Not all roses are as fast growing, durable nor vital own root as budded. Some bands are going to explode as soon as they get their "feet" out of those tight bands. Many others simply won't. Some climates permit planting directly from the band into the ground. Many others, don't. If you're intending to put the rose in a particularly difficult spot, such as against a hot wall, or in a bed fronted, surrounded or backed by hot hard scape, the rose will be MUCH more successful if it has some plant mass and momentum under it than a small, immature stick with shallow roots might. Of course, conditions vary greatly from one climate and garden to the next, but there have been many complaints over the past two-plus decades bands have been available about how easily they are lost because they are so small, soft and immature. If you are able to grow your bands in those small pots successfully, great! Don't 'fix it' as it ain't broke. But, MANY of us are sure to lose them due to aridity, heat, wind, sun intensity, etc. Planting them into larger containers, permitting them to mature, develop root and plant mass before setting them free in the soil is the surest method of guarantying success. Even if my climate permitted planting bands directly in the garden, the blamed rabbits and squirrels would make sure they didn't survive. Kim

Mehitabel wrote the following post entitled "One season's lessons about growing gardenias" Posted by mehitabel z6 MO (My Page) on Wed, Sep 24, 03 at 20:20 What I have found is that gardenias for the most part are vigorous plants that get fat and happy in pots if conditions are the least good. I wanted to share my experience with them this summer, because I was very much hesitant to even try one after reading all the stories of slow decline. But my experience has not matched that, except with a couple of plants, and I hope this will encourage other people to try them. The blooms are beautiful and fragrant, and cut well. The one I bought from HD (the first) has not done well, but I attribute that to the source-- several plants in one pot forced into bloom for valentines day. These are bound to drop buds, sulk etc when you get them home and maybe never get going properly. I found the best plants for getting established quickly as pot plants are vigorous varieties like Belmont or Miami Supreme. Also, potbound plants are harder to get established and you need to check the rootball to make sure they are getting their roots into the new soil. Naturally, in-ground plants would be another matter. Put them in a pot no more than 2" bigger than the rootball. Use a clay pot if you can. They keep the roots cooler, and I have always found roots in clay to grow much better. Let the roots fill up the pot (but not potbound) before repotting. You can tell because it starts to need water more often. A good peat based potting soil (I use moisture control miracle gro) with timed release fertilizer and dry ironite in it gives it a good environment. You can add peat, but I've had some without added peat that did fine. The timed release fertilizer evens out the fertilizer, and the dry ironite gives a lot of micronutrients and prevents the leaves from getting chlorotic. You can give it some bloom-booster (10-50-10) maybe once a month or so. I also give mine epsom salts (source of magnesium) and liquid iron chelate once a month or so to supply micronutrients. You can give it oftener than that if you need to. Keeps the leaves beautiful. Outside in summer, they get just the right amount of humidity and will thrive. They happily take sun til app 2 in the afternoon all summer. If you get aphids, just hose them off every couple of days for 3 or 4 times. Or just wash off with soapy water. Be careful of overwatering, overpotting and overfertilizing. I tend to overwater, so I use a moisture meter to test need for water, or stick your finger in and water when the soil starts to dry. But don't let them get too dry, either. Gardenias are susceptible to root disease, and any of the above no-no's can get it started. Inside in winter they are going to get stressed because the humidity in the house and perhaps the light you can provide is too low. The way to deal with this is to keep them outside as much as possible. They can be kept out at temperatures below a light frost, so they can stay out probably a month after the first light frost, and go out in the spring about when the crocuses come up, or about St Pat's day. Indoors, give them the sunniest window you have. In late winter, watch out for bug explosions. Aphids give birth to pregnant young in spring, so populations can explode in a few days. Wash these off. You don't need poisons. So far this year, I have successfully grown Grif's Select, Miami Supreme, Belmont, Shooting Star. I killed August Beauty (never thrived) and Four Seasons (root disease, but not sure how I triggered it-- repotted too soon, maybe). I also have some small ones I bought a few weeks ago, too soon to tell. This is probably not a complete summary, just an outline of what I have discovered. But summing it up: NO, they aren't hard if you give them exactly what they want (moist rich soil, warmth, sun) and keep the pests and root disease at bay as outlined above. I hope this encourages someone to try them, or try again. Good luck

Well, young or small rodents can get through a half inch mesh but so will snakes so your problem will be solved, lol.

Miele dishwashers are amazing and well worth their price. I have first hand experience with a higher-end (but not top of the line) Miele and middle-of-the-field KitchenAid. And the differences are far more than what you'd expect from the price difference alone. Having said that, Miele does charge a surprisingly large premium in the US. Maybe it's all the tariffs? They are noticeably less expensive in Europe even when buying the exact same model. Our KitchenAid is in the in-law kitchen and only gets used very lightly. But the plastic parts holding the upper basket break about once a year, causing the basket to come crashing down. It also holds a lot fewer dishes and cleans a lot worse despite taking an awfully long time to wash. Even on the express cycle, the Miele does better than the KitchenAid does on its regular cycle. If the dishwasher only ever gets used lightly and if money is the only factor, buying any of the cheap "highly-reviewed" dishwashers might make sense; and that's exactly why we bought the KitchenAid for the second kitchen. But if it is an appliance that gets used daily or more, than Miele (or possibly Bosch) is the way to go. Our Miele is now 10 years old and still going as strong as on day one, with only one minor repair of a worn-out gasket in the backflow valve (user replaceable part). I doubt the KitchenAid will last this long, which means it might actually have cost us more.