OH, Lynn, I hope you realize you're asking for trouble here. We so love to enable people, lol!

I don't know if you're interested in minis or not but Softee is a wonder rose for me. It's in constant bloom, does have some fragrance and is very healthy here.

Another choice might be Julia Child. She smells like licorice, blooms her head off and stays clean for me.

Hi Seil,

I have seen Diane's Julia Child images and they appear to be rather large???

Lynn

Lynn,
I don't how Julia would do in a pot-maybe be much smaller than my monsters. I always want to suggest Bernstein-Rose for a small yellow floribunda, but have no idea where you could buy one currently. What about Angel Face? In your desert, you won't have to worry about blackspot which is AF's biggest problem. And boy, does she smell good. Another might be the purple mini Diamond Eyes. Mine look like they're going to be at least 30 inches tall, and they bloom a lot. AF does well in the heat, and DE seems to be unfazed by heat so far. Diane

Lynn, what about Julia as a standard?

I love mine and she stays nice and small.

Hi,

Diane, I really like the way Angel Face looks in other gardens, but after the first flush it fades horribly here. The combination of sun and maybe my soil is not what it prefers. This time it will be placed in a pot so I will have more control over the soil and can place the roses in the best position on the balcony. This rose could be worth a try again.

I swore off minis years ago.....I found many of them to be just too much work for the masses of small blooms some had that didn't fall off the plant cleanly, etc.

Lynn

Lynn, true in your zone Julia may get larger than she does for me but I don't think it would get as large as Diane's if potted. She's also a flori, not an HT, and takes to hard pruning and shaping pretty well.

You might want to look at some of the minifloras. Most of them do great in pots. There are several that love heat. They are much easier to take care of then most mini's. Most are the size of a small to medium size florabunda.

No suggestions for what rose, being way out of your zone, but may I suggest you think of it as a Pot Garden and not a pot ghetto? ;-) Subtle distinction there, but an important one if you want to think of this as adding beauty to your view.
(And your DH is definitely a keeper!)

Ahhhhh . . . you may wanna rethink that. Balconies and potted plants are often more trouble for both than one ever would think in advance. The only happy people with balcony plants are those that (1) don't own the balcony, and (2) have no ground floor space at all. That's because balconies and wet pots do not play well together -- think rotted wood wherever that pot drains, unless you can somehow create a "no standing water, ever" drainage way for the watering water. And that's hard to do, in practice, because there's always somewhere that water collects near a pot. And the plants are not usually all that happy either -- balconies tend to be either hot and dry or shaded and damp, and it's hard to find one with decent sun exposure that doesn't get too hot.

Many HOA's have "no pots on balconies" rules for exactly that reason, and having been a construction defect lawyer for awhile, I completely understand the need for that rule.

kstrong,

Our HOA does not have much input regarding what goes on our balconies, but they seem to be more concerned about the placement of trees and plants near property line dividing block walls, decency laws etc. Honestly, they cannot see into our backyards.

I was a little concerned about the water/balcony potential issue, but my DH is very knowledgeable and "particular", generally speaking, so when he suggested putting two or three potted plants on our balcony, I figured that he had already determined that it was okay. I do know that there is a slight slope for water drainage, along with railing between the pillars.

It will be hot up there, but the balcony runs along our master suite, and the pots will be positioned as such to receive a.m. sun. Our home is 9 years old, and whatever is directly underneath the rug out there now is not wood. Wood is likely underneath that surface as part of the constructionâ¦.