I don't think it's your imagination. That's what I mean. That's my problem here too. Some of mine have also just gotten smaller too without cane lose. It might also just be our local conditions. Who knows? A typical example for me is planting a great looking grafted Rose. Liking it the first year, loving it the second and possibly third year and then babying it by it's forth due to lost canes. After that, I usually, not always, have to reach for the Shovel. I lost count of how many Roses I had to shovel prune due to lost canes and lousy growth. It's not like I'm pruning them wrong. I really only have 4 grafted Roses that do very well grafted. They are About Face, Sunsprite, Chrysler Imperial and Tournament of Roses. I'm also thinking that just MAYBE I haven't been smart enough to figure out which root stock does well in my southern New Jersey soil. I dunno. Whatever the reason is, I'm just giving up on grafted here. Dan

There are varying opinions on which is better where. In cold zones it can be an advantage to have own root plants if they die all the way back to the ground over winter because you won't lose your variety when it regrows from the ground up. On a grafted rose if the graft freezes and dies over winter you've lost your variety and there is a possibility that the root stock rose will come up instead. But if you plant your grafted roses with the grafts 4 to 6 inches below the ground that's usually good protection for the graft anyway. So it's rally up to you which you'd prefer. And there are some varieties that you can only find as grafted roses. That's changing but it's a slow process a driven by market demand. Grafted roses will grow and mature faster than own root plants. That's the point of grafting one variety onto another. The root stock variety is usually a very vigorous grower and will cause the grafted variety to grow faster. Own root plants will grow but at a slower pace depending on the variety of rose. There are some varieties that were bred specifically to be grafted and a lot of those varieties will tend to not do very well as own root plants. They are just not very vigorous on their own roots. The problem is it's hard to know which ones those are because for a very long time almost all roses were sold grafted and own root plants were very rare. So roses bred in that time frame may or may not do well on their own roots. For the most part those are hybrid teas that were bred from about 1930 to 1990. That's a lot of rose varieties!

I've taken an interest in learning about Florida gardening because I plan to move down there eventually. What I've read again and again about discouraging nematodes is to maintain a heavy layer of organic mulch. This will eventually break down and improve your soil. Some people mix in cheap clay kitty litter to make their soil heavier. Another possibility is to heavily underplant roses with Marigolds. There is one seed strain of French Marigolds in particular which tested as being very effective at deterring root-knot nematodes -- Tagetes patula 'Ground Control' (aka 'Single Gold'). The one caveat is that the effects won't be seen until the following year, and to maintain the effect, you'll want to replant them every year. As far as planting too deep -- I think many here would say I am guilty of this, but there hasn't been any negative effect which I can see. When I was putting this garden together, I planted my roses (own-root bands that were grown-on in pots for a few months) directly into the native soil in late Summer 2013. Prior to planting them, I had laid down sheets of cardboard to smother weeds and grass, and covered that with trimmings from a tree I was cutting back. This accumulated to about three inches, but it was a very "airy" three inches. Over all that, I put down an additional 6-8" of "proper" mulch (partially composted shredded wood chips). At first, I made concave "dishes" around each rose to allow water to be directed towards their roots and keep mulch away from the canes as I kept reading I was supposed to do, but after the first Winter, the beds were pretty much leveled out. In Spring, I worked an additional 2" of composted manure into that layer of mulch. This meant that what was once the border between canes and roots was now about 8-10" below the surface. Why did I do this? I wanted to give the roses an "early start" on having deep roots for getting water, and anticipated that canes buried beneath the mulch line would eventually root further up, allowing for easier access to fertilizer applied at the surface. Companion perennials were planted directly into this "mulch/compost" layer in Spring 2014, and they grew like gangbusters in their first year. Last Autumn, I wanted to continue adding organic matter to the beds, so I "harvested" fallen tree leaves and spread them to a "fluffy" three inches thick. I also started collecting used coffee grounds from Starbucks -- one 13gal kitchen garbage can-full per day -- and spread this about 2-3" over the leaves. It took about three months to complete. Winter snow has packed this down a bit, and the previous year's additions have started breaking down, so where I'm at now is about where I was after the first layer of mulch -- about 6-8" above the original soil line. This week, I started some early pruning. While there is some snow still remaining in half of the garden, where it is gone there was already life in the top layer of coffee grounds and leaves -- various soil critters are waking up and finding lots of food waiting for them. I've noticed some freeze damage (naturally) on some rose canes, but nothing soft and mushy which would indicate "cane rot". True, this could emerge later in the season, but I also never saw it last Spring when the roses' canes were also buried to about the same level. Why is this not harming my roses? Perhaps because what's covering the canes is actively being broken down by the various organisms in the soil, and that process is different than simply being a blanket of "wet" around the rose canes. Worms and critters keep moving the material around, and fungi digesting the material are sopping up the extra moisture. I don't know for sure -- all I can say is that I don't see any negative effects. :-) ~Christopher

I'll try to help but let me know if what I say is not clear. Every thing you said about your rose in year one sounds correct for Eureka. Yes, it would bloom in the first year. It did not bloom in year 2 because the top part of your rose died. Now all that is left is the root stock Dr. Huey. Dr. Huey is a once blooming rose and does not usually do well up here depending on your soil. Yes, that shoot growing out a ways from the main cane is a sucker. Dr. Heuy only blooms on old wood. So if you wish for blooms from it do not cut it down at all and it will bloom next year probably in June. Where we live we must protect the graft in winter or the graft will freeze killing the rose we bought. One way to do this is to bury it (the graft) at least 4 inches under the soil. In the older days you would people with chicken wire in a circle around the rose then packed with leaves to keep it from freezing. I think that is what rose cones where used for but I'm not sure. There are some problems with both ways. I don't need to worry about it thou because Dr. Huey hates my soil and never returns or send up a suckers. I only plant own root roses and occasionally those with multiflora root stock. If you have any more questions just ask and I'll help if I can.