For the first time I bought 5 bare rooted stems last October, which were
planted out and the woody stems cut back to 3 or 4 buds above soil
level. Three of these plants have just started to signs of life with
shoots emanating from below the soil. On one plant, 1 of these shoots is
a few inches away from the original stem and therefore is probably a
sucker. Should I retain this? It's the only sign of life showing on this
plant. The remaining two plants still look lifeless with no signs of
shoots so far.

When I pruned the stems last year, I kept the prunings and stuck them
into the soil. The buds on a few of these have started to burst, but no
roots have formed. Will these stems soon die or will they root and form
new plants hopefully?