Wow, sydseeds that is amazing. Did a blanket of your winter snows come early and cover them for a long period, and then after they broke dormancy in the spring, did the temps stay above 32 degrees F. all during your early spring? If so, those conditions could be an improvement over what occured over our winter and early spring. Though we did not get as cold as your zone, Our trees and shrubs were stressed by temps swinging back and forth below and above freezing many times during the winter. Then when temps warmed enough for the trees and shrubs to break dormancy the night temps dropped below freezing again. That actually happened in early spring 2006 and twice in spring 2007 with the latter one dropping low enough to be a hard freeze. Since there was no blanket of snow cover during those times, such conditions caused lots of death to many of even our established trees and shrubs. If you took the cuttings in late summer, the twigs must have been much thicker than mine taken in spring just prior to my shrub beginning to produce bloom buds this year. Is that true? I would be a lot less concerned about mine if their main stems had thickened up some this Summer. Maybe this fall, they can get a little stronger by being out in full morning sun and afternoon shade. This is about the second week for them in the new location, and they do seem to be responding well. Anyway, thanks again for your encouraging report about how tough the hardy RoS cultivars are even in your much colder zone.

im far from an expert but have had great luck wuth ROS. I just cut a starter, about 1 & 1/2' at an angle, I have only used a root grow product once & that was tge only time that it died befire growing, i just wrap the end in a paper towel and sit in shade for about a week before planting. Hasnt failed me yet

I'd be inclined to leave well-enough alone. In early Spring you can find a place for him, digging are soil and then putting back some of the earth to form a mound. On this mound you spread out the roots. The rose will take off because it has never had its roots confined to a pot and also because there is no 'foreign' soil to contend with. Potting mix around a rootball is not a tree or shrubs best friend.

jean, I'm not even going to venture to change your recipe. I'm assuming it's the one with the pineapple and raisins? If you cooked it longer it would make it thicker but it's not really safe to can pumpkin puree because of the density, and I think longer cooking is going to reduce your pumpkin to the prohibited puree consistency, so I wouldn't try that. I don't know if the sugar is acting somewhat as a preservative in this recipe, but I don't think very much as there are two lemons with their juice, along with the pineapple. If I were set on reducing the sugar, I'd just reduce the sugar by half then taste and add until I liked it, but I can't tell you that it is safe or tested or anything else. And since it's eaten straight from the jar, not heated, that adds another layer of risk, so I sure wouldn't play with it very much. Annie