Hi, Joyce1 many of us got our rosy start in cheap chain store roses! Propagation: please do not propagate any roses that are still under patent, and i suspect many of yours are. If you check out each rose at HelpMeFind there is a place at the bottom of the rose page that will state the patent number if it is still under patent. Leaving the propagating to hybirdizers and licensed propagators ensures that their livelihood is protected and we consumers will continue to have access to quality plant material for years to come. As for your selections, the only one I have actual experience with is New Day. I bought it last summer as a pathetic Home Depot potted rose, and it thanked me by being a beautiful, healthy yellow bloomer all season! Unfortunately it did not survive our brutal winter. I wasn't surpised, but for five bucks, can I really complain??? Blue Girl is reputed to be a dog of a rose; you might be far enough south to make it work. NOTHING repels Jap beetles, sorry. The control measures you listed are really your only viable options if you do not want to poison all the rest of the bugs, good and bad, that visit your roses. I would take your roses back outside, to get some sun and rain. If they have been under cover at Walmart, give them gradual sun rather than a full day right off the bat. Good luck, have fun!

mmqchdygg, I should take a look at that but have already bought too many seeds. That is one I really like though. I could try to save seeds from the one I have going now, don't know how w/foxglove, and am a little wary that maybe the plant may have lost its vigor and not produce the best seeds. I will give that plant some bloom booster if it comes back or if I get any more seedlings. My darn white foxglove, I went out with my camera this am, and the thing's blooms are facing the foundation of the house which is white! It must be confused and gets more reflected light than from the actual sun which is a scant 6 hours there. I was looking forward to seeing that one bloom, well it doesn't look normal. The partial good news today is that some seeds are starting to sprout in my milk jugs. I had them all taped up, ventilated and labelled, but you should not try that in spring. They were rapidly getting moldy plus I was in a hurry and usually run my things through a bucket of bleach water & rinse well. There were some milk rings in a couple jugs, always rinse but there it was, maybe that didn't help. So I frantically looked for what to do, sprayed with dilute H2O2, ripped off all the tape (packing tape this time, much easier), opened up the jugs, had to leave top hinged part on and pegged to ground because I taped my labels on the handles. THEN I had to cover it all with chicken wire and peg THAT to the ground as best I could because of chipmunks and squirrels.

I'm sure you've tried to explain this to him, but anything you put on the lawn now to control moss will have the same results - the moss will turn brown. And depending on how widespread the problem is, the lawn will look far worse for the near term than if left alone. Moss in the NW is the result of several problems - soil with low fertility and that is excessively acid, compaction and our climate, which is usually a combination of too much wet and not enough sun. Correcting the development of moss under these conditions is not an immediate fix - it takes time. You could certainly start the process now, but it is too early to overseed and your client may not be willing to wait for the results he is expecting. The best part of moss in NW lawns is that it is uniformly green and rather lush looking, specially at this time of year. If he wants something that looks decent for right now while the house is on the market, I'd convince him to just leave it be. The tidiness of the garden and the house itself is going to clinch the sale, not that the lawn is or isn't of golf course quality.

Hi Sue ~ I'm in Providence, RI. It will drop below freezing tonight, although the rest of our week looks good for planting ~ as it will be above freezing with highs ranging from the mid-40s to low-50s Farenheit. I've been planting one per hole, although I have included blind roots in the same hole as the sighted ones with eyes. ;-) Out of 35, I've planted 18, and ideally would like to plant 7 more in our front yard. I'll give one to a neighbor and will plant the rest on the berm between the sidewalk in front of our house and the street. Some of our neighbors think I'm crazy to plant there, because of the general attitude of disrespect in our urban milieu...people throw trash on the ground or in people's yards...people toss beer bottles out of the windows as they drive down the street...some kids stomp on plants or tear them out of the ground...people throw cigarette butts everywhere...oh yeah - some of the worst offenders - those who walk their dogs off leash and allow them to eliminate wherever they please. Our yard is fenced and I figure I can put up chicken wire around the berm to help keep out some undesireable elements. I've been sick since Thanksgiving and haven't fully recovered because I play outside in the dirt whenever I start to feel better (weather permitting, of course). Then, naturally, I start to decline because I don't allow myself sufficient periods of rest for a quicker mend. For now, I figure I'll get as many into the ground as I can...once our freezing cold weather decides to return for the duration of winter ~ I will stay inside and take it easy. :-) I noted that the roots I had packed in a real moist loam/compost mix look really great!!! Their eyes are definitely larger and their roots have grown. I stored them in their original bags in our basement, which is dark with our thermostat set at 55 degrees Farenheit (to prevent our pipes from freezing). I think what I'll do is plant whatever I can get into the ground this week, and store our remaining roots in moist loam/compost mix in our basement...I'll move them from their plastic bags to pots and mark them...if I plant them outside, their markers will definitely not last and I know I won't remember what I planted where.