I know I'm going to sound really dense but here's my problem. My house is 3 years old. About a year in, I planted roses along the side of the house. Mostly I planted whatever looked good at home depot. They probably made it 6-8 mo before they just looked bad. I researched and discovered OGRs and replaced most of what looked bad with old blush, martha gay hill, martha gonzales, and louis phillipe. They are hanging in there - old blush is doing wonderfully, drawfing everything else - I also have some knock outs. Everything planted near the house is covered with lava rock. My husband has always used lava rock and he loves it. I have never questioned it as until about two years ago, I had no interest in gardening. Well, it just dawned on me that the knock outs nearest the road that are covered in mulch do much better than those by the house in lava rock - they are just about twice the size with more flowers- and then it dawned on me that all the lovely pictures I see posted here show roses grown in mulch - probably b/c mulch helps the organic process? - told you I was dense. Anyway, when I mentioned this to my husband, he balked ALOT at the huge job of taking up the lava rock. He said he would be willing to slap mulch on top of the lava rock. Any one know if this would work at all? I just planted new baby plants of mutablis, georgetown tea and archiduke charles and I would like to start them out correctly. Thanks for all replies. Shannon