"If the ground isn't frozen below the snow, I think Drew is probably right," I had to quote that! :) You mention the dead of winter, and I agree, but spring is 4 weeks away, and the gentlemen mentions picking them up in 3 weeks. So it will be one week away from spring. I planted mine in zone 6A on March 7th 2013, last frost was April 29th, and it was a very hard frost, my tropicals got caught outside and I had to remove all the foliage, none of it survived. My cacti though were fine! Trees were coming out of dormancy on March 7th, they had flower buds on them. All the buds fell off, they went back into dormancy, They were coming from California btw (and not 200 miles away, 3000 miles away). They all grew like crazy last summer. They came back out of dormancy fine. If Oldryder is in zone 6 or higher, he would be planting them March 13th, a week after I planted mine last year. Not the dead of winter but the start of spring. Plant them. Call you extention office and ask, they will tell you to plant them, but call anyway. Just to give you an idea how well mine did, I cut them to knee height. One only threw a low bud just above the rootstock. I had to re-train it as a new central leader. By the end of the first year that new central leader was over 4 feet tall. It's not even one year in the ground yet. Oh I summer pruned the new leader twice and formed scaffolds, that yes, reach 4 feet tall.

I used to have The Alnwick Rose. I've attempted growing this rose twice and in conclusion, there are three things that I don't like about it: 1) Most of the time, the scent is not always present. A huge let down. 2) the flower form is small and the petals scatter quickly. 3) I don't like the colour - it fades quickly to a glistering white/ pale pink colour. The only good thing about this rose is that it repeats quite fast.

Um ... not to knock the Master Gardeners on this forum. But, the Master Gardener program does not necessarily produce experts. People do learn a lot of useful stuff in the program, but no one knows everything, and nothing beats both training AND experience. The Master Gardener program produces knowledgeable amateur gardeners who are willing to share what they've been taught by Extension agents from land grant universities. They help to dispel the myriads of gardening myths and legends that have no scientific basis, but my own experience with master gardeners over the years has not been very impressive, as far as getting correct information on gardening problems. Hit and miss. Point being: just 'cause the person saying so is a Master Gardener, doesn't make it so. And even when something may be so 95% of the time, doesn't mean it's so in this specific instance in your specific garden. Nature is complex, and our brains are puny in comparison. "most fungi are species specific". I do not know what that means. Hm. Yes, fungi come in species, but I doubt that's what was meant. Was the person talking about saprophytic fungi, or pathogenic fungi? Saprophytes are not necessarily host species specific. Some are, but others don't care where the organic matter they're feeding on came from. Pathogenic fungi vary in their degree of host specificity. A few are very specific, having been found causing disease on only one or two species of host plants. Phytophthora lateralis comes to mind. Causes Port Orford cedar root rot. Others have host species numbering in the hundreds or even thousands, such as Phytophthora cinnamomi, a globally distributed agricultural and forestry pest. Armillaria mellea (oak root fungus, armillaria root rot) also attacks just about anything. A saprophytic and pathogenic fungus, but does not cause disease on everything it eats. Some species of hosts are more susceptible than others. Roses are very susceptible. There's been some speculation that so-called Rose Replant Disease is caused by saprophytic fungi breaking down the dead roots from the previous rose, creating a toxic environment, but it's just speculation so far. Another hypothesis is that the decaying roots of the previous rose put out toxic chemicals. Again, just speculation so far. Either one may be true sometimes, but neither one has so far been proven true to my knowledge. I often replant in the same hole, and only rarely have a problem doing so. My own experience (25 years worth) has been similar to Patricia's. If the previous rose died for some reason, and that reason is still there, then it will kill the next rose too. Armillaria root rot is common in California. Roses are very susceptible. Roses replanted where armillaria killed the previous rose will die pretty quickly. As in, within a year or two. Not within weeks. Patience, my friend! I'd be hesitant to move a bare root rose that's just starting to grow, especially this late in the SoCal spring. (Here, sure. We're still getting snow flurries up here, no danger of the rose drying out when its roots are disturbed.) You can also help it out by hilling it, or piling dirt up around it, to insulate the canes and new sprouts from drying out. A good practice whenever planting bare roots in your area, as your springs come on fast and hot and dry. Carefully remove the dirt once you see good strong new growth emerging.

> Container grown Trees make Fall planting even more successful.If you don't have to cut the roots at planting due to deformities caused by careless container culture - and you get the tree in early enough that it roots out well. Otherwise, there is little advantage to fall planting or using container stock - the key difference is that the fall planted stock establishes enough to be less susceptible to summer drought than spring planted stock, which does not make as much root growth because there is new top growth drawing on stored energy in the stems and roots at the same time. And the plant has low energy reserves because it has just gone through a winter. Soil conditions are also less favorable to root growth in spring than in fall as the soil is in the coldest and wettest (where there are heavy winter rains and spring snow-melts) condition it will be of the whole year. Nevertheless healthy stock (condition of plants at planting is critical to the subsequent outcome) shouldn't be dying outright because it was spring planted, when that happens some major aspect of the operation has not been accomplished.