On Tue, 3 Jun 2003 09:35:36 -0500, "mmarteen"
wrote:

We are building a house which hopefully will be ready for occupancy sometime
next month. I am doing the landscaping and have plans for several rugosas
to go along one fence line for privacy.

We are in zone 4, Minneapolis area. How late can I put rugosas in or at
what point should I postpone my plans until next year?

You should be fine for a while at least. You can actually plant potted
roses all the way through the summer without worry (at least in your
area), although you have to keep them well-watered and keep your
expectations about how much they'll grow this season down to a
minimum. At least you'll get a jump on next season.

Bare root roses are a different matter. You really don't want to be
establishing them much later than now.

Obviously it's better to plant before May, but if you're worried about
killing them, I wouldn't (especially up there). The main thing is that
you keep them WELL watered for a couple of months at least.

Keep in mind that rugosas shoudn't be sprayed with *anything*
chemical. They don't like it at all. They don't even like to be fed
with a foliar spray. So, make sure that you don't put hem in proximity
with any plants that you might have to spreay, because even the
overspray can cause leaf damage.

This is all my .02 so take it with a grain of salt. Others may
disagree. I'm in Zone 6b myself. I know that I've planted potted roses
as late as July with no ill-effect.