FWIW - the newspaper will just slow drainage and retain more water. The stones won't improve drainage ..... in fact, they are counter-productive because they will cause water to perch in the soil ABOVE your drainage layer; and the bubble wrap won't offer any protection against killing lows - it will just marginally increase the length of time it takes for the temperature to reach that critical temp. CT - there are different ways to look at a soil. To me, a heavy soil is one that retains a lot of excess (perched) water. Light soils aren't necessarily light in weight, but they are airy and hold little or no excess (perched) water. Mature compost, or any kind of compost is great in the gardens & beds, but can quickly become problematic in containers because of its small particle size and its propensity to hold LOTs of water ...... something you'd be better to avoid in containers. If you concentrate on ensuring your chosen soil will retain adequate amounts of air (even at container capacity) for the expected interval between repots (different than just potting up) you'll be offering your plants a better opportunity to grow closer to their genetic potential. The fertilizer part is easy. If your soil has dolomite in it (which has the Ca/Mg Miracle-Gro lacks), you can use their all purpose 24-8-16 or 12-4-8. Don't concern yourself about building a soil to feed the plant. That's what fertilizers are for - container gardening is much different than growing in the earth, and many of the strategies (like feed the soil and not the plant) are best left in the garden. Al

Usual recommendation is to remove the soil from the whole and mix with a combo of garden soil (NOT potting mix), humus, compost, peat and bone meal (IMHO). Your ratio should be 50-50. In zone 5a you would probably want to burry the bud union at least 2", but I'll let those that live in your area/zone weigh in on that.

Hi again Adam, Still can't see the photo ... I just posted on your other thread (an old one about Tipsy Imperial Concubine) .... Tricia

Rachel, I have over 100 roses in pots. The grafted roses get much bigger faster than the own root. Right now it is 80 degrees mid afternoon and I have to water every other day. All of my "big" roses as opposed to miniatures are in pots 20x22" which figures out to be about 15 gallons. Some of my roses get 5-6 ft tall in the pots. Because they are in pots they are 2 ft taller than they would be in the ground so keep that in mind. I have had success with just about everything except the ones that do get 5-6 ft tall like Mr. Lincoln and Paradise. They become top heavy and blow over in the wind even if I've just watered them. If I had it to do all over again I'd stick to roses that get no more than 4 ft tall and maybe even 3 ft tall. I tried hard pruning the tall ones and they stop flowering. My very tall ones will be given away as soon as I can find someone who wants them. If I were starting over I wouldn't get anything that is not extremely disease resistant. The roses have dry then wet conditions in the pots and the black spot is very bad on some of them. When I get a new pot I drill about 10 3/8" holes in the bottom for drainage. If you don't have enough drainage then the roots will stay waterlogged. I also have all my pots elevated so the water will drain correctly. Decide what kind of rose peaks your interest more, a shrub or floribunda or hybrid tea then research them. If you don't know about it go to helpmefind.com and you can't get size information from them. Choose a nursery, see what they have that you like then look it up on help me find. I will say, most of what you'll find in big box stores are grafted and are not very disease resistant since they are older cultivars from before breeders started paying attention to disease resistance. I hope this helped some. If you have any questions just ask.