Yes, that is a wonderful problem! We've been getting rain, too, not too much but will take anything we can get. I had planned on starting to prune today right off my patio so wouldn't have to get too wet, but it never happened (my local spa had 35% off pedicure, so... important things first, besides, they gave me a glass of wine!) Will try for tomorrow, supposed to be 75, but a good chance of rain. Valentine's Day seems to be the set time to start in the Dallas area, but it can wait until it dries out. What I'm worried about is getting a freeze which could very easily happen.

It doesn't matter with Rosetone to me. The amount of readily available nitrogen in Rosetone is fairly low, so the chance of it burning the rose period is pretty low....nonexistent in my opinion from the ridiculous amounts I use of it. Theoretically, it would be more liable to burn if it was dry and already in the soil, but this isn't really possible with rose tone as it needs the water to let it sink in to the soil anyways. Personally, I try to put it down before it rains, because I like to have nature just do it job and it works the best then, but if it's sunny it's no big deal. I just water it in even if it's dry. I figure with such a low amount of readily available nitrogen, even if the soil is dry, the water will dilute the mixture and just mix in with the surrounding soil and the rose will enjoy the water to begin with...the added nutrients of the Rosetone are just another plus to make the rose happy.

dhaval, Look at the 2 pics where 2 places on your hill the water is pouring down. There are specifically 2 places where almost all of the water is running down your hill. Give the water another way to run. Go to where the water starts to enter , at the top of the hill in both pics, and dig a trench lower than the ground level around it. The water will run to the lowest ground. Dig it along the back of the hill, at a slant, running down to the bottom. In one pic this will be by your fence. I think to the left. In the other pic, do the same thing. ALso, find a place close to where you live that sells rocks. They are cheap, I can buy alot of them for 15.00. Use the rocks also for around the trench you dig in. Then, look at Home Depo for the cypress mulch they sell for hills. It is shredded. It is specifically made NOT to move during rain storms on hills. Apply this with gloves though, believe me, it works. It is a light colored mulch, you can throw your pine straw on top of it if you want if you don't like the color. It stays where you put it. It's a god send for me. Trench, rocks. then mulch. You can throw some of the shredded mulch in the trench if you want, if not, just leave it. Good luck. Please let us know how it turned out later this year. Noone ever comes back to let us know what the garden looks like afterwards.

Consensus on what? Watering? You are assuming there is only 1 right way and all other ways are wrong? Nope. If some body in GA doesn't want to water his, fine. If some body in MN want to, that's fine too. It isn't brain surgery. If you want to water them, do so. If you don't want to, don't and see if it rains. If it doesn't rain in the next few days then you can water them. It really doesn't make any difference one way or another. There is no such thing as consensus in gardening - far too many variables. Dave