Well, I dug up about 1-1/2 inches of dirt off the top of Emily and gave her a chopped up banana peel mixed with coffee grounds, and then covered it back up with the original soil.

I found a short brownish worm in the soil that wasn't a cut worm, but he didn't look like a nice worm, so I smushed him. I found a really mean looking spider, but he was very interested in a rose bud, so I figured he may end up being the solution to my problem. Maybe he could see what I couldn't, so I left him there.

Any thoughts on any of of this? =:)

Don't fertilize plants in pots. Ever.

Well I'm not any kind of a rose expert, but since nobody else is saying anything, I'll give my opinion anyway!:)

First of all, I disagree that potted plants shouldn't be fertilized. You don't need to fertilize plants that are just temporarly going to be potted, but if they are staying in the pot for a few months, they are going to need some nutrients, or they'll start turning yellow. Fertilizing sparingly would probably be wise though. I'm not sure whether the yellowing is caused by lack of nutrients or not though. Are the yellow leaves evenly mixed through the plant, or are they just on the bottom, or just on the top?

Heh heh, I'm all for squishing short brownish worms. There are way more bad unknown ID worms that will munch through your plants then good ones, so I get rid of them. Pictures are always good for idenitifying species. You might be able to look on google and find pics of your nasty bug if it is common enough.

Heat stress can cause yellowing, especially in potted plants (what?! heat stress, THIS YEAR? Yeah...probably not. But still. Those black containers can really cook) Or over watering.

Personally, I think I'd get the roses out of the pots and in their permanent spots ASAP. It's not that roses can't survive potted...but if they are in the pots they came in, there is a good chance that there isn't enough room in there, or their roots are getting too hot, or not draining well enough. It's just easier to pin point what the problem is once the rose is settled in and you can eliminate problems that are simply due to being potted.

These are all just suggestions, because I don't have a ton of rose experience. I would mention that my Emily Carr and Morden Blush that I planted last year looked slightly yellowish and less that gorgeous for the first couple of months after I planted them - even though they continued to bloom beautifully. Then they perked up, and this year they look really good. I think Emily is fairly tough, so if you get it planted and take care of it the way roses like, it should be just fine.

You're taking a risk by fertilizing plants if they're still in the original container. By now they're just a mess of roots with little soil. You can actually have reverse osmosis occur - the added organic matter will take water and nitrogen away from the plant so it can decompose. It's simply too easy to burn them. Especially adding uncomposted matter such as banana peels and coffee grounds will for sure take away nitrogen from the plant.

And it's almost impossible to overwater them.

If you truly can't plant them in the ground, transplant them to bigger containers.

Thanks guys.

I think I'll get a shovel out today and plant the poor thing.

If it doesn't improve after that, I guess I'll toss it. For the price of a new one, there's only so much a discouraged gardener is willing to do =:)

Well, I guess the key thing to note is that it is hard to overwater them IF they have good drainage. Roses will definitely suffer if the drainage sucks.

Give it some time to recover after you replant it, unless you really don't mind paying the price for a new one. Mine didn't bounce back for a couple of months. :)