The power of mulch - organic material laid down two inches at a time 'round about the last frost - cannot be overstated. And the power of planting roses that are well suited to an area. Most of the weeding in my garden is achieved in a twenty-hour-a-year stretch when the mulch goes down. I even have it done at the wrong time of year, late summer just before the weeds go to seed. But over the course of seven years the number of volunteer plants in the garden has plummeted by probably 95 to 98 percent. When I water, I will occasionally spot a weed and pull it up. Thistles, unless they are very young are always a problem because they generally break rather than allowing the roots to come up. Break out the paintbrushes and glysophate.
When I lived in zone 6b I tried to bury the root union two or three inches below ground level. I try to remember to do this here; but sometimes it does not work. If one is piling mulch to six or twelve inches deep in order to preserve a Zone 5a hardy HT in zone 4, that extra three inches can sometimes make a huge difference. A rose with a huge and robust root system can freeze to the ground and come back the next year much more vigorously than a newly planted rose.
