Please explain what you mean by "waited too long to plant them in their pots". Were they REAL bare roots where they were just plants with nothing around their roots, or in plastic "body bags" bare roots where the chopped off roots were in saw dust inside plastic bags? How long did you have them before you planted them? How were they stored until planting? How dried out did they appear? How hot/dry/windy is it where you are? I suspect from the little information you've provided, they are likely drying up and would greatly benefit from being mounded, collared, hilled, as described in the linked thread below. Until they grow new roots to feed and water themselves, if their canes are drying out, it doesn't matter how many times nor at what frequency you wanter them. They aren't taking in enough water to replace what they're losing. Kim Here is a link that might be useful: Update! with instructions on mounding

Bare root just means a plant has been dug up and the soil washed off. It's not a special type of plant. You can 'make' bare roots from any plant. They could be from runners, from seed or older plants that have been dug up. You say you don't know if your plants are producing runners. It should be pretty easy to tell. Runners are long bare stems along the ground with a baby plant on the end. You can net the plants to keep marauders off.

This place isn't in New England, but I've bought bareroot trees from https://www.coldstreamfarm.net/  . They're in Michigan, so their climate is similar to New England. I've had good luck with their stock. Many of their smaller trees (the type you are looking for) are listed under deciduous SHRUBS (as opposed to TREES). Their filing system is a little odd, but their search engine works ok. https://www.coldstreamfarm.net/categories/deciduous-shrubs/dogwood-shrubs.html https://www.coldstreamfarm.net/redbud-cercis-canadensis.html

with my near beach sand .... i HAVE TO remove potting media ... and plant in native soil ... ergo ... i would bare root a potted plant ... when moving a plant just across the yard.. there would be no reason to bare root ... and here is the important part .... IF I CAN LIFT THE CLUMP ... AND HOIK IT AROUND THE YARD ... without hurting myself.. or my bert.. if i had one.. lol ... so.. perhaps you are mixing potting info.. with in ground plants ... ken btw: dig the new hole first ... approximately ... so you can dig the plant.. and just hurl it into the new hole... when you are to tired to dig the next new hole.. you know its time to not dig another hosta.. lol ... ps: btw ... with the sand ... its near impossible to dig a ball of soil... it all falls off by itself ... so whether i want to bare root it or not... it kinda does anyway ... except on a huge old clump .. where all the roots hold it there ... this was a problem with moving conifers... and trees ...