22,152 Garden Web Discussions | Roses


I am in the process of digging up 30 roses, including large teas because of construction happening in my yard. It's not that hard. If you have a spot, just make sure you have that spot read, hole dug before you take it out of the old spot. If you are keeping them in pots for awhile, put the pots in the shade and keep them hydrated. You may lose some leaves or buds, but they should be ok.

Oh dear...I saw ants in my potted roses this morning. This is the first time we've had ants prancing about rose plants. I am going to try the cinnamon sticks method. Can I grind up the cinnamon sticks and sprinkle them across various pots? The cinnamon sticks found in Indian stores are potent (since it is used quite often in our cooking).
Thank you, rose friends, for the great advice!


Problem here is we get a lot of rain and we get dew on the rose leaves almost every night so the rose leaves are wet until mid to late morning. I have noticed rose leaves being wet at 10pm-11pm some nights from dew.
So organic products just wash off and have to be reapplied so often that it seems like it causes more BS problems. Plus its a pain in the a**! lol

It must be our dew here, too, Jim. I have some really dry spots in my yard that also get a whole lot of wind, yet I still get fungal problems that require dampness. I mean these plants really bake, and the grass won't grow due to the sun, heat, and water stress. I do get a lot of dew, though, every morning and thunderstorms aren't rare here at night... bummer. It doesn't take many hours of dampness for some mean fungi.

Any type of rose can be grown in a pot if it's the appropriate size for the rose...but not INSIDE! Roses are not house plants. They need to be outside in the sunshine and fresh air. If you can amend the soil they will do fine in the ground too. Basic care is to keep them watered, fertilize them and prune them whether they are potted or in the ground. However, I don't think this is the right time of year to plant roses in Texas. You should check with a local rose society for the best time to plant in your area and for what types of roses do best in your area.

Hi PeaceLilySam:
Welcome! I've been growing roses less than a year, but I wanted to share the below link on container roses from my rose society. Seil is right; your local rose society can offer lots of advice. I live in a warm region in Southern California and the first 'newbie" mistake I made was thinking that roses in my area needed 6 hours of full sun. They fried, because I had them in clay pots and the intensity of sunlight was too severe. From my local rose society and forum members familiar with my zone, I learned that my young roses in my area would appreciate filtered sun (outdoors). I donated my clay pots to friends, because a clay pot is essentially a clay oven in warm regions. My roses have forgiven all my mistakes except the heat. But once I got through that one, I've learned they are a joy to grow.
Here is a link that might be useful: Container roses-Santa Clarita Valley Rose Society

Thanks so much, Ingrid! I haven't been taking pics lately because the garden is a bit dowdy now. I planned for blooms this part of the season to come from direct-sown perennials and self-seeding annuals to fill the spaces between the roses and perennials I put in as plants, but so few survived on rain alone. My landlord didn't come by to turn on the hose this year until after most of the seedlings bit the dust. I also noticed that while the thick layer of mulch I put down last year is keeping the soil below moist, the top layer drains too quickly to allow seedlings to grow within it.
So for now, I'm just tending what's there, which is mostly a sea of foliage with scattered blooms among some roses and some perennials and clematis. But I'll be correcting this for next year. I'm getting Oriental and Trumpet lilies (along with a bunch of early Spring bulbs) to plant in Autumn, which will be in their glory this time of year. And I'll be adding layers of my version of "Mel's Mix" on top of the mulch periodically through Spring to allow a better medium for germinating seeds, which I'll direct-sow again next year earlier in Spring than I did this year.
:-)
~Christopher



It may be interesting to compare the size of the pollen grains produced by the single with the size of the pollen grains produced by the normal flowers. I would expect that a local high school or college biology/botany lab could do it very quickly for you with a microscope. This may be a new way of producing diploids from tetraploids.


This rose produces perfect blooms every time. Speaking of time I've discovered over the years that this petite beauty is actually a really good garden rose. The shrub is just never going to be big. And yes Jeri, the short upright growth habit is perfect for a container. You really should try to find one grafted before it disappears completely from commerce. I don't think David Austin is offering her anymore. Pity.

It was planted in summer of 2012 and the shrub size is small. I wanted a compact rose shrub for my part shade, urban front garden.
Molineux - I'd love to see yours.
My DAs are thriving this year - no blackspot - but this has not been an average summer for us! Much cooler with very little humidity.


I was accidentally sent beauty secret ( for buff beauty) and it has been a delightful mistake! Lipstick red perfect blooms, no disease. Not sure where it will go in ground as I don't have any other reds. But I do love it ! I'll get a pic in a few days as more buds will open.


Ken, they only hold form for about a day before they open fully but I did sucessfully show a couple this spring.
Yes, some minis can and do get very large bushes but not all of them. X-Rated never gets bigger than 1 X 1 foot in a season but Softee will easily be 4 X 4 if I let it. You have to do a little research on them to know which ones are big and which ones are small plants.






I think the whole problem here is that we are trying to compare apples to oranges. HT's and Shrub roses are two different classes for a reason. If you are expecting HTs to grow and bloom in the same manner as Shrub roses then you surely will be disappointed. Same is true the other way around. If you are expecting Shrub roses to give you the large beautifully formed blooms of an HT you'll be disappointed too. You can not compare them to each other. That's unfair to both classes. In my experience if you try to even compare one HT against another you come up perplexed. EVERY variety of rose is DIFFERENT. They each have their own habits and no two are alike. You need to just enjoy and appreciate each one for it's own unique characteristics.
I like this thread. It's one of the best so far. It has heart and soul, you can feel people's love and passion about their shurb roses and HTs. It has carried out many wonderful rose photos, it's very educational for gardeners all ages. HRose, you might need to send Kate a bottle of Canadian wine, I am sure she will say hello again. :-)
Cheers