What size pots are they in? I have roses in pots all over my garden, but the pots are so large that it takes my DH and one of those hand truck things to move one, so we don't do that hardly at all.

Jackie

Daisy, I have only been a home owner for the past 10 years. Prior to that I grew roses in pots on my apartment patio for seven years. Even after I moved into my house, I knew I was going to redo the entire landscaping and hardscaping in my back yard so I still had the roses in pots for at least three or more years.

If you want to keep roses in pots, if they are not mini's, I would put them in the biggest pots I can. I had mine in at least 24 inches across and at least 14 inches deep. It gave them enough root depth to bloom quite nicely. I never did move them around (I had a small patio and now, not much of a back yard), but they did well. I also used insulated pots when I could afford them. My summers get very hot (over 105 degrees most days) so it helped to keep the roots cooler.

Hi! Thank you both of you.

I have them in 20" mostly.. they are 14" deep. (just measured). I have a couple in 16" though. I think they are going in the ground this year.

I can maybe up size to 24" on a couple but I can already not move the 20" by myself. Hubs does help me though.

I will slowly be getting them in the ground in Jan. and Feb. this year.. at least half of them.

Thanks again!

I have some that have been in five gallon pots for over a year because I can't seem to decide where to put them. I feed them half strength liquid concentrate every week and an occasional handful of alfalfa pellets. They are healthy and bloom often, but they have to be watered almost every day unless we're getting a lot of rain.

The ones that I intend to leave potted are in huge pots. I move them with a dolly when they have to be moved. I really have to watch out for fire ants in my potted roses. They seem to adore roses in plastic pots, and they will quickly kill a potted rose--or any plant for that matter.

most potting soils begin to rapidly degrade after 6-7 months. You can help by mixing soil or sand in but only for the 15 gallon+ sizes has it been successful for me. Rose roots need air and as the soil degrades, it gets more and more compacted and if there was mostly peat,it might get mucky too. I usually try to use all new potting mix and get rid of the old stuff when I prune and am starting again as with a bareroot. The roses look better than if I let them remain on the old exhausted soil.

I've been growing about 40 roses (mostly DA's, about 1/4 of them OGR's, and then just about 5 or 6 are HT's) in large 24" terra cotta pots for about 7 yrs since I rented a house. I finally bought my first home last spring on a huge lot, and will finally be planting all the roses in a new designed garden I'm planning, next month. They have always performed great for me, but do take a lot of watering especially during the summer. At least I thought they were great until I compared them to my mother's English garden that I had planted 2 yrs ago for her as her 50th birthday present. Her DA's grew much faster then mine did and bloom larger and more profusely than mine ever had. So yes you can grow roses just fine in pots, but I really can't wait to get mine in the ground and see what they can really do!!

Brian

This post was edited by ocbrian on Sun, Jan 18, 15 at 21:45

Tradescant can be a very large rose and will need a much larger pot if you want to keep it in a pot. I have smaller roses, Glamis Castle for one, permanently in a pot and they do well. But they are smaller roses. If I am keeping roses permanently in a pot, I don't use potting soil. I use regular garden soil and amend it regularly with organics. Every few years I will repot and root prune.

You can keep roses in pots indefinitely if you are willing to do the extra work it requires. The pots will get root bound and you'll have to take them out and root prune them and repot with fresh soil. For me that takes 4 or 5 years but in your much longer growing season it will happen more often, probably 2 to 3 years tops. You know they need to be repotted when the water runs out the bottom as quick as you pour it into the top. That usually means the soil is pretty well spent and the roots have more than filled the pot. I repot mine in the spring right when I prune them because they usually need to be pruned down in order to prune the roots back.

Potting soil is only meant to last about a year. For ideal rose health, repot each year.

I have stopped growing roses in pots altogether other than as a temporary measure. I think they are an awful lot more work than growing roses in soil. However, some people have no reasonable choice. There used to be a person over on the Rose Forum who had oak root fungus in her garden soil so bad that the only way she could grow roses was in pots.

Rosefolly