Hi binky - Congratulations! A new greehouse is always fun. I have had a 14'X 20' unheated hoophouse in So. Minn near Rochester for going on three years now. Even in our cold cilmate I have lots of things winterover - such as spinch, kale, some lettuces - I plant them in early October. By the tailend of March I usually have all my cold hardy seeds planted in flats (broccoli, cabbages, and cauliflower, ect.). They do just fine. I don't, however, put tomatoes or peppers, etc. that I have seeded in my kitchen into the hoophouse until the 20th or so of April. Then I keep several layers of Remay handy to cover them up if the weather report say hard freeze. I also keep the ground beds wet because the soil is then darker and absorbs more heat during the day. So far I have yet to lose much of anything I have seeded. Good Luck!

IMHO.. shrubs NEVER need fertilizer .... too much nitrogen.. in the NPK ... or a soil that holds the wrong type of nitrogen.. will cause long leggy greenery .. while sacrificing flowers ... e.g we put high nitro fert ... like 30-3-3 on the grass.. to make it grow fast tall and very green .... if that describes the change in the shrubs you are not appreciating.. then that might be part of the problem ... leaving stock in pots.. for extended periods will also affect them ... but i understand that sometimes life gets in the way of what should be planted timely ... sound like you are kind of new to the garden ... one thing to learn ... or a few ... only annuals require you to be in a hurry ... since they live one year.. they need food and lots of care .. there is immediate gratification ... perennials less... less food .... same water .... somewhat deferred gratification.. it might take it a year or two to get situated in your garden ... and really put out the show ... shrubs.. trees... conifers ... these things can live 100 years ... THERE IS NO IMMEDIATE GRATIFICATION ... OTHER THAN THE PURCHASE ... some can take decades to begin to show off ... to their utmost potential ... especially after transplant ... i tend to agree with the nurseryman .... they were grown to their utmost perfection for sale .. and they are adjusting to your yard... be patient.... and keep them properly watered.. and back off the fert .. and they will reward you.. somewhere down the line ... i waited 7 years to get a flower off a flowering cherry ... and i complained like heck ... and it eventually came through .... good luck ken

As was said, depends upon the kind you have. (Some are ornamental, only.) When I lived in Long Beach, CA, my bananas took on average 15 to 18 months to bear. The warmer the climate, the shorter the time. If it's really consistently warm, can be as little as 9 months.

Chilipete - both of those roses are typically hardy and healthy and shouldn't need much fussing. Veilchenblau mostly blooms in the spring with lovely purple blooms and it gets BIG. My picture below is when it was only two years old and it's nearly double that size while I'm waiting for it to bloom this year. Give it space, particularly in zone 7 - she's probably about 6-8' wide already here. Beverly is also healthy and gets tall, but not as wide. In my zone 5, she tops out at about 5' so far. As she starts to bush out more coming into her third year, I think she'll bloom more frequently. This one has more traditional cutting type flowers that people expect from roses, and it's supposed to have some scent. Anything on the east coast is liable to get some blackspot, but this rose is more resistant to it than most HTs. What's notable about her blooms for me is how BIG they are individually, as you can see with my hand next to this one. Good choices for roses and I expect they'll do well for you without too much fussing. They'll probably appreciate a little cleaning up pruning in the spring and maybe some shaping in the growing season, but they should be roses you don't have to pamper particularly in your yard. Cynthia