Orchid writes:

Hi all. This is my first time planting roses, and I'm a
little nervous. I live in Northern Virgina (Zone 7/6) and I ordered
three bushes and a climber (Joseph's Coat, Robert Clemens, Laura, and
Compassion) from www.heirloomroses.com, primarily because I am an
organic gardener, and I've been told that the own-root heirloom
varities do not require lots of synthetic sprays.

You can't really generalize -- some new varieties are very disease
resistant, and some old varieties are disease-prone.
Heirloom in Oregon? They're on the other coast. I like them, but I
live in Seattle, where I can visit them or get them shipped in a day.
There's something to be said for using local nurseries so they can
give you advice that's appropriate to your climate and soil, and so
the roses don't dry up in shipping. Heirloom, despite their name,
carries both old varieties and new ones.

The benefits of own-root roses are somewhat controversial. If you
live where hard freezes are a problem, it's nice that the roots will
come up the same variety, not rootstock. I'm not at all sure that
they're more disease resistant than grafted roses. Own-root might be
longer lived, but are usually slower to get started. You can grow
nice roses either way.

So I got my roses a week and change ago, and was amazed at how
small the plants seemed -- around half the size of roses I see at
nurseries and such. But I figured, okay, they're young. Then I note
the planting instructions. 2'x2'x2' holes? Good god!

Yes! They're not kidding. It's a huge help to the rose to have that
big hole, both young like Heirloom ships and in big pots from
nurseries. Especially important if you've got clay or other poor soil.


I am a no-till vegetable gardener, and the thought of digging those
enormous holes in my clay-masquerading-as-soil daunted me. Then I
actually dug a hole and put the Robert Clemens in. I'm exhausted.
It took me days to dig the hole and then try and condition the soil
and put the rocks in for drainage and all the other instructions.
Meanwhile, the other three plants are still in their little tree
seedling containers and I am starting to get worried about them.
Should I temporarily pot them? If so, in what size pots?

Depends how long it'll be. If it's a matter of just a couple of weeks
I might let them stay in the little bitty pots. But be careful to
keep them watered, especially if it's hot there. If it'll be longer,
a bigger pot, depending on how long it'll be before you get around to
putting them in a permanent home. Gallon pots should be good for 9
months plus...

Do I really have to dig the other three holes, or could I no-till
them?

Dig the holes... They might live without them, but they're more
likely to get established and will live healthier lives with big
holes.