Oh God! It can be frustrating to read people giving advice based on books they've read. There has been so much bad advice given on pruning over the years it is boggling to the mind and a lot of it is published and written by pedigreed specialists. Fortunately things are getting better in the information coming from places like Cornell if you search for advice for commercial growers- the stuff for the home grower tends to be quite uneven. Different cherries have different growth habits and cherries are amongst the most difficult trees to prune to the most productive shape. I struggle to achieve good productivity from a reasonably compact tree but at least the first years don't have to be complicated. It is most likely that your tree will become an open center tree even if you try to maintain it as a central leader, but if you train it originally as a central leader for the first 2 years using the ratio formula I've suggested you will have a leg up producing a productive and compact tree. If you want an open center from the get-go, just plan to cut the central leader to a scaffold after 2 years. Cherry trees usually only need 3 scaffolds to harvest the full 360 of available light. The real goal of pruning any fruit tree in my opinion is to produce a tree with the maximum amount of well lighted fruiting (small) wood and the least amount of structural (large) wood. Basically harvesting the most light with the least "infrastructure".

I can't say as to whether or not this is "Ok". I can say that I received a "Joseph's Coat" bare-root climber from Jackson Perkins that was already putting off a whole new cane. I worried about this, as I thought I heard that this is considered to be "bad". I put the rose in the ground anyway and, as fate would have it, the temps immediately plummeted to 28 degrees for a few days. However, the cane still developed. A few days ago, the temps plummeted again and the rose got snowed on and frozen for a little bit. But, this growth has stayed strong and is still going. So I honestly don't know the real answer to your question. I can just say that I have received bare-root roses in the past, not just this year, that were breaking dormancy and have never experienced an issue with this.

Nik, I know that Americans farther South than my zone 6a do plant in the Fall but I have had no personal experience with warmer zones. However, from my zone North (and that's a lot of territory), Fall planting is not a viable option. In August it is too hot to plant, getting in the high 80s and then the first frosts come about the first or second week in October. Four to five weeks is not enough time for the roses to get established and prepare for the hard frosts soon to come. Our last frost date is May 15, so that is about 7 months. Usually we have snow cover then it melts, then more snow cover and on and on through the winter. This is especially bad because repeated freezing and thawing cycles heave plants out of the ground. A constant snow cover, which we do not have, would prevent that and in addition would be protective insulation, keeping the plants near 32 F instead of the -10F air temperatures normal for this zone. It may be difficult for most Europeans to sense the degree and duration of cold that we experience, Scandinavian countries and Scotland excepted. When I read English gardening books that say a plant is cold hardy, I have to remember they mean that it will survive in a zone much warmer than mine. Most of England is zone 8! Compare the Hardiness Zone maps on Garden Web of Europe versus The United States. The color of the zones give a more intuitive feel for the difference in climate. Cath

I agree with Sheila - most of us use the opportunity of planting a rose to do some spot enhancing of the organic material in our soil. I agree that top dressing with organic material is the best long-term solution to improving the soil, but as a short term boost for the soil mixing in compost or something else organic has been very effective for me. I contrast beds where I have been planting roses this way for some time, and the soil in the entire bed becomes this lovely textured and rich soil that I can dig in with my fingers, while beds that I only top-dress haven't worked in that organic material very deeply yet even though they've all been planted the same amount of time. Having said that, you don't have to amend with anything if you start out with good loamy soil like you describe, so there's no particular need to do as much as you've done or certainly to add anything more. For me, the second set of additives is a bit more effort than I want to put in but it sounds fine being all organic and slow acting. The one thing you don't want to do in any new planting is add fast acting fertilizers which for me include most granular fertilizers. Biotone and other organic fertilizers break down more slowly and don't run the risk of burning sensitive feeder roots. I simplify your latter list and add just manure, alfalfa hay, and something to lighten the soil that I can buy in large bulk and relatively cheaply (lately it has been cotton burr compost). My preference is to add no more than 1/3 other substance to the existing soil, since you want the rose to get used to the conditions it's going to expect from here on out rather than getting hooked on any particular amendments at the outset. You've obviously been successful with 1/2 supplements so go with what works for you. I always soak bare roots and you'll find a majority of us do the same, and a majority of the vendors specifically recommend soaking the roots. The principle is to make sure the rose is adequately hydrated to handle the transition to the ground. One look at dried out husks of body bag roses indicates how important hydration is for bare root roses. Cynthia