Planting Annuals ie: Pansies, Fusia, Calibrachoa,

Question: I would like to know if after planting these potted and hanging plants, If it will harm their growth by placing a light covering of black mulch.? I mixed the soil with Miracle grow and all purpose and the miracle grow soil.

I also bought White American Beauties and Lavender Rose. They were sold as dormant and I will include pictures. Dormant is an understatement.
Also what can  do do keep the roses clear of fungus and bug holes.
Thank you for your help,
Mitch

responder: Answered by the Home and Garden Information Center (HGIC), University of Maryland Extension. For timely gardening information and tips, subscribe to our Maryland Grows blog and quarterly newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Replied May 16, 2023, 4:42 PM EDT
response: Hello Mitch,  A light mulching around annual plants, whether in the ground or in a container, is fine as long as it's a layer under about two inches thick and the mulch doesn't smother the plant crowns. (The crown is where stems emerge from the soil. This should receive good air circulation and not be touched by mulch in order to discourage rot or other infections.)  Dormant (and bare-root) roses are commonly shipped direct to consumers or to nurseries potting them up during late winter since the plants tolerate transport and transplanting very well while they are still leafless. After that, they are sold potted since they have begun growth and are more vulnerable to drying out. All dormant-planted roses should have leafed-out by now, and the brown stems visible in the first photo similarly suggests that the plant is unfortunately dead. It can be difficult to tell how viable a fully-dormant plant is when installed before the growing season, so it's hard to say whether the plant was sold with some dieback or it occurred after planting. Roses are sensitive to getting too wet from over-watering or poor drainage, but drought stress, near-freezing cold exposure during shipping, infection, or other factors could have played a role in its demise.  As for insect feeding, the primary rose pest causing leaf holes this time of year are called Roseslug Sawfly. (They are neither a fly nor a slug, but sawfly larvae look much like caterpillars, even though they are not related to true caterpillars from moths and butterflies.) The sawfly larvae can be very hard to spot and sometimes the larvae are already gone and finished feeding by the time their damage becomes prominent. Insecticide use is usually not needed as plants can be quite tolerant of their damage, but management options are given on our general Sawflies web page. Any contact-type of insecticide like horticultural or neem oil or insecticidal soap must touch the pests directly to have any impact, which means you'll need to try to coat the underside of the foliage since that's where they usually hide. Damaged leaves cannot heal but they otherwise are still helping the plant grow and can be left alone; new growth produced over the course of spring and summer will cover those up in time.  Fungal ailments on roses are harder to manage without resorting to fungicides, which must be applied repeatedly (according to product label instructions) in order to suppress infection. Even when working well, they can't always prevent all infection entirely, and weather sometimes interrupts their application schedule so can allow some spores to infect foliage anyway. Fungicides also might risk harm to other organisms like pollinators, so use them with caution. The best approach to reducing disease risk while also reducing fungicide need is to select rose varieties that naturally have above-average disease resistance, which the rose breeders tend to make a point of mentioning (when it's applicable) on the plant tags or in the plant catalogs.  Common fungal ailments of roses, along with other typical issues, are presented on our rose diagnostic web page. Take note that fungicides are not curative (they cannot reverse existing disease) but do work to prevent infection. Sometimes, if a fungicide appears not to work, it's because an infection already took place but symptoms were not yet visible by the time a spray was applied, so a product might actually work well while still allowing some leaf spotting to show up for this reason.  Miri

responder: The Question Asker Replied May 16, 2023, 5:07 PM EDT
response: Thank you  so much Miri . Next step grow tomatoes  this year last year was just a  horrible season for me . MitchellOn Tue, May 16, 2023 at 4:42 PM Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:

responder: Answered by the Home and Garden Information Center (HGIC), University of Maryland Extension. For timely gardening information and tips, subscribe to our Maryland Grows blog and quarterly newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Replied May 16, 2023, 5:13 PM EDT
response: You're welcome. If useful, we have a few web pages about tomato care and troubleshooting if you are unfamiliar with some of the common ailments and how to manage them to remedy or discourage outbreaks. Giving plants good airflow by not crowding them amid other vegetables is a good starting point.  Miri