Gardenweed, Great pictures..beautiful! Thanks River_C, Thanks for the link. I found a similar link that is for Florida plants; it lists the guara all the way down to Zone 10. I read the history of Lindheimeri before, very interesting. I will post pictures of these Sparkle plants when they bloom, but I have others that I am really excited about.. 1. About 8 guara plants for cuttings I took from an 8 footer I had last year, all looking good. 2. Three really amazing new ones that volunteered this year. They are the biggest, most full guara plants I have ever seen. They are spectacular young plants. Can't wait to see how they turn out. Bob

Hi Vettin One year I received a rather large order of bare-roots rather late in the season, two days before I was about to leave the country. I didn't have time to plant them, but I dug them all in a hole in the ground under some pine trees, and covered them with about 8 inches of sandy soil with pine needles an bark. All roses survived without any winter damage, among them some hybrid teas, hybrid perpetuals, climbers, portlands. I was more worried about black canes and fungus, but not a trace when I dug them up in March. Some had started to developed roots. I god this advice from an old gardener that told me this was how they stored the crop of roses in the old days before refrigerators. I think Peace and Chicago Peace is a bit more hardy than Souvenir de la Malmaison. I doubt Zephirine is much less tender. If you have a long growing season that helps a lot. Whatever you do, I think they all will survive, but how many dead canes is all ways the issue.

.I feel like I should make the conifer forum page my home page ==>> way ahead of you .. lol ... zone info is so shotgun ... its all about your micro climate ... and frankly.. no one but you can figure out what your garden is.. zone-wise .. variables include.. winter sun ... mulch ... prevailing winter winds [this one is real important.. the bigger the plant] ... how bad winter is ... snow cover,if any [keeps soil temps constant] .... altitude ... depressions [i swear hidden lakes.. in a glacial kettle.. 10 miles from me.. is a z6b ... rather than my 5b .... because.. my theory.. the winter winds howl over the hole they are in .. and i lost a lot of money buying things that thrive 10 miles away ... that failed in my former flat.. horse pasture ] ..... etc ... peeps swore i should be able to do Pinus wallichiana [sp?] in my garden ... i lost about 4 of them.. when i was at your spot on the learning curve ... what will grow in your little slice of heaven.. is up to you to find out.. and you do it.. by killing plants.. lol ... i suggest you do your research in advance... [surely like i do religiously .. NOT!!!! .. lol].... and i suggest.. that the ones you want to try pushing zone.. you start smaller.. so that you can protect them the first few years ... by wrapping some burlap around them .. or something or another .... which you could still do on this one ... but it wont be easy at that size .... on top of a zone challenge.. you have an extremely large transplant ... which may be stressed on that alone [though that growth rate would not indicate such] .... insure.. that the soil in the root mass does NOT dry out in winter.. IF you can water w/o freezing the roots into an ice cube.. that is a soil issue and ground freeze issue.. if any [not that qualification repeating.. i dont know YOUR SOIL ] .... one way to water .. is to use ice cubes.. which melt when the soil warms.. and gently add moisture.... as compared to you dumping a 5 gallon buckets on the wrong day .... a smaller challenge plant .... might get better adjusted ... established.. and be able to make it thru a questionable winter .... because all said and done.. you are at the whim of ma nature ... and she can be a real witch .... like when a z4 winter rolls thru for you one year .... sooooo .... its all part of the excitement of learning.. i hope for the best.. for you ;... keep up the questions.. we get bored talking to ourselves all the time.. new blood makes it much more interesting .... ken ps: most nurseries.. good ones.. should let you TAG a plant... giving you the opportunity to insure you get it ... and then go do your research ... and have the tag removed.... if you opt away from the decision ... pps: you dodged a bullet planting in july ... i hope you know that now.. especially on a 6 foot plant .... never forget.. just because you buy it.. does NOT mean its the proper planting time.... though apparently .. this one is a beast .. lol ... other conifers may not be so forgiving ..... God will this ever end ... and i dont understand how a july transplant.. grew 2 feet in the interim ... was there any fertilizing.. ???? i hope it gets the clue.. and starts slowing down.. hardening off.. for winter ...

I leave some of my cuttings in the cold basement until March and I am in zone 8b. PNW and most are very happy in the cold and dark and just keep growing more and more roots. Some of the cuttings are in a protected spot in the garden and those tend to leaf out a bit earlier but by June they are all about the same. I put some new babies - still in pots that came from Tenn. in. I was not sure how much cold they could take so to be safe, I brought them into the basement. If they are inside, occasionally check to make sure they have not completely dried out. They need slightly moist soil - not too wet and not too dry..... I also do NOT fertilize until they are potted up and then very little - if any - is added to the pots. Some of the cuttings are in a very protected spot in the driveway, right next to the bulkhead and that spot seems to be fine for most cuttings. If we get a really cold snap they could be brought in but it would have to last for several days. The driveway is on a good slant so the drainage is perfect for the all the rain that we get.