Magpie, I'm sure the roses will be fine. It sounds like the soil wasn't as wet as you thought. I can't believe your roses are farther out of dormancy than mine. What have your temps been like?....I couldn't figure out what had happened to your first thread. I got your notifications, but when I went to see your post, houzz said the page couldn't be found. I was mad at good old houzz.

Sheila, don't worry. All's well that ends well, and I'm sure it will. I just don't like to fool around with wet soil. It wrecks the soil structure and biome, plus I hate the mess. Diane

@Diane Brakefield some of the sunnier spots in my garden were definitely not as wet as I thought, not truly soaked like the shadier spots. So it was fortunate for me. MOST of my roses are still completely dormant, but a few seem overeager and are getting some swelling in the bud eyes or whatever they're called. I don't know why those particular ones are farther ahead. The most noticeable ones are: High Country Banshee, and John Cabot. I don't know why they're further ahead, I remember when my Munstead Wood was still alive it was over eager too, swelling and pushing growth that got killed over and over again. That was frustrating to watch. I have other roses planted right next to the two mentioned above that are not showing any signs of waking up yet, and so I'm not convinced it's location, or at least not entirely. Nothing to do but wait and see (I feel like I end all my posts with that phrase).

I agree about soil biome stuff, I have dug and tilled and dug some more over the last 3 years because I started the garden from scratch where there was only grass. Since I was brand new to gardening when that began, I made placement mistakes and plant choice mistakes that forced me to dig again to move, add or remove things. But last year and this year I've worked a lot on seed starting perennials so that I can add permanent plantings while only having to dig holes for small, self started plants. I'm very close to all the beds being full, which I'm happy about because then I can mulch it and leave it alone long term. No more digging! My wrists demand it, anyway, but I absolutely agree that undisturbed soil biomes are the ideal. And I deleted my other post. I really didn't want to engage anyone beyond what my post was originally about, and since I decided to move the roses my post became irrelevant. But here I am writing you a novel. Geez.

I agree too with all of the above, and may have a sh***y biome when I have forged ahead to plant in spite of adverse conditions. I feel my "soil" will right itself over time when I do not disturb it after the original planting. I top with compost and manure and organic goodies and hope the biome will forgive me.

This seems to have worked generally. In an ideal world I would have done much more soil prep before planting here but I forged ahead like a madwoman.

@Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR I think sometimes disturbing the soil in such a way, although it definitely can be hard on the soil life, is the only way to fix a very eco-unfriendly plot anyway. 20 years ago construction vehicles destroyed whatever was here to make this suburb, compacting the soil to hell and removing every native plant. Whoever lived here before me just topped that ruined soil with synthetically fertilized grass and nothing more. Yes, when I till a new spot or dig it probably makes that area have to start over again. But now instead of grass there is a ton of wildlife habitat and food sources. I use homemade compost or sometimes organic bagged compost. In time things will improve exponentially under the soil, and plantings above the soil are a million times more useful to everything around than the grass that was here. Hopefully all my choices were worth it, I believe it is better than it was before.

Once again,it's all about "location"; by that I mean, not only climate, but soil. I've found out the hard way that the ground in my garden (for in many areas it seems inaccurate to even call it "soil".lol) is so bad that I don't think there's much in the way of soil life to be disturbed.What's more, it is on a very sharp slope,very rocky,and drains quickly; I don't remember ever finding it soggy, in any spot . The only time you can really work it is when it's wet; once it dries out it's like hacking on concrete if I take my pick to it.

One area consists of clay so dense and sticky that it's more similar to modelling clay than to soil; this area is really, really benefiting from having expanded clay pellets and organic matter worked into it, finally I am seeing some earthworms.

So once again, to me, the bottom line is that there's no ONE right answer when it comes to gardening -every situation is different.

"In an ideal world I would have done much more soil prep before planting here but I forged ahead like a madwoman". O, Sheila! you and me both!

I really feel we are in it together, Bart.