That link has a lot of good info. I will add that trees in containers from retail nurseries are notorious for being pot bound. You won't want to keep them in their nursery pots for long. You will also want to make sure the root flare isn't buried as is often the case with container trees. That said, keeping them in the nursery containers for a week or two while getting the proper container medium ingredients isn't going to change anything. Unless they came directly fom the wholesaler, they have probably been in those pots for a while.

Wow, thank you so much for suggestions/questions! I didn't want to bore with excruciating details, but I guess some details would have helped. The house (a row home, which means that it is attached on either side to other houses) has southern exposure on one side, northern on the other. The side with southern exposure is all concrete and unsightly carport (one that obstructs the bottom half of our view from the living room window), but also houses a small patio that the woman who owned the house before us filled with flowers. Taking out the concrete to put in a smallish garden on that side is not in our budget at this point, so we're really just talking planters on patio and possibly something (ivy?) to cover the top of that unsightly carport. The side of the house with northern exposure has a small garden with some roses, an obscene amount of cornflowers, three small struggling azaleas, a small and grumpy rhododendron that begrudgingly bloomed two wilted flowers so far this year, tulips and crocuses in the spring, large bald patches where flowers used to be, a holy on the right, a gorgeous maple tree on the left, moss where grass should be, and a well-established network of ant colonies that even our most sustained murderous rampage failed to eliminate. I inherited this garden two years ago when we bought the house, and by then it had already spent a few years with an owner who was just looking to flip for profit and didn't do any maintenance. I'm a complete novice at gardening, but the garden deserves some attention and desperately needs the overhaul. I am told that you don't need to dig too deep in this area before you hit clay. Because we are in Vancouver (Port Coquitlam, to be exact), we get lots and lots of rain. I tried growing rosemary in a pot, but it got drowned out after the first stretch of summer rain. So did the basil, which I'm now growing indoors. We were planning extensive work on the garden, but that's still at least three or four years off (kitchen remodel will come first) so I thought I'd roll up my sleeves and just work with what I have for now. I will eventually want to sit down and do the whole landscape design (topiary, stone terrace, terracotta, etc.), but for now am just wondering what plants would even survive in these conditions. What I really need is to have a gardening expert come move in with us for a week so that s/he could tell me what to do, how to do it, and how to transform this sad and wilted garden into my very own Cinque Terre. Though it might just be easier and cheaper to move to Italy. ;-)

I hope linrose doesn't mind me piggy-backing off her post. I am new to this forum - indeed this is my first one here ever. I have long been a member on the GW and have largely been on the various house remodeling fora - kitchens, baths, appliances, windows ... . Anyhow, I'm new to roses and purchased a Souvenir de la Malmaison at the end of July. It is doing quite nicely but is still in the pot because the bed that I had thought I would make into a rose-hedge proved to be a bad place to plant anything with roots - found that out after I started to dig the hole so abandoned that attempt. (I'll put something else shallow rooted there). Anyhow, I have another place I could plant it but it is now September. I am in Mass, just outside of boston - I think we are a 6a here. Linrose says that she is also a zone-6 in Kentucky! which amazes me, but I thought I'd try my luck on her thread. So, my question to you is really more of the same - is it indeed too late to plant my rose in say about 1 weeks time? I didn't quite understand some of the responses - my SdlM would be a bourbon and is not a baby (I don't think). It is about 1.5 feet tall, has several (8 or 10) branches from just above its graft bud and has had about a dozen roses in the past nearly 6 weeks that I've had it. I don't understand the references to "bands" that I've seen mentioned a lot up-thread. So, given what I've outlined, do you think it is "safe" for me to plant this in September in MA or is it risky? If the latter, could you suggest how I should winter my rose? I really love this rose - beautiful pink-white rose with loads of petals and quite divinely aromatic. Thanks so much in advance for any guidance.

Hello! I am new to container gardening. Bought the seeds from Select Seeds and four out of five sprouted in less than a week! I did as was advised: poked a hole in the shell, soaked them in warm water overnight, and here they are (well, except for one)! The seedlings are about 3.5-4 inches now. I live in NJ, Zone 6b. I have a lot of questions and looking for advice, please. Is it time to transplant them into a big pot and take it outdoors, or they should stay in those lovely coffee cups for a while? Should they be transplanted first into a medium sized pot? How should I tend for them further on? I intend to grow them on the patio and overwinter in house (hope to keep them alive that long). Should I plant all of them in one container, or each one should go into its own pot? Thanks a lot in advance!