I have 2 years limited experience in planting bareroots. I planted 300 bareroots in 5 gallon pots last year in early June since I wanted to control sunlight. June is a bad time of year for planting bareroots but that is when you can get great deals, 99cent deals. I soaked them for 48 hrs in a bathtub. Dont let them sit in the shipping box. I kept 40 in the box for a week in a cool spot but they had a white fungus all over the roots and canes and I lost all of them. The bareroots that I trimmed the roots and canes before potting had a higher mortality rate. Just trim off the broken roots or canes or canker canes. I placed the pots in shade/semishade with a white sheet covering them to prevent them from drying out. I occassionally sprayed the sheet for morer moisture. BIG MISTAKE. I created a great environment for powdery mildwew which I had to fight all summer. This year I will use the sheets but I will not wet the sheets. I also will spray bareroots with an organic antifungal and water without spraying the canes. Water pots daily when it is hot and dry. Roses will bud out within the week. I take them out of the sheet cover when new sprouts grow a couple inches. Keep in shzade/semishade for adjustment then gradually move to more Sun. Eventually place pot in LOCATION of future hole. I would plant in hole during early fall. Cut the pot away in order to keep roots in tact and plant. I am considering cutting all buds off the roses to allow them to use enery for roots and cane development. Dont fertilize in late fall! I hope my experience helps.

So if I understand correctly, if I put the white part of the stems below ground, then the place where the roots emerge from the stems will be an inch or so below ground, correct? ===>>> not in my world ... roots in the ground.. leaves above the ground... the middle part.. the crown.. at the surface level .. in the ground ... but not like an iris ... you say.. where the roots come out of the crown should be one inch deep .. maybe on a larger hosta.. your comment is an over generalization to some extent ... but one thing for sure.. the petioles... the celery-like stalks that hold up the leaves.. which come out of the top of the crown ... should NOT be in the soil.. MUCH AT ALL ... i dont understand why you can not tell.. looking at what you got in the mail ... which creamy white parts.. have never seen the sun .... that stuff has to be in the ground.. if the parts are green.. they were and are supposed to be.. above ground .... now.. here is the real issue ... all of the above [including your thoughts] is within the realm of OK .... but the issue is whether .. when the soil settles.. they end up another inch or two deep ... and then.. all of a sudden.. they are 3 inches underground ... and that is where the problems will be .... now .... something like liberty.. a potential large.. will probably not care .... but if baby bunting ends up 3 inches too deep... you will have problems.. make sense??? it usually ends up being a function of what you use to 'fluffify' your soil.. what you amend with.. and how it reacts to ground freeze and the freeze thaw cycle ... but never forget.. they are hosta ... and but for totally ejecting themselves in the freeze thaw cycle in winter.. you are going to be hard pressed to kill them quickly ... if something just doesnt look right next spring... odds are.. they ended up too deep.. and at that point.. you will lift them.. and set them properly .... most of us.. at looking at a pic.. can quickly tell.. what is planted too deep ... [sometimes i think babka.. in tx.. with her pot culture.. forgets what a witch mother earth can be.. lol ...] good luck .. it sounds like you are already having fun... ken ps: is this your first mail order??? did it make you feel like a child at xmas again.. lol ..

I have about four or five that I planted last year that I just dug a hole deep enough for the root ball to fit. An inch of soil covering it should be plenty enough. I gotta tell you, these things REALLY LOVE the shade! I wound up moving them all to complete shade last year because the ones I already had in the shade were out performing the ones in part sun. They create nice foliage and the one that was in complete shade is already about 14 inches wide and 10 inches tall (without the flowers..no flowers on it yet).

thanks Dingo. its not cold out tonight the low is 52. Today the high was 68. Good idea about trucking around the trees but I already heeled 25 paw paws in the ground, rinsed off 25 dogwoods and paper bagged them with 50 paw paw and 50 arborvitae. I put 25 arobrvitae 25 dogwood and 25 paw paw in a bucket of fresh water. I will plant the ones in water first thing in the morning. Hopefully I can get them all in the ground. I have a couple injuries from the military that have been getting worse the last couple years, or I would've been able to get all these trees in the first day.