On Mon, 01 Sep 2003 23:12:17 -0700, Cass
wrote:

In article , dave weil
wrote:

On Mon, 01 Sep 2003 10:33:01 -0700, Cass
wrote:

In article , dave weil
wrote:

Have you ever done the mounding thing with bare roots? I'd think this
would offer sufficient protection from wind and dryness. I've always
had great luck with this method. Having saidthat, one should do what
one is comfortable with and what works in their climate.

I always mound bareroots. I mound in pots too, using the cardboard
collars. But my yard isn't flat and it's very exposed. And it's March
1, not June 1. Big difference.

Well, in your climate this might be necessary. With me, I'm not
confident in my pot growing (for roses) ability. I also don't like the
idea of additional transplanting. I'd rather just pop 'em in the
ground and have done with it.

I always wait until April 15th, which is the last frost date.
Normally, we get our last frost around the 7th, but you never know. I
would never plant in March. I don't even do my pruning until
mid-April.

I'm just waiting for a year like 1966 (I think it was). I was living
in Memphis and we got our biggest snow in history there. The date?
Third week of April (the 22nd IIRC). 18 inches of snow. I think the
same thing happened here in Nashville as well...

One thing I *didn't* do that I always have done in the past is cutting
the first buds. Usually with hybrid teas, you get one or two buds, but
in this case, the first flush all happened at once and I got over 30
buds on the three plants. I figured that the plant knew what it was
doing chuckle.

You mean you disbud bareroots? Not me.

I had read, and friends had told me as well, that it was good to
disbud the first bud to force more energy into the newly developing
root system.

I sometimes disbud OR's, tho, if
they are very small and clothe themselves in buds. And I disbud plants
that aren't doing well, if I notice.

I'm guessing that I'm going to have one more flush before it's all
over. The downside to such massive bud growth so early is that when we
had a big rainstorm a couple of days ago, it caused weepy blooms the
next day (because there just isn't the substance to the stems yet).

"Yet. " Heh, just how many roses have your grown that get more
substance in the stems as they get bigger? So far the count in my
garden is approximately 0 to 259.

Most of my roses get more substance (and longer stems as well) each
year. Stems get thicker and longer. In the case of Belami, the stems
weren't strong enough on these plants to support the weight of the
blooms with the added water. Most of them drooped because of it. On my
third season Belami, I had no such problem because the stems
supporting the blooms were larger and thicker. Remember, these plants
are only about 2 feet tall right now. They will eventually get 6 - 8
feet tall.

shrug