Reasons why others are saying to use only un-amended native soil when planting the trees rather than putting sand in the bottom and good loam above: Clay is composed of very fine particles. As a result, it can hold substantially more water than coarser soils such as a loam or sand, maybe 3" of water per 12" of soil compared to less than 1" of water per 12" of sand. With the greater water holding capacity, it will tend to "pull" water in from other soils. If you use non-native materials in the hole, the clay will tend to pull the water out of the planting hole. Thus, you will end up with your clay pulling the water away from the fruit trees and you could end up drouthing the trees out despite thinking you are keeping them well watered--actually, your clay will be well watered, but not your tree. Another potential problem with using amended soil is a significant difference in density between the amended soil and the clay. When the growing new tree's roots hit the clay, it will be harder to penetrate so the roots will tend to turn and follow the edge of the planting hole, circling the tree. You will have the effect of planting the tree in the ground still in a container. Over a couple of years, the roots will penetrate the clay and take off, but in the beginning they may become "pot bound". Manure--I always think of manure coming in 3 ways--fresh, dried, and composted. Fresh manure is still wet and contains relatively high amounts of nitrogen from urine. Putting this on a tree in any higher quantity than a single cow pie will not do it any good. It is just too much. Once the manure has dried, much of the nitrogen has dissipated into the atmosphere, so the nitrogen levels are much lower and you are essentially adding raw organic matter, such as mounding grass clippings or leaves around the tree. This material has to compost and break down and if present in sufficient quantity or depth, it may heat to do so, which won't be good for the tree. If it is a thinner layer, it will just slowly rot, which is fine. If your source of manure is from an animal that digests it's food less completely, such as horses, weed or grass seed in their feed will pass through and your manure mulched tree will have a forest of weed seedlings coming up. Cattle do a better job of digesting seeds, but not enough. Sheep and goats do a pretty good job, as will pigs, and poultry are probably pretty close to 100% seed eliminators. So, with fresh dried manure, you are mulching with an organic matter source which may also be seeding the ground down to weeds depending on which type of animal it came from. In addition, weed seeds in the bedding, regardless of the type of animal, will be completely viable when you "plant" them. With composted manure, the rotting process has substantially completed and the material will contain fairly high levels of nutrients, though nitrogen will be relatively low. The heat and process of composting will kill the weed seeds in the manure so you won't be seeding yourself to weeds. Continuously mulching your clay soil with rotted manure or other organic matter will gradually build the soil up. Worms and other soil critters will gradually mix the mulch into the top layers of soil as they dig, so you will uniformly improve your clay to higher levels of organic matter over time, loosening the clay and improving water and nutrient infiltration and release to the plants. In eastern soils where moisture is usually plentiful, clay loam soils are highly productive because the clay not only holds large quantities of water for the plants, but it also holds high quantities of nutrients. So--your clay isn't bad, just improve it with organic matter rather than replacing it.

I don't think you have any use for the Bayer product on KO roses. Any reasonably balanced fertilizer you have around is just as good as their fertilizer; KOs don't need fungicide; and routine use of insecticide is generally not recommended. I would backfill halfway with unamended soil. (It probably didn't do much good to dig that deep unless there were big rocks to remove.) Then I would mix 3" of organic matter into the top 10"-12" of soil throughout the bed, not in planting holes. It could be all manure or half manure. I would put some extra peat or whatever in the backfill near the rose, to make a more gradual transition from the potting mix to the soil. You will probably lose some of the rootball, but that's OK, mix it in the soil. Bark mulch is good, add more each year. Do you know the pH? 6.0 to 6.7 is best. If it is much off, now is the best time to adjust pH. Apart from pH adjustment and manure to establish phosphorus, I wouldn't add anything else without having a soil test. There is no reason to raise the grade unless drainage is poor in the area. Roses are fine with average drainage. You will need to water many gallons to settle the soil. Best to start this before you finish backfilling, while there is a depression to help.

You probably over divided them. They grow faster if crowded, and will need to build up substantial roots again before they put on much top growth. They are well adapted to our climate here, as they come from summer rainfall areas of South Africa, yet can take some summer drought. They will bloom better in full sun, and regular water will get them to grow faster. I am willing to bet they would grow faster if you just planted them in the ground, and watered them well at least weekly, and give them a good topdressing of compost or time release fertilizer.

Traditional wisdom is to divide irises 6 weeks after bloom, but the truth of the matter is that you can dig, divide, and replant irises anytime after last frost in the spring up until about 6 weeks before first frost in the fall. In most climates, it's preferable not to dig irises when it's above 90 degrees because extreme temps can stress the plants. If your temps are currently below 90, and you're ready to divide your clumps, go ahead and do it now. Sibs are a different matter. They are a lot more sensitive about when they are dug and divided than are bearded irises. Sibs are best divided in early spring just as they are breaking dormancy and beginning growth OR in late Aug-mid Sept after temps cool below 90 degrees reliably. If you plant Sibs in excessive heat, they may not root but will sit there and rot instead. It's also critically important to keep Sib roots and rhizomes in a bucket of water when out of the ground so they do NOT dry out (as opposed to bearded rhizomes which must be kept dry until replanted). Hope that helps, Laurie