Thanks for your kind comments, Nicole. Yes, all 5,000 roses and seedlings were moved up here. The last of them were moved just this past week and it took six and a half months from start to finish. However, only about 20% of these were planted in the ground. The others were in pots ranging in size from quite small to 25-gallons, with the great majority in 15 and 20 gallon pots. Those in the ground were dug up and put into 15 and 20 gallon pots and then moved. Some were dug up in August when the temperature in Palm Springs was higher than 115 degrees F. And some were moved in January and February when they had to immediately deal with below freezing temperatures at night here in the high desert. Some were on fortuniana rootstock and these were done differently from the others. There were so many variables that it would be hard to generalize. I do, however, intend to write an article about the entire experience at some point -- if and when I find time to breathe. If I had to list what I feel were some of the key factors in the overall success of the move (we lost a few dozen plants due to shock, but I consider that minor when you consider the number of plants moved and the wide range of conditions that existed at the times the various roses were moved), they would be:

• Putting the plants into large pots and taking as much of rootball and surrounding soil as possible. The newly potted roses were kept well watered during the early period after transplanting.

• Those roses sprayed with Wilt-Pruf at the time they were dug up fared far better than those that weren't. The winds here in the high desert can be extremely damaging in terms of drying out the canes.

• We immediately moved the newly potted roses into a shaded area, and when brought up here they were put under shade cloth during the recovery period

Cliff