Hi - I would, love to have some of the passionflower vines. I, can send you lots of rose cuttings from established 10 year old bushes. I have these; Belinda's dream- light pink blooms rose Large full, fragrant deep red rose Large full, fragrant off white rose Let, me know. Thanks,Mistee

I think this depends on the health of the plants to start with. It also depends on the time of the year. The main problem of taking the blooms agressively is that the bush will lose vigour very quickly. The blooms are taken with the best leaves which are needed to do photosynthesis to keep the whole bush going. When the plants are not very healthy (disease, blackspot, ...) the lower leaves are sick. The best leaves are with the blooms. If you take them off agressively, this will kill the bush. Therefore one must make a good judgement on the bush. If it is huge, has many blind shoots and lots of healthy leaves, you can go agressive. As long as you do not attempt to take more than 30% of good leaves from the bush, it will be OK. Also the season is important. If it's Spring, you can be agressive. If it's Summer, mid Autum to early Winter, you cannot be agressive without killing the vigour of the whole bush for next year. A lot of the ideas about dead-heading for modern roses comes from the cut flower world. They can be agressive because the roses are grown in green houses with climate control and pest control. They are fed constantly makingthem grow quick like veggies. Therefore they can replace the leaves very quickly. In your garden, unless you take care and feed your roses extremely well, agressive dead-heading (or cutting the blooms for the house) must be done with extreme caution. You migth really enjoy doing this in one season but the next year, the bush will be sick and become much smaller. Generally it's OK to be agressive to a well-established and large bush.

If they are growing well, you can harden them off and plant them now. Gradually take them out for a few hours every day, to expose them to more and more sun, until you are sure they can take it. It is good if they are in peat pots, so as not to disturb the roots. Otherwise, wait to be sure they have a good root-ball that will not fall apart when it comes out of the pot - this would be disaster.

I've never tried rooting a florist rose, but I imagine it is essentially the same process as any other soft-wood cutting. If the bloom still looks nice, you can enjoy it a little longer; I'd add just a touch of plant fertilizer to the water. But eventually you'll want to cut the bloom off just a little above the top set of leaves. If the stem's leaves were all pulled off, I'd cut the stem a half inch above where the new growth is coming out. Then roughly 6 inches below that point. Be sure to use a sharp scissor or pruner (never use anvil-style pruners on roses, only by-pass or scissor style). Rooting hormone will also be very important. It comes in powder and liquid forms. Ask any local garden center. You dip the freshly cut bottom of the stem into the hormone, tap off any excess (clumps) and stick it a couple inches into fresh sterile rooting medium --some people have even used pure perlite. Don't use soil from outside or already used potting soil, as there will be more potentially harmful bacteria that can cause the stem to rot before it develops roots. You'll need to put the stem someplace to maintain high humidity, since the stem has no roots to take up fresh water with. I use gallon-size zip-loc bags. Others use 2 liter soda bottles with the bottom cut out, placed over a little pot. The stem also will need indirect sunlight, such as in a north-facing window sill. Check on the baby frequently, every couple days or so and mist it if it appears to be drying out. Be careful not to keep it too wet, though, as that invites mildew. Rooting often takes 4 to 6 weeks, but it can be a little quicker or take much longer. Do a search on this forum for rooting cuttings. There are a few different methods people use, and different folks swear by different methods. It's partly trial and error. Good luck!