Rod wrote:
On 14 Dec, 08:27, Edh78 wrote:
Hi everyone,

I'm new to this forum and new to gardening! I wonder if you could offer
some advice?

I have just received a hybrid tea rose. I'm in the East Midlands and I'm
wondering whether it is okay to plant it at this time of year? Should I
start preparing the soil now to plant the rose in a few weeks time in
mid-January?

Or should I wait until March-April? If I need to wait until spring what
should I do to take care of the plant in the meantime - how and where
should I store it?

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks very much.

--
Edh78

Just get it planted asap. The bare root planting season runs from
November to March - early April if you must, but watch the watering. I
prefer to plant before Christmas if possible. The only thing that need
stop you planting is hard frozen ground - a thin crust of frozen soil
isn't a problem so long as you scrape that off and set it aside and
you only put unfrozen soil back in. Correct planting depth is
important - you will notice that your rose is a 'plant of 2 halves'
The nobbly junction is the grafting union between the rootstock and
the cultivated rose - that union needs to be a little below the
surface after planting and firming in well (welly, not fingers please)

I planted a quince a couple of weeks ago. I'd bought a family tree the
previous year, having asked a nursery if they had a Charles Ross. The
only one they had was on this uncheap family tree, along with Discovery
and James Grieve.

I went along with this as James Grieve isn't the worst aople in the
world, though Discovery might be just runner-up to Golden Disasterous.
Thinks I - 'I'll have that off and graft on something decent next year.'

Dicovery showed, Jame Grieve did too, but where there should have bee
apples about the size of a small planet - Worcesters...

So, as compensation for a year wasted, and no Charles Ross, they offered
a refund. I suggested that as I had a perfectly sound tree to graft
onto, they might just replace the Charles Ross bit.

They didn't have a Charles Ross, so I suggested a quince, which I duly
collected. I didn't expect it to be about nine feet in its container,
though.

It was fun getting it the fourteen miles home on the bus,,,

--
Rusty