Lol, someone else got sucked into their super bowl sale.

I was ready to put in a High Country order for maybe 3 roses last week, decided to sleep on it, and woke up the next day to discover the sale. Ended up with an order of 14. I have no idea where they're all doing, I've been redrawing the garden all week.

Sombreuil in New Hampshire, will I live to regret that?

Ratdogheads you're supposed to tell us what you bought :D

Christopher, I agree with planting deeply; that much I have learned to do, but why does the plant need to remain potted until late summer?

Sombreuil, the wichurana climber descended from New Dawn, is as hardy as any other wichurana climber descended from New Dawn. The thing that surprised me in Hyde Park, though, was how badly it blackspotted.

Christopher, the 'rule' here, is that you don't plant small, marginal roses after the 4th of July so they have time to establish in the ground. I order them to arrive early, usually April 1st, repot them, then get them in the ground in June. I haven't seen any benefit to planting own-root roses deep, probably because teas are much more canker resistant than the tender types I would be dealing with. There are a lot more variables than simply winter cold to deal with, and often the best way out of the conundrum is to buy larger plants.

mcnastarana -- I find that roses grow faster when kept above-ground in nutrient-rich potting mix than when going directly in the garden as bands. In Spring, the ground is still cool, but roses in black nursery pots will have their roots warm faster as the sun hits them. Also, there's no root competition, and I can more easily keep them watered in pots than in the ground. This means a larger plant going in the ground before Winter sets in. Back in 2013, I posted pics of how fast several of my bands were growing. By the time they went in the ground, many looked like they were already a year old. I since modified the mix I use for potting up bands, and last year's Teas and Chinas grew even faster. After I posted that thread, "Thomasville Old Gold" really took off. The pics below show it in a 2-gal container just three months after arriving as a tiny band with just three inches of stem.

mad_gallica
-- I planted all my 2013 roses this way, not just the Teas and Chinas.
This included Bourbons, Chinas, Damasks, English, Gallicas, Hybrid
Chinas, Hybrid Musks, Hybrid Perpetuals, Portlands, etc. Everything in
the back yard was planted at "normal depth" in the native soil, then
tree debris and partially composted mulch was dumped on top, burying an
additional 6-8" of cane. I continued adding organic matter to maintain
this height, and almost three years later, the roses have roots both
down deep in the native soil AND in the organic layer. If a hard freeze
knocks them back even five inches below the surface, there's still about
another 12" of rose below that. That kind of cold doesn't happen here,
but it may for you and the OP, so I'm passing on my suggestion.

If you go to this contentious thread,
scroll down to the first pics you see, that's my post describing and
showing one particular nook of the back yard. The roses you see in the
ground arrived as bands just two or three months earlier.

:-)

~Christopher

Ratdogheads, I've been sooo tempted to try Sombrueil in my zone 6! I hope it works out for you! Because then I will try it too!

mad_gallica, good to hear from you on Sombrueil. It was one of these leap before you look things. I'm not really focused on climbers. I hope it doesn't spot too badly, I spray but spraying climber is a nuisance. I have an old unknown, but I suspect wichurana rambler that does pretty well here.

You know, there's another thread now about a disappointing order from High Country, I've ordered from High Country twice before and received quarts, and good sized plants at that. I didn't think they did bands. Even with bands I don't bother to pot them up, I stick 'em in the ground and hope for the best.

So my order...Mountain Mignonette, multiples of Bill Reid, Morden Sunrise, Purple Rain, Queen Nefertiti, and a couple minis: Iced Raspberry and Crimson Treasure.

My goodness Christopher, how do you grow small bands into beautiful plants like that so quickly? Do you mind sharing your clearly magical formulation?

Sure! I've posted my "magic mix" several times before, and it was in the thread on Chinas and Teas I referenced above. I also went into detail about it in this thread, and Lisa Adams shared a few pics in this thread, but here it is again:

Get a large wheelbarrow, a 1-gal bucket, and a 1-cup measuring device which you won't mind getting dirty. Mix 3 buckets of peat moss (or coco moss if you prefer), 1 bucket of Bovung dehydrated manure, 1 bucket of perlite, and 1 bucket of vermiculite. Pick your favorite organic dry fertilizer -- I use Espoma Organic Garden Tone now because I can get it in big bags, but I've also used Jobe's Organic Knock-Out Rose Food in the past -- and add 3 cups. All these ingredients I find at my local Home Depot, and clicking the green text for each will bring you to their item descriptions on that website. I didn't link "peat moss" or "coco moss" because I'm sure you know what they are.

I use nursery liners in 1- and 2-gal sizes, depending on how big they are when they arrive. I get mine from Greenhouse Megastore. They're not fancy, but they're both cheap and durable. I've gotten several uses out of each, and I haven't had to throw any away so far. Since I also collect used coffee grounds from Starbucks daily -- except during the worst part of Winter -- I also add about a 1 inch layer on top after they're potted. I also line the bottom of each pot with a coffee filter or two, so as to keep the potting mix from spilling out of the drain holes. This still allows water to drain through. Newspaper will do the same trick. Once potted, I put the rose into a large bucket and let it soak in water while I move on to the next one, then continue down the line.

The earliest I get roses here is April, running through until June. Within this window, it's usually mild enough that I can put the potted roses out in full-sun, and we also get enough rain that I usually don't have to water them again until about July. I'll keep them potted until late August or early September, by which time we're still warm enough to plant in the ground, but the hottest temperatures have subsided. Keep in mind that these are my conditions in central NJ near the coast. If I was living where Winters didn't put an end to "rose season" but Summers were severe, I'd likely get them started in Autumn.

:-)

~Christopher

Thank you Christopher, I have many roses to plant in bigger containers and some to plant out in my sand and this sounds like just the ticket. Thanks for sharing your magic!