint usually is planted a few inches into the ground. I have several roses both grafted and made from cuttings of the same variety. Growth habit is by far determined by the variety, not the root stuck. Rootstock will give stronger growth, and plants will on average grow taller. They tend no more than ownroots to get leggy, spindly. This is more determined by variety and pruning than rootstock. Scardan123; As far as I know the Meilland roses we get here are grafted. Where my family and I have been gardening (Norway, Denmark and France) we buy mostly grafted, and all Meilland roses are. There are a few exceptions; some old roses, rugosa hybrids, some park-roses, species and near hybrids, groundcovers, but even the Meilland ground-coverers I have are grafted (probably on laxa). In short, Meilland roses are no less grafted than other roses. How ownroots will do are dependent on climate, soil, growing season and care given. I am not against ownroot roses, and will happily try to root any variety from cutting. If I where to grow ownroots exclusively I would have to give up most chinas, hybrid teas, floribundas, many climbers and shrubs, at least they would stay small and puny plants. That is mostly due to the short growing season; grafted plats gets an earlier start in spring, grow faster and stronger. These roses will not be more winter hardy as ownroot, if they freeze to the ground they will sprout back, but will have problem really taking of and becoming good plants. Hardy varieties with strong growth will do better. This is at least my experience on the subject, and I have spend a lot of time and energy on different rootstocks and ownroot roses. I know this is a subject that depend very on climate, soil, care roses get..., but still I am surprised how different experiences we have. I suspect that there are differences in the rootstocks that are used, USA use other types. It might have something to do with the grafting techniques too. Here oculation is by far the most common, if not the only one; an eye from the cane of the desired variety is placed in a T-shaped cut on the neck of the rootstock. That produces plants where grafting-point is hardly seen after planting, if at all. My post became far too long, I get carried away by this subject :-)

You can train one of those sprouts back to a tree, but it will be a generic Red Maple, and may or may not have fall color color like October Glory...it could end up red, orange, or yellow. I'd suggest a new tree, though.

My first hosta garden was all from boxes that came from Home Depot...this was well before the hosta bug hit me, and before most of us had heard of HVX... As it turned out, MOST of the hostas I'd purchased in those boxes were Shade Fanfare and Fortunai Aureomarginata. The picture shows one end of that vast spread of hostas across my front yard. That garden is not there anymore, but they created a lush look and ground cover for me very quickly and affordably. The bright one in the front wasn't from the box store...that's Sunshine Glory. I didn't realize the beauty I had in the Shade Fanfare until I'd had them at least 3-5 years. 4 years ago I bought some Elegans in boxes at "GASP" Wally World. I did the same thing with them as the others and they are very beautiful today. I know what everyone says here, and I respect them and do try not to buy at those places, but for some people, it may be what brings them to this beautiful hosta passion. I know it did me.

I have quite a few "rabbit circles" that I made out of two fencing materials bought at Tractor Supply. Both are green-vinyl-coated material. One is 24" wide, with a grid size 2x3. The other is chicken wire. For lilies I make a circle that is 24" tall of the 2x3 grid, and then attach chicken wire to the bottom 10-12". For roses I cut the 24" material down the middle to make pieces that will give me circles of a 12" height, and the chicken wire is affixed to the entire 12" height of those circles. Regardless of height, I cut off the end piece of wire so the bottom of the circle is wire "pokers" that go into the soil. I had made quite a number of these circles years ago, back when chewed-off rose canes would litter the ground in the spring. More recently, the people behind me got a cat who patrols my yard for hours every day, and I never see rabbits or chipmunks anymore. Just this week I bought a pack of cup hooks so I can store my rabbit circles on the ceiling of the garage above my overhead door. (I may leave circles around the lilies, especially in the rear of my 20-foot deep border. Also I am thinking perhaps I could use the circles as part of winter protection around roses.)