Question
Hi!  After I reminisced once about my miniature rose bushes I left behind in my Delaware garden, my children conspired with my husband and each gave me a miniature rose for my birthday.  They are doing beautifully.  The pink one is a more compact plant, very small leaves and dense.  The yellow one is more open and has slightly larger leaves and longer, thinner stems.  It is currently covered with gorgeous little blooms, but the slender stems are drooping over with the weight.  I've thought of taking a stocking and putting it around it until the stems are somewhat more upright, and then tying it and leaving the stocking to hold up the canes (like a tomato cage, sort of).  Would this work?  What else can I do for this poor little rose bush?

Answer
It is not unusual for some roses to make thin canes the first year so that the blooms are too heavy to hold up. It will in time make thicker and stronger canes which will hold the flowers up. When it has produced at least three sturdy ones, then cut down to the base the frail ones and that will divert the energy to the stronger ones. But for now you can make a tiny type peony ring which is just a circle of metal on three legs. Speaking of tomato cages, even to cut off the first rung of this type of cage would probably do for the little rose.