you are trying one of the hardest things in the gardening world.. growing to a calender date.. and throw in shape.. form.. and color ... make other plans ... and be happy if you can add a few flowers to the florists stuff .. that is how i did it... and i showed up with 3 dozen long stemmed roses for him to add to the bouquets.. for an oct wedding ... he was stunned .. lol... i dont think he had much expectation of what i would bring ... lol .. i could not rely on mother nature.. and weather.. to insure i had flowers... so i made other arrangements... but then got lucky ... i wish you luck on the wedding ... but do cover yourself ... ken ps: you are adding a stressor.. of which you have no control over ... and it has the potential.. to drive you insane.. not that many brides are.. prior to their wedding.. lol ... so take some control.. by talking with a florist.. and insuring that you have flowers .. whether or not you can produce them ...

You have to follow all the canes from Dr. Huey back to where they originate. Look to see if any of the roses you want remains. Sometimes the budded rose dies off and Huey takes over. Simply cutting the Huey back doesn't work. It will only stimulate it to grow more as it does with your other roses. If it appears all that's left is Huey, rip it out and get as much of the root as possible. Any piece left in the ground WILL grow back. If it appears there are just a few canes of Huey and the rest of your rose remains, you have to surgically remove the Huey until it doesn't grow back. No, you can't kill off the suckers with herbicides or it will kill the whole plant (been asked that sooo many times!), you have to keep ripping the canes from the roots and shank to eliminate all of the potential growth buds. If there is simply too much Huey and you don't want to mess with it, dig it all out and replace the roses with own root (IF suitable for your climate, they may or may not be). What could have happened is the roses you bought froze out in winter, but the root stock remained. It's better insulated under ground where it can sneak back to take over. Kim

In my experience, most grafted roses in a cold zone, aside from the most vigorous varieties, do not well tolerate having the bud union planted 6" deep or more. The plants often struggle for new growth, end up spindly and produce few blooms. For zone 5, anything deeper than 4" is typically overkill anyway if you have anything resembling reliable snow cover in winter which will keep your plants well insulated enough. The issue is mainly the Huey understock. It is not suited to cold zones (anything below zone 6) and is very prone to rootstock suckering and the eventual take-over of the desired grafted variety. 3-4 years is often the most you can expect from Huey grafted roses here and they usually decline in their 2nd year. Unless you have very sandy and alkaline soil in your area, I would suggest you buy roses either own-root, or ideally, grafted on Multiflora understock from here on in if you are serious about roses. Pickering Nurseries and Palatine Nurseries are two very reputable rose nurseries that sell Multiflora grafted roses. With multiflora roses, planting the graft 2-4" deep is more than enough in zone 5.

Thanks guys. You sure know how to make this new guy feel great. I just have to make sure my ego doesn't inflate too big with all your kind words. Very interesting observation Seil. It is good to know that the reverse could happen as well. You know what Meredith, I wish I had the kind of resilience that you have when planning garden colours. I guess I never really went for the "designer" look. I am sort of the cottage garden kinda guy. I want as many colours as possible. I admit that predominantly most of my roses are pink, yellow, apricot and red. I am trying to get as much as different colours as possible. I find it hard to stick with a limited pallet.