you all miss my point ... moving a household is insanity ... moving a household plus a garden is double insanity ... been there.. done that.. what was i thinking .... especially in the high heat of summer ... [i moved when it was all dormant in january] so your plan.. as i understand it.. is to move everything you own.. into a new house.. and abandon the house.. while you plant a garden ... and i am presuming the tree is not the only thing you are taking ... maybe i am wrong ... i was glad to have 4 months to put the household back together... before i had to start messing outside .... painting.. cleaning.. unpacking .... etc ... so all i am trying to say.. is this tree really a priority ...???? now.. why do you know about the house and all already ... building??? .. is there an option to go plant it now... are there facts we dont know ... when i moved.. between the accepted offer in oct. .. and the closing in late dec ... we were allowed to deliver 1500 potted hosta to sit outside the barn ... also i had many local friends who adopted garden plants ... plant sitter if you will .... which gave me the luxury of 'time' .... at least it sounds like your move is local .... mine was 65 miles ... this is not a rare tree.. and there are much higher priorities in moving... sacrifice the tree if need be ... BTW... you cant plant it in august... it will have to be held ove, until the next proper planting time.. in fall good luck.. whatever you decide ... ken PS: just cuz the nursery would leave it in the pot until sold.. does not make it right.. they most likely have hirelings to water them 2 or 3 times per day ...

I use wire fencing to keep critters away from certain plants. I collect throwaway rolls of wire fencing with a 2 x 4 inch grid. I like it a little rusty, because it's nearly invisible in the garden. I cut pieces, usually about 2 feet high, and encircle the plants to keep out critters like woodchucks. Woodchucks can dig under and climb over a fence that high, except that I cut the fencing so that pokey wire ends stick out of the top and bottom. They are very sharp, so nothing has tried to climb over it. I have to watch out not to skewer myself in the garden, and it's probably not the best method to use if you have little children running around. Maybe something like that would work around your apple tree?

OK, here's a copy and paste from a post I made back in July to a post started by Miss Sherry about holding willow cuttings. This one was more for collecting cuttings distant from your property and how to get them home fresh, but the technique is the same for cuttings from your own property. . "IMO putting cut LFP in water like cut flowers is not a good technique to use for LFP's and can actually start breaking down the plant rather than helping it. I've posted before on the method I used for many years to keep cut LFP's fresh, often for weeks in the dead of summer and at the end of season even for months. Takes a little work on your part, but robust healthy cats are the reward. If the collection site is a long ways away, take an ice chest with the layer of ice on the bottom covered by a common bath towel folded to a couple of thicknesses for the return trip home (to keep the ice from freezing the plant). Take a supply of trash bags. I mostly used the 7 and 15 gallon kitchen size in opaque white as they store easily and you can see what plant is in them without opening them. Also a supply of paper towel and a squirt bottle filled with clean water. When you gather the cuttings cut the stem with an oblique cut at a length that will fit in the bags unfolded, stack them all together, put them in the trash bags and spray the entire "batch" with the spray bottle. Pour any excess water out, twist or tie the ends and lay them in your ice box until your batches fill it to the top. The paper toweling is in case you have a long trip home. In that case fold and wrap pieces of toweling around the cut end of the bracnhes and soak them with the spray bottle before you put them in the bag and before the final spraying. When I got them home I unpacked and thoroughly washed the cuttings to get any contaminants, pests or predators off them, either in a large sink full of cool water or outside with a garden hose, shook the excess water off and repacked them in trash bags for keeping on the bottom shelf of a refrigerator. If some will be longer term storage wrap their ends with paper towel before spraying. If you make several small "batches" up, and use just one at a time, they others will stay fresh as the day cut with maybe an occasional light spraying every few days. Plant can desiccate or mold in a refrigerator, so the regulation of moisture is important (lean towards less rather than more and just check them more often). In use only pull out enough plant at a time for one change in your cages (I always gave my cats fresh plant at least once a day, more often if they ate it sooner). Close and put the rest of the batch back in cool storage. If the cutting is too long for the cage, cut them in half and use both halves (always putting the down end down). And strip the bottom leaves so only the bottom inch or two is in water. Once you have a feel for what your cats need you can give them only as much plant as they'll consume say 75% of in a day, and that will stretch your cuttings as far as possible before you have to make another trip for plant. Some species of plant hold up better than others, and usually current growth holds up better than old growth. BTW, the wet paper towel trick works very well for small cuttings just laid in containers too, say for early instar larva not yet ready to go to a larger rearing container. Keeps the cutting fresh all day and adds more than enough humidity for the cats. Obviously if you can get your cuttings on your own property they can be gathered, washed and processed daily, but it's still easier to make up a batch all at once to work from until it's used up." . I'll add that for storage I always wrapped cut stems with strips of paper towel and soaked the towel before putting the cuttings in the bag and lightly spraying them for cold storage, even those in my small "batches" that I fed daily from. Takes little effort and adds great benefit in helping the cuttings hold up longer, especially those with woody stems. If you need to hold the plant for many weeks/months, it's a good idea to take all of your plants out, wash them again and repack in new bags every few weeks. My method worked so well that I often held fresh plant well into the deep snow winter months for species that I was rearing successive generations of. I could even hold some plants (like Populus fremontii water sprouts) all winter this way. Larry

Hi Nicole, I'm so sorry for your loss. If the article above is too much info for you to handle in your state right now, just cut the roses in the evening before dark. Leave the stems as long as you can, about 18 inches would be nice, but not always available. Then take off all petals that will be below the water and dunk them into a bucket of warm water (like faucet warm, not too hot or they will wilt) like bath water heat. Then after they sit in the warm water for about an hour put them in the refrigerator. This will condition them enough to last a few days and make it through the funeral. Keep in mind however, that some roses will close in the dark cool conditions of the fridge, so take them out first thing in the morning so they have time to acclimate and re open. Bright light (if not sunshine) causes them to open, so if you have a few that are still closed, put them in the morning sun or by a sunny window until you're ready to go. Note that roses can absorb water via the entire cane, not just the end of the cane, so its good to have as much cane as possible under water. This is why its good to cut them longer. Don't think that just because the tips are in water, they are getting enough moisture, the more stem you have under water, the better it is for keeping the rose hydrated. If you do not how floral preservative, its fine, just keep the water clean. Austins as a rule don't last very long after being cut, but for the most part you should get at least a good 2-3 days if you follow the refrigerator conditioning regimen. Some varieties last longer than others. I hope your roses somehow help you get through this difficult time. Good luck.