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Most roses are grafted, with the desired variety on top (the scion) grafted to a hardy rootstock. The most likely explanation for the color change you saw is that the scion did not survive the winter. The next year the rootstock sprouted and bloomed instead, and its flowers were white.

The grades on roses (1, 1 1/2 and 2) are set by the American Nurseryman Association to show the size and quality of the plants. A #1 rose is the highest grade, has the biggest and most canes, and therefore is faster growing and gives more blooms the first year. The other grades cost less, but you'll have to wait a year or two for the best blossoms and the plants will take longer to reach their full potential. In our opinion, the #1's are worth the extra cash!

Patented roses mean that the breeders have registered their roses so no one else can duplicate them. If you like a particular rose, it doesn't really matter whether or not it's patented. But, if you purchase a patented rose, you cannot legally take cuttings or otherwise propagate the plant. A patented rose simply means that it's an exclusive offering by a particular grower and you must have their permission to propagate it.

Rose hips are the plant's fruits and look like little apples. Hips form when you leave the spent blooms intact instead of deadheading. Like many plants, roses "go to seed" when they think they have done their job for the season. The reason we deadhead roses is so they don’t form these hips, think their work is done for the summer, and quit blooming. If they can't form hips, they keep trying and trying by putting out more blooms. However, as the summer winds down, it is important for a rose to start going dormant. The dormancy process begins when hips start forming. So, at the end of the season, stop cutting off spent blooms and allow hips to form.

Our main concerns are that the fine line might cut into tender new growth, and that the fishing line might degrade in the sunlight over time. You can make a nice trellis with 1" X 2" horizontal slats attached every foot or so between to two upright posts 4-6 feet apart. As the rose fills in, the trellis is well hidden. Also, there some beautiful wood and/or wrought iron trellises available that enhance the look of the rose and add beauty to the winter garden, too. Remember to train your rose canes as horizontally as possible to the trellis. Horizontal canes will bloom much better along the cane then vertical ones.

Although soil pH can affect the color of hydrangea flowers, it won’t affect a rose bushes bloom color. Soil pH is a measurement of the soil's acidity or alkalinity. A pH of 7 is neutral. Soils with a pH below 7 are acidic and become more acidic the lower the number goes. Soils with a pH above 7 are alkaline and become more alkaline as the number goes up. Roses prefer a slightly acidic soil pH, ideally between 5.8 and 6.2. A soil pH that is too high or too low interferes with or prevents the chemical reactions that make nutrients available to plants. You can purchase home soil test kits or send a sample off to a testing lab to determine your soil's pH.

You can keep miniature roses blooming indoors all year, but each plant needs about 2 months rest. You can expect a cycle of blooms every 6 to 8 weeks. With roses potted up at various times, it's possible to have a continual flowering display. Here are some tips:

• Select compact, low-growing varieties for indoor use.
• Keep your roses in a sunny window, and keep the soil evenly moist, never soggy. Occasionally let the surface dry; then water well from the top of the pot to flush out accumulated salts.
• Fertilize with a houseplant fertilizer mixed according to label directions.
• Prune the plant anytime to maintain the desired shape and size.
• Cut branches back to one-third their original height with sharp, clean shears, just above a five-leaflet leaf. Pinch or trim new shoots to encourage branching, and deadhead spent blooms.
• Annual repotting is recommended. Choose 4- to 8-inch pots with drainage holes, and fill with a mixture of equal parts sterilized soil, peat moss or other organic humus, and coarse sand or perlite.

All organic material will eventually decompose. However, to speed the process along, you need two types of materials:

1. Carbon-rich materials, such as dry leaves, straw, shredded paper, and sawdust or wood chips. (These are called “brown” materials.)
2. Nitrogen-rich materials, such as fresh grass clippings, kitchen fruit and veggie scraps, fresh clippings from the landscape, and fresh manure. (These are called “green” materials.

Water and oxygen are also important. An easy way to start out is to mix the “browns” and “greens” in about a 50/50 ratio. The smaller the ingredients, the faster they will decompose, so try to shred or chop large pieces. As you construct the pile, sprinkle it with water from your hose -- the ingredients should be as wet as a damp sponge. Try to make your pile at least 1 cubic yard in size in order to have enough mass to insulate and retain heat. To speed decomposition further, turn the pile every few weeks to incorporate oxygen and move the outer materials inward. At the same time, apply water if necessary to reach the proper “damp sponge” moisture level. (On the other hand, you can construct a good-sized pile and just let it sit. It will decompose in 6 to 8 months.) 

Try not to use pressure-treated wood, especially near edible plants. Try cedar, redwood, hemlock, plastic wood, field stone, bricks, or cement blocks as alternatives.

There are a number of ways to build raised beds. The idea is to raise the level of the planting bed above that of the surrounding grade. You may want to do this to improve the drainage conditions, to allow the soil to warm up sooner in the spring, or to provide a better soil for the plants to grow in. However, if you live in a warm, dry climate or your soil is sandy, raised beds may not be a good idea because soil can warm up and dry out too much.

A raised bed consists of sides but no bottom; in other words, the soil in the raised bed is piled on top of the existing soil. Therefore, it is a good idea to loosen and amend the existing soil to accommodate any plant roots that extend into it. Raised beds can be as low as a few inches to as tall as a foot or more. You may edge the beds, or not. Some people prefer the tidier look of hard edges such as those made with wood, brick, fieldstone, or cinder block; others prefer simple flat-topped mounds.

The soil you put in the beds can be the existing soil mixed with amendments, or it can be imported soil, or a mixture of the two. Size and shape the beds so you can reach all the way to the middle comfortably—one of the beauties of raised beds is that the soil is never compacted by being walked on.

You can improve the drainage properties of clay soils with the addition of lots of organic matter.

• Spread a 3- to 4- inch layer of compost in the beds and work it into the soil to a depth of 12 inches or more.
• Pine needles are acidic and they can, on a temporary and localized basis, slightly reduce soil alkalinity.
• Gypsum and soil sulfur are two other amendments that can reduce alkalinity; gypsum has also been found to help loosen clays soils in some cases. Follow package instructions for application rates.
• Once roses are established, mulch with additional compost. It will help improve drainage in your clay soil, keep soil from compacting in heavy rains, and provide nutrients to your roses. 

Some of the vigorous, older varieties of roses can make effective ground covers. This is accomplished by securing the ends of the canes to the ground with U-shaped wire stakes or pegs, hence the term "pegging”. The canes will form gentle arches, and should bloom along their entire length.