new to gardening, want to start out right

Up until last fall, my husband and I lived in either apartments or townhouses, and never had a yard. We moved into a rental house last fall, and have permission to plant/grow anything we want.
The yard itself needed major work, the bushes were overgrown, there were big dirt spots instead of grass, etc. We spent a good deal of the fall, winter and even into spring getting the yard cleaned up and more ship-shape. We have planted grass, cleaned out years worth of impacted leaves, even torn up an old brick walkway that was only half there, and laid down a new walkway with pavers and gravel. Now Im ready for flowers.
I did some research online and also looked critically at the places I wanted flowers to grow in my yard, and tried to pick things that 'should' work. =)
We got some creeping phlox, some yellow Dahlias, a Lolly pop Lilly, some other ground cover that said it would do well in part sun, and three hybrid tea rose bushes. Now as a child my mom and I planted flowers, but its been a while ago, and I have never worked with roses! We got extened release rose food, that also said it would be fine for the other flowers too. We spent a lot of time looking and reading the packages trying to figure out what was the best choice. We have planted according to the instructions on all packaging, and covered the flower beds with cypress mulch. We watered everything throughly when we were done (this was this evening), and while exhausted, I feel very satisfied and excited.
I want my roses especially to flourish, tell me what I can do to make them healthy and keep them happy. One of the bushes isnt as green and healthy looking as the other two, and may end up going back, but Id rather nurse it back to health (i think it was dying of thirst for one thing, bone dry!).
Can you give me some suggestions, tips tricks? etc, stated simply cause Im just begining!

This seems to be an awesome site, but I am on complete overload! I dont know where to begin!

thanks
~mrsweather

Hi there and welcome to Dave's! In order to advise you properly we would need to know where you are located (including your climate zone) and also, if you have specific problems to be addressed (such as the unhealthy rose bush), a picture would help.

im in grow zone 7 i believe. Ridgeland, MS, 39157 if that helps. Ill try and get a pic posted of the rose bush yet today.

id show you all three rose bushes, but i cant tell how to do more than one pic per post.

here is the one that i am a little concerned about, Blue Girl.

Hi neighbor and welcome to DG. Your rose does look like it needs more water. You know how hot and dry we get here in MS and it's dry already this year. Water it well and put a couple inches of mulch on it. I'd also recommend you prune off those dry looking leaves. The plant won't be able to save them and they will only drag the healthy parts down. It looks like it can be saved. However, if you bought it at Lowe's or Home Depot over there and it doesn't recover fairly quick, I believe I'd take it back just to be on the safe side. Also, you can go to Wal Mart and buy some Super Thrive. Just a little in the watering can will really give any newly planted things a serious boost. And, if you don't already use it, watering your plants at planting time with a root stimulator such as Miracle Grow Quick Start will help them put down a good strong root system (you can also find it at Wal Mart). Good luck with all your flowers.

we have only had it for two days, and it has had three good waterings, once still in its pot from the store, once when it was planted last night and again just a few minutes ago. It had the miracle grow quick start planted with it, and also bloom booster i think it is called sprinkled around it.
I can trim off the dead leaves and see if that helps. We plan to put mulch around it too, we ran out before we got to the rose bushes yesterday. That should be fixed in the next few days. How long should I give it before I say take it back? Id rather keep it though, will it be obvious if it gets worse instead of better?

thanks for your help 'neighbor'!

~mrsweather

I'd decide when to take it back based on the nursery's rules that you got it from. If they have a one year guarantee like Home Depot does, then by all means keep it for a while and give it a chance if you want to. But if they give you less time than that, I'd only keep it up until that deadline and then return it if it hasn't improved. When you have a plant that was already a bit stressed and unhealthy because it wasn't taken proper care of before you got it, and then you plant it and add transplant shock on top of that, sometimes it will still recover but sometimes it won't so you want to make sure you get your money back since it wasn't your fault it was in bad shape when you got it.

it came from lowes, so there is a year guarantee on it, so no rush! thankfully!

how often should i be watering it here at first? everyday? or at least everyday it doesnt rain? or what? I think the tag said once a week after established, but obviously it isnt established yet!

You can't put a time frame like that on watering, it's a shame that people label plants that way because it's misleading. How often it needs water (even after it's established) is going to depend on your soil, your climate, temperatures, how much sun it gets, etc. For now, you don't want it to dry out but you don't want it sopping wet either, so the best thing to do is on a daily basis (or maybe more often if you have really fast draining sandy soil) stick your finger a few inches down into the soil and see how it feels. If it's feeling pretty dry, give it a good drink, but if it's still feeling pretty damp then hold off. Once it's established you can let it get a little drier in between waterings but the finger trick is still a good idea until you get a feel for the proper frequency.

our soil is more clayish, not sandy. I can check the moisture like you said and see when it needs it. It has been hot and somewhat dry here, so ill keep an eye on it, or finger as the case may be. =)

Make sure, when you water, that you water enough for it to go down to the bottom of the root ball -- and that can take quite a bit of water - especially if your water starts running off instead of into the soil.
T
Theresa

I agree with thwoods. I put my hose on a slow trickle and lay at the base of the plant and give it about an hour because it is critical that you get water all the way down to the root ball. Also, I never put fertilizer, except root stimulant, on anything newly planted (actually not for about the first year) as it can burn the roots. The Super Thrive isn't a fertilizer but a hormone/vitamin mix that's real good for new plants and doesn't burn the roots. Since you bought your rose at Lowe's, I'd take the luxury of seeing if you can bring it back to good health (I'm guilty of liking to do that too--just the challenge I guess, lol). I have the nasty old clay soil here too. You can help your plants a lot by mixing in a generous amount of peat moss at planting time. That will not only condition the soil but help it hold moisture a better and longer.

NatureLover is right about the fertilizer issue. The burnt looking leaves could be the result of the MiracleGro burning the roots. I've seen it happen many times and unfortunately there's nothing you can do about it; the plant will just have to grow out of it. Also, 'Blue Girl' (and any of the blue roses in general) tends to be a fairly weak grower anyway so don't fret too much if it doesn't seem to take off right away.