I have a saying that I follow: If it ain't broke, don't fix. If your roses that you put in last year from the big boxes are thriving, then you're doing the right thing. They'll let you know when they're unhappy. As far as drying out, just check the leaves. If they're happy & shiny w/o blackspot, you're watering enough. If they turn yellow & fall off, obviously you're watering too much. If they're crispy, then by all means, water more!! Roses are SOOOOOOOO easy to take care of...
J&P sucks. Just being honest. LOLLLL! Check out Zuzu's blog on J&P (
http://garden.org/blogs/view/z... - scroll down to March 20th). I ordered from them back in .. '07? '08? for my mom for Mother's Day. Ordered in like March, they messed EVERYTHING up, and the roses that my mom *did* get croaked almost immediately. I can't blame J&P 100% for them croaking on my mom as she has a black thumb, so I'll blame them about 95%. But I know I personally will NEVER EVER EVER order anything from J&P. If you want to order roses, there are a TON of places to order that have gorgeous roses that you won't find (mostly) locally (at least I can't, which is why I order them!). I personally will recommend Palatine (
http://www.palatineroses.com) and Roses Unlimited (
http://www.rosesunlimitedownro...). Palatine.. you have to jump on the bandwagon when they first open up their ordering in September otherwise they sell out of the cool stuff fast. Roses Unlimited is a good choice for you as you're in a warm environment (they can't really handle the cold too well). Palatine sends out this MASSIVE bareroot roses (the roots will be about 2' long!!) while RU will send out own-root 2-year old plants usually between 10-24" tall in little 1gal pots. Only problem is the shipping costs. RU can get pretty expensive (for this far west, they average about $25/rose with s&h plus the rose itself), but I've gotten some gorgeous roses from them that I will never be able to get locally!
I re-read your posting and I'm betting dollars to donuts that Mr. Lincoln's dead. Got shot while watching a play & it's dead. *plays Taps* I'd call up J&P and raise hell, get your $$ back. Mr. Lincoln is one of the most hardiest roses on the planet. Seriously. If I can't kill it, NO ONE can kill it and I'm an expert on killing roses.
I'm guessing your pink is Sonja (
http://www.helpmefind.com/rose...). She's one of the few pinks I have. She's a VERY dependable rose. HMF (
http://www.helpmefind.com/rose...) states that she has a fruity scent, but to me she stinks of pepper.
But she's a dependable rose! Your mini red could be Ruby Ruby. <3 Ruby Ruby.. one of the absolute best red roses IMO. Too bad they're so small! LOLL!!
