Shiva wrote:

Although ten or so are leafing out nicely, two of my BIG GORGEOUS S&W
Greenhouse bareroots are just beginning to sprout. I think it
depends on the rose variety, and certainly how you are caring for the
rose. Keeping it moist with a daily soak of the soil and spray of the
canes? Lightly mounding with pine straw to keep the canes from drying
out?

Pristine broke dormancy this weekend! I guess she knew she was in
trouble when she saw the potted Granada sitting on the patio and finally
decided it was time to quit playing around.

These roses are usually busting out of their boxes. Tell me, did you
leave yours in the box, and if so, was the box already breaking down
from being watered, or not? Many people recommend removing these
roses from the box, and I think that makes sense. But every one I
have planted was in a box that was falling apart since I took too
long planting it. G

Pristine was dry when I got her which is probably why she was so cheap.
Since the mulch fell away from the roots when I opened the box, I
descided to treat it as a bare root. I soaked her for a little over 24
hours before putting her in the ground.

Susan--go to the S&W Greenhouse site and look. Prices are better and
I can vouch for the BIG HEALTHY plants. They might be shipping only
potted now, though.

I actually went down to Witherspoon on Friday with the intention of
buying a bare root Pristine from them. I decided to wander through
their greenhouses before which is when I stumbled on a potted Granada
with a bud just about ready to open. I looked at the colours on the bud
and was a goner. She is now planted up against the house and next to
the patio. The s.o. hasn't noticed the newest addition yet... *grin*

Also--consider trying some ownroots. I LOVE Roses Unlimited, though
they have no online ordering. You pay via check and order via
telephone. But WONDERFUL plants! Also--Muncy's Rose Emporium, out of
Florida. I really like Ken and Susie Muncy. The roses arrive packed
kind of funky but they are very healthy and grow big fast! (We are
fast getting out of bare root season. Once it gets hot here it is too
hard to baby them, and they dry out too fast. Plus, everyone in the
world around here carried J&P! Try Buchanan's on Western Blvd almost
to Cary. They have a HUGE herd of J&P and Weeks roses, all very
healthy, all 13.99-20.00 dollars. Everything else there is overpriced
this year, but the roses are good! I SAW pristine there, too!

The Granada I bought from Witherspoon is a Weeks rose. I think I paid
around $15.00 for her. I also finally broke down and bought a thorn
stripper for my cut roses. I don't know if I'll use it or not but it
was inexpensive so I figured I would try it.

I want to explore some own root roses. I do have at least one as it is
apparently a rooted cutting from one of the mystery roses. One of the
two I'm most interested in identifying has a bud that is getting ready
to bloom any day now. The colour is almost incandescent and is a rich
coral. The dark red mystery rose has yet to even put out a bud. That
one is *so* fussy and really got knocked back by the late frost whereas
the coral coloured one didn't even blink - just kept on throwing out
leaves and new canes.

I'm seriously thinking about putting up a trellis in the backyard and
putting in some climbers. However, I think it would be best for me to
see how the lilacs come in first as I would like to put the trellis
behind them and I don't know how much they'll interfere with the light.
Right now I have a shallow U shaped planting with gradenias and lilacs
and I want to put a small ornamental pond in the basin of the U. A
trellis behind everything would provide some privacy from the neighbor's
house.

Oh well, back to work on my test server. It's getting closer to being
done but then I have to start working on web pages. I really ought to
take some film to be developed also so I have some additional pictures
to choose from for the site.... *smile*

Susan
s h simko at duke dot edu