Judy Ghirardelli wrote:
Hi all!!

* How far down to I plant the bud union on a grafted rose in MD? I've
read that the wisdom on this varies by location. Any experienced
Marylander's with advice?? What about an Own root bareroot rose (of
which I plan to order 3 which I can't find potted locally. They are
William Baffin, Belinda's Dream, and Hawkeye Belle)? Does the location
of the bud union planting differ if they are bareroot roses?

I hope this reply isn't too late. I'm in North Potomac, MD. I like to
plant the bud union slightly above or flush with the soil. It is my
opinion that it is better for the bud union to be above the soil and
getting sun to generate basal breaks. I have about 4" of mulch on top
of the bud union that I can easily move away to expose the bud union.

However! I did have a lot of dieback this winter. I imagine that most
of it was due to the fact that the roses were not winter protected at
all and the rough winter. I think if the bud union's lower, you'll be
able to get away with less winter protection.


* I plan to alternate fertilizing with something like Osmocote (or
whatever, I'm sure I've got that name wrong), and also alfalfa meal. I
thought I'd do the alfalfa meal first. Do I do this when I plant them?
When they leaf out? Not at all now because they are babies? In June?
In late summer? I thought I read somewhere that I should not fertilize
the babies, but I don't know if that was "until they leaf out" or "until
much later."

I like to add composted cow manure to the soil when planting, but
otherwise, don't start fertilizing until they start to leaf out.

I've already fertilized my established roses 2x this season.

* Despite massively amending the holes, raising the beds a little, and
preparing the beds in the fall, and heavily mulching, I am still
concerned about the drainage. We did a half-baked drainage test because
I was stressed out about this. We had about 1.75 - 2 inches of rain on
a Thursday - so it was WET. No standing water in the beds, but very
wet. We dug 2 1-gallon holes on 2 sides of the deck, in designated
already-prepared Almighty Holes, and filled each hole with 1 gallon of
water. Unfortunately we did this late in the evening. One hole was
empty (mucky at the bottom, but empty) in less than 1.5 hours. The
other drained overnight, and was empty (albeit mucky) in the morning,
about 14 hours after we filled it. Again, it was a half baked test
because 1) we didn't watch it very closely, and 2) the results might not
even be viable since we did this after an exceptional rain. We plan to
do 4 more tests (more regularly spaced) on Friday, digging down 18
inches, after not having precipitation for almost 6-7 days, and watch it
more closely. What SHOULD we look for? The "drainage test" guidance
I've seen varies greatly!

How big are your almighty holes? What soil do you intend to plant your
roses in? You don't intend to put them back in the clay, do you? If
your holes are indeed "almighty," I think the soil that you plant the
roses in should be more of a consideration than the drainage. However,
if you're concerned about drainage, you might want to take a bulb auger
and drill a couple holes in the bottom of your almighty hole and fill
them up with small stones so the water can wick down there first.

Thanks as always for any help you can provide!!

Judy G. in MD