It's Sam Kedem (nursery guy) with the knack. 99% of the roses he sells have been proven hardy by his own experience. Even if it says Zone 6 on his own label he personally will vouch for it's hardiness. I think he puts the standard zone designation just for 'full disclosure' but I always ask him and he says this or that one 'does well and will definitely come back'. He has an accent I can't place..maybe germany or austria. Anyway, there have only been a few that I've picked up that he says are iffy..as in high maintenance and probably a short term affair. He doesn't have very many of these but he must have fallen in love with them and had his heart broken himself!

If you think it's your soil, and you're willing to try again, perhaps this will help. First, don't plant the band directly into your soil -- baby it from Spring in a pot. For potting soil, consider my modified "Mel's Mix" from Square Foot Gardening. The original mix was equal parts peat moss, vermiculite, and compost. I looked at this and broke it down to functional components -- 1/3 nutrient-poor organic base, 1/3 nutrient-poor inorganic base, 1/3 nutrient-rich organic base. My modification was using 2 parts peat moss, 1 part shredded mulch, 2 parts vermiculite, 1 part perlite, 2 parts Bovung dehydrated manure, 1 part used coffee grounds (I don't have any compost working here yet). Into this, I mixed 1 cup Jobe's Organic Knock-Out Rose Plant Food (or whatever organic dry mix you prefer) per 2-gal container. Once you see it starting to put out a good amount of new growth, feed it "weakly, weekly" with half-strength fish emulsion -- with seaweed, if you can find that kind of mix. Make sure the pot doesn't dry out, and keep it where it gets a good amount of sun until the heat of Summer arrives -- then move it to where it gets morning sun and afternoon "bright shade." When the main heat of Summer has passed, get ready to put it in the ground. If you have really bad clay, try to make a hole twice the size of the pot, and set the native soil aside. Make some more of the potting mix, and mix it about 50-50 with the native soil from the hole. Use this to backfill the hole after putting the rose in the ground. You'll have extra soil -- so use this to form a sort of "doughnut" around the newly planted rose to catch extra rain and irrigation. You can level it out with mulch on top -- you'll still have a sort of "pool" around the rose for catching extra water for its first year, being as the mulch will have more air space between the particles than the soil mix below. If you keep doing this sort of thing whenever you plant in the bed (be it for roses, perennials, annuals, etc.), you'll be putting pockets of better-draining soil into the ground, which will break up the clay faster than simply laying materials on top. Also, the vermiculite and perlite is inorganic, so it won't break down over time. It's still good to keep adding organics on top, and I'm noticing that in my bed, it is slowly making its way down into the native soil, but doing this will help a new baby band get going faster. :-) ~Christopher

Okay here it is guys, a three year tree from Four Winds! It's a fukushu kumquat. And i love it! It already had perfect shape so i didn't prune any. I picked all the orange fruit except for one. The foliage is really dense and beautiful. The leaves don't really smell, but that fruit tastes so sweet (for a kumquat!) Definitely the best one I've had! Thank you gardenweb for showing me how to successfully grow container citrus, you all are a great community. IM only 19, by I've done some stuff mentioned here, like attaining ingredients for the gritty mix. Fir bark- pets Mart Crushed granite- tractor supply co 100% diatomaceous earth- o reillys auto parts, oil absorber. My key lime from seed sure appreciates the gritty mix as it was the first one to go in it and has elongated and put out new leaves the day since! Everyone should have WELL draining soil, it does magic! Best of luck, from MONTANA!

I think I planted mine in NJ/Zone 7 in 2010 or so, from a four footer and now it's at least 20 feet tall. This time of day, the sun hits it at a certain angle and the leaves look yellow-green (even though it is the all green species, not a GoldRush, etc.). What's to say. It's impressive still being able to plant trees at a mature age and being able to look forward to a Sequoia a few years down the line!! I just limbed up mine a bit too. Should do NO HARM, btw. But I would encourage you to water as we are about to start a heat wave here in the East and much of the country. They are okay in heat and drought but NOT AS MUCH so as Bald Cypresses. (Which is btw, another terrific tree!) I have about a half dozen each of Bald Cypress and Dawn Reds to be planted out back in the Autumn. Cheers!