Hi! You poor thing, want to grow roses, eh? ;-)) You only want to cut off the blooms once it doesn't look good (what "doesn't look good" is up to you). Clip or snap off just below the bloom. Your new plants need all of the leaves they can get now, so no "hard pruning" for the rest of the season. No cutting off "old wood", no pruning down to the soil level (you'll never do this at all, unless the canes are totally black and dead). After blooming, you can fertilize. Fish emulsion would be good. You can try Espoma Rose-tone, but some of it won't break down in containers (I still use it anyway). Miracle Gro is OK too, but some people like to stay away from synthetic fertilizers (roses don't know the difference). Good luck!

I agree, not too bad compared the the rest of the nation but I would still wait a bit longer so the night start to become just a bit warmer. I feel your pain, LOL I know your just itching to pot it up and get it going. If that's the case then you can take it indoors for now and get it started. Don't really need to much if any sunlight for now. But once the leaves start to grow you might want to take it close to the window with little light and gradually move it closer to the window as it grows bigger leaves. If you do plant it now for indoors then you might want to snip off the wrinkled part. Good luck with your tree. This variant should do well for you. I have one planted outdoors and grew back after dying to the ground. Hasn't produced for me yet. I hope this year it will. I would not move it indoor/outdoor just yet. Good luck, Rafed

The biggest issue is fungus gnats. Tiny black flies that love to live indoors or out and infest every single plant even if its in a pot. They are smaller than fruit flies. Outdoors, I use a form of Bt and also benefical nematodes as I used to get a LOT of these fungus gnats, they even get inside the leaf layers of brussles sprouts, which are not good eating when you see tiny back flies in the cooking water. Indoors, when I start seeds, I use a mix of seed starting soils, like Natural Beginnings from Gardens Alive, as well as a Jiffy mix that is sold by the bag through sevral web sites, and even shreaded coconut husk fibers called coir. These are all quite 'clean' and have little to no real soil in them. They help hold just the right amount of moisture too. The fungus gnats usually come from outdoor soils, lay eggs in the soil that turn into tiny maggots and these feed off the tender roots of any plants. Thats one reason you see house plants suddenly dieing for no apparent reason. To check indoor plants, I use yellow sticky traps that rest horizontally on the edges of the pots. After just a couple of days, these traps can become loaded with tiny black gnats! Outside is where I use a form of Bt and also water in the beneficial nematodes that live in soil and go after the fungus maggots. My garden soil here isn't perfect, but if I can reduce harmful bugs from killing plants, its a big help. I use scent lures and sticky traps for my apples, peaches, and even cucumbers. Each sticky trap has a scent lure that attracts the pests common to these plants. Some plants and trees are highly resistant to diseases and bugs. Asian pears, asparagus, and blueberries to name a few. It may be better to head to a nursery/garden shop, as Home Depot and Lowes tend to offer a very limited amount of organic supplies. Here, we have only a very few products that are organic and most are for bugs (Neem) and disease control (Serende). The bags of soil offered by Miracle Grow tend to be a bit harsh as they simply use chemical equivilents to the real soil nutrients. I have a small leanto shed that stores corn gluten, fish meal, humate, kelp meal, and a few others. I use these as natural nitrogen additives, or in the case of humate, many minerals and micro nutrients. If you do plan to spray for any bugs that might be feeding on the leaves, try Neem. I wouldnt spray any herbs with anything unless the bugs are chewing holes in the leaves however. Bt, is a liquid mixed with water and has several different strains, of which one is for the gnat control. Ever hear of squash vine borers? These bugs bore into the base of squash vines and destroy the insides which cause the plants to quickly die. I have used another form of Bt and actually injected it into the main stems of squash plants, by using an insulin syringe. The Bt attacks the borers and kills them. Imagine a garden thats a living thing like us, it just can't survive all by itself if you want good yields and quality crops. I have only 2000 sq. feet of garden space, and there is also areas all around the edges of my garden that have fruit trees, or some permanent plants like asparagus and horse radish, which I harvest every spring. For your pot of cilantro, add some seeds every 2-3 weeks, so they can give you more than 1 or 2 harvests. Only thing is, if they are clumped together, they are hard to seperate if there are two stages of growth within each other. Indoors, I start about 60 petunia plants, 60 or so impatien plants, peppers, tomatos, basil, and a few others about mid April. This year, seedless watermelons with a necessary pollinator, as well as a few cantaloupe types. Brussels sprouts again too, but will be covered with a light weight white plastic fabric to block out the bugs, then my big batch of corn, which I plant every other year. I have a small tractor and a big rototiller to turn the soil over every spring, and work in any soil ammendments needed. Here is a link that might be useful: Natural Beginnings

I would repot it in new and sterile soil. That means rooting out as much of the old and very likely contaminated soil as possible and a much of the dead roots as possible, scrubbing the pot down and carefully repotting it totally with clean and fresh potting soil. The sooner this is done the better, and it would not hurt to down size the pot a bit either, but only a little. A plant this size needs enough weight in the pot to keep it from over balancing, but that will be a concern only later if the new roots take. Do not try to save the root ball in tact; it is very likely full of rot. You will also have to prop up the plant to keep it upright, since it will no longer have a solid root base to hold it. Water it carefully once and sit back and wait to see if it sprouts new roots. Do not let the interior of the pot dry out; so you will have to be very careful to water sufficiently but sparingly... (That is an art!) You will loose leaves perhaps most of them, but what you will be watching for is breaking buds on the branch tips. Ficus in general reroot very well and quite easily; so you have a chance to save this plant. But you will not have the same well leafed out specimen that you thought you were buying. They also sprout quite easily when cut back and their cuttings tend to take quite easily as well. So if you save this one you will have a mother plant to play with and take cuttings from. FWIW there is usually a very good reason that some specimens are left to last. Normally they are inferior or damaged in one way or another. No guarantee for something as expensive as that size ficus is another red flag. OTOH saving one like that gives a certain amount of well earned satisfaction. :-) I hope you got a discount at the register... Good luck.