Here's photos of the roses in the box, in the tub, and the hole that will be their house. Huge roses are worth the price of the rose plus shipping to me.

I hope you are all having as much fun rose planting as I am!!!!

Rebecca

How exciting Rebecca. Looks like a great summer for you!

Thanks, Sheila! I love to dig dirt and I love to see roses bloom... the two just go so well together!! Makes me happy!!

Rebecca

I was also thrilled with the size of my DA Munstead Wood and will probably continue buying any grafted DA from them. They gave me over 100 blooms each last year which was great in helping shore up a newbie's confidence.

great roses! cant wait to see them bloom. Evelyn is a spectacular rose!

Vaporvac!!! That is amazing!!! I have to look into that rose... it looks so beautiful in photos. It's the thorns that have been keeping me away. Sometimes you just gotta suck it up and say bring on the thorns along with the blooms... :)

SoFL Rose, I agree!! I love Evelyn, but have never had her grafted. I wanted her away from the house a ways and wanted stronger canes than what I get with own root. She winter kills to the ground here, so maybe Dr. Huey will help her to recover quicker and bloom more. I'll keep you posted.

Rebecca

Wonderful!!! After I scoot out my local nursery and if I have any money left I may order Olivia . Even though there's no coupon and it's late I just really want one! Looks like it'll be well worth it . You are going to love Evelyn!!

Lily, I was hoping you would see this. I wanted to show you first hand what my experience has been with DAR. :)

Ashley, Thank you!! I'm 67 and don't want to waste a lot of rose years waiting for tiny bands. At this point, when I can go big with roses, I do. My space is all full and I don't want more work, so when I see a rose that I'm not thrilled with anymore, I get rid of it and try another BIG rose.

Rebecca

Happy planting Rebecca! I heard DA is going to discontinue Evelyn, such a beautiful rose. Please post some photos when they're in bloom.

Summer, I can't imagine DA giving up on Evelyn!!! She has been one of the stars of his catalog. I know she is a diva in some areas, but still... the fragrance and form are amazing. When she is big enough to fill your hand and the fragrance wraps around your heart... you know that is why you grow Evelyn. And, I will post photos when she blooms. I am planting 2 roses together in a hole that is 36" wide. The roots will be facing out with grafts turning in. I want one huge bush (as huge as you can get when it winter kills to the ground) with thicker canes than own root. Last year I planted 2 own root Crown Princess Margareta from DAR that were huge, about 14 inches apart with great success. These will have less space between them. But the nearest plant is 4 feet away. I think it will work great. I am still going to use DAR rose food and plan on planting a small growing lavender clematis with them.

Rebecca

I really hope DA does not discontinue Evelyn. I really do think out of all the DA's she is one of the most spectacular in terms of bloom. She may not be the most perfect garden plant, but she is one hec of a rose. Mine is huge, and a very proficient bloomer. I think she really likes warm weather and Evelyn does very well on Fortuniana. For those who can grow fortuniana I highly recommend you get Evelyn on Fort, you wont regret it.

Did you mean you will bury the ENTIRE rose (including the entire length of the canes)? Is that why the hole is 22 inch for a 21 inch rose?

Will the canes then grow roots as well as throw up new canes above ground?

I am confused.

@nchomegarden - when you live in a cold zone you have to bury a grafted rose pretty deep to keep it alive if it is not hardy. Here in Zone 5b I try to plant the bud union about 3 inches below the soil line. In Zone 4 and colder you need to bury it even deeper--4 or 5 inches below.

Burying the entire plant would be more like 10-11 inch deep!

And the rose is still able to grow new branches up through all that dirt?

Yes, I do bury my grafted roses 4-6 inches below the soil line. In addition, I put a few inches of mulch over that in the fall and pull it away in the spring. Below is a photo today of 6 grafted Perdita that I planted last spring. Keep in mind, this is her first emergence after her first winter.

Here is a bed of Johann Strauss today that was planted 15 years ago, with the graft down 6 inches below the soil line. Each fall it gets cut to the ground because it winter kills every year. Each year it comes up again.

This is the same bed in it's first bloom. It will grow up to the window and bloom two more flushes.

Here are my 2 Evelyn planted in the hole I showed above last Saturday. They are all tucked in and getting ready to break the dirt. The 6 inch canes are almost totally covered with dirt, then a bit of compost, then light mulch. I admit every year I think to myself, " Good Grief!! What did I do??? Will they make it through all that??!!" And every year they do. I do admit to praying that God will make my roses grow and bloom. In all honesty, I can't leave that part out.

The canes do eventually grow their own roots over time. I have grown own root Evelyn, but did so close to the house like the Johann Strauss. Putting Evelyn farther away made me want grafted for the ability to bury those roots DEEP. It also allows me to skip any winter preparations. All I do is cut down all my canes (except hardy ones) in November and walk away... no fences with mulch, no bags of leaves, just built in protection under the dirt. Each Spring, I start with 6 inches of surviving cane under the dirt. It works.

Rebecca

I have never buried a rose anything close to that deep, but a few inches down: yes, it grows through that soil just fine. The top-grafted rose may also put out some of it's own roots.

@Rebecca - thanks for that detailed tutorial! That sounds like a lot of work, but it does seem like it saves work involved in providing protection every winter. You must either have nice soft dirt or really powerful tools or strong arms to dig that deep! I cant imagine trying to dig that deep in our clay.

Thanks for posting about how you plants yours so deep. I have not planted quite as deep as you do. Maybe just a few inches below the soil. But I fret that it's too deep and that it mind hinder things. This make me more confident in what I'm doing. I have very loose soil, I can dig 3 feet and not see clay, so that makes me feel better about planting deep. Hope your new plants do well!

PTW, I have dug up roses that were planted this way and the graft is always still intact and not dead, so I gotta believe it gets it's nourishment from the leaves just like an own root does. I have also seen new roots on the canes themselves that are under the dirt.

nchomegarden, You are welcome!! It's fun to share my bizarre planting ways. I have been planting this way for so long, it just seemed logical to me to put that rose deep. My dirt is not soft (read jump down on shovel and lift entire chunk out of hole and bang it with the back of shovel to break it up... and repeat), but it is NOT clay. Just heavy loam. This bed has been dug years ago, and I did get a little crazy with it and worked nonstop until I was done. I am 67 and it still gives me a thrill. I just love digging deep holes!!! But I did have to go to the chiropractor for a little repair work after all the Spring planting was done. :)

Rebecca

Halloblondie, You are welcome!! I will save this thread and post photos on it when they grow and bloom. I experimented on them by planting them so close together with the grafts about 6 inches apart and the roots facing outward. We'll see how it turns out. I hope ok, because although I like digging deep holes, I don't like digging out roses to save and transplant...especially grafted ones. I always damage something. It's a bit like new construction vs. remodeling.

Rebecca

In northern climates you may consider planting grafted roses on an angle. Planted deep straight up and down may put the feeder roots too deep to function.

See:

http://www.coldclimategardening.com/2011/03/02/plant-grafted-roses-the-easy-way/

I have never had a problem with feeder roots, Henry, as you can see by my photos above. Putting them at a slant would goof up my spacing and bring the graft closer to the surface, which is the very thing I am trying to avoid. Won't work for me, but thank you for the info. Others might appreciate it for their gardens.

Rebecca

Rebecca- your roses are gorgeous but so much work. I live in Massachusetts. It is so difficult to even dig a hole 10 inches deep with all the rock, boulders and ledge so I try to buy only own root roses. I have gotten some wonderful own root roses from DA and have some more scheduled for delivery next week. I hope they add more own root to their collections. I recently ordered 'Queen of Sweden' and 'Windermere' which is by far my healthiest DA rose and covers herself with delicate soft blush pink blooms from early summer till fall. She is cane hardy in my Z5b-6a garden. The only negative is lack of the "to die for" strong perfume scent that Austins are so known for.

sharon

Sharon, it's great that you live in a warmer zone so you don't have to dig so deep! That long stretch of Johann Strauss had boulders that the builder used for backfill... WHY??!!! So I understand avoiding that if possible.

I used to think that I HAD to have that knock me out scent on all of my roses, but this year I gave it up for hardiness in a bad spot with John Davis. I just admire him and kiss the rose instead of sniff. :) I'll keep Windermere in mind.

Rebecca

Boulders as backfill. Ya gotta live it!!

I've also given up on scent verses hardiness and healthiness. I don't want my garden to be a job but a pleasure. Constant spraying to battle a multitude of diseases is not my idea of fun.

sharon

Sharon, I may have exagerated the size of the rocks a bit... but they were big enough to make me grunt when I hauled them out of that 2 foot deep trench that I dug!! :) I hear you and agree with you. Anything that winter kills from here on out is getting replaced with a tank that goes down to zone 2 or 3 that is cane hardy and own root. :) I will miss digging those deep, deep holes, though.

Rebecca

A drain spade is useful for digging deep holes. I like to add plenty of leaf compost to raise the bed so I don't have to dig as deep. Weeds pull easily out of the soft compost if you get them before their roots can reach the hard clay.

Some of the rocks we pull out are literally as big as the hole that needs to be dug!! On the plus side if I can manage to pull it out the hole is dug ;-)

Zack, that drain spade looks REALLY HANDY!!!!

Sharon, SO funny!! THAT is work!!

Rebecca

ahh, been trying to resist the temptation of ordering. I have both Falstaff and Heathcliff on my want list (as well as a few others), and DA is the only place that has them both in stock. I had Heathcliff last year, but I am pretty sure it didnt make it through the winter. I keep hoping they will offer another discount before the season is over....

Heathcliff

Windemere (Blows pretty fast, though.)

Beautiful, Kelly! Here in 6a/b Heathcliff and Falstaff both survived with all canes this past crazy winter with wildly fluctuating temps and even heavier rain than usual. Falstaff is a robust grower in morning sun only with clean foliage thus far, which I can't say for everything else. Heathcliff has surprised me with his comeback from a puny Lowe's throw-away in the same less-than- stellar spot. I love the tea scent of this rose. I think Falstaff has a wide range of a happiness. He did get some BS after a 100yr rain last fall, but that could have been due to transplant shock, as well. I'm in the Ohio River valley.