In your zone the purpose of planting the graft below the ground is winter protection. If you plant the graft 4 to 6 inches under the soil if the rose dies back in winter all the way to the soil you will not lose the graft and have the root stock take over. Otherwise you will need to protect the graft for winter or take the chance of losing your rose. If the rose is planted well, in a good spot with good soil and plenty of sun, and well cared for with water and fertilizer it should be fine.

It's very hard to determine exactly when a rose will bloom or how long it will take a rose to bloom. It depends on each variety. For exhibition purposes sometimes we'll keep records of how long a particular variety takes to cycle and prune accordingly before a show. It's usually somewhere between 6 & 8 weeks before a show. Then we just hope that the roses will bloom at just the right time. Sometimes it works but not always. There are no guarantees.

The graft should be an inch or two below the soil surface. Any deeper is overkill. This shouldn't have a negative effect on the rose.

July is going to be tricky. The June bloom is usually fairly predictable. Here, it is usually Father's Day weekend, though an abnormally hot/cold/slow/fast spring can shift it by as much as a week. So July would be the second flush for the roses, and how long they take to cycle through comes into play. For young plants, I'd just treat them normally, and cross my fingers. Depending on the weather, you may end up goofing them up.

Thanks for the replies! I really appreciate it. I have a question, is it possible to have the graft an inch below the soil in summer, then before winter pack on a mound of like 4-5 inches above the grafts? Or is that too much work? Might as well do it from the beginning or not at all, right? Thanks a lot guys! Will definitely post some spring flush pictures in May. Can't wait to show you all

Yes, mounding is exactly what many people do to winter protect their roses. Some people use soil, others use mulch, but either way will help insulate the plant and protect it. It is some work to put on in the fall and then again to remove in the spring but if you don't have a lot of roses it shouldn't be too bad.

You don't need all that soil, really. And around here, the 'magic mound' can cause canker. If the weather froze and stayed frozen, that would be one thing. But winter is a series of warm-ups and cool-downs. The real trick to winter protection here is to find something that helps when it is below zero that doesn't hurt when it is 40 and raining.

Thanks for the replies. Now what would I do then? mulch you mean? I was thinking of mulching my roses (I actually dont have them mulched) and then planting the grafts 2 inches below the soil. Would that be good enough? We are all over the place with winter over here, a few days ago it was 40 degrees and this week its in the teens and a few weeks ago it was 5 degrees. We get a good amount of snow too.

Mulching is only done for 'summer' mulch. The kind of mulch that is put down for water conservation and weed suppression that goes *around* the rose and doesn't touch the canes.

If you must pile stuff on the roses, pile snow. It will obediently disappear when you don't want it, and does have a strong tendency to show up when you do need it.

If you bet on snow covering when it gets cold, you win most of the time. In more than 20 years, I only remember once when we had an open winter, and the roses didn't seem to mind that. If you bet on no January thaw that will cause fungal problems under some sort of winter protection, you will probably lose more than half the time. A lot more roses here have been killed by winter protection than cold, and I am north of you.

Boy, are you dreaming about the plants blooming by July in their first year
I don't get any good bloom for three years! Get yourself some nice annuals and plant them. You'll get tons of blooms from them. You won't with the roses ! Your zone 6, and not many roses are blooming at that time of year. It is too hot!