Judith, which Teas do you have? That's going to be a beautiful fenceline!! I don't think full sun all day will be a problem if you keep them watered deep and deeply mulched to keep the soil as cool as possible. Do you have clay or sand or are you blessed with perfect loam? I just bought a cheap moisture meter. Don't know why I hadn't thought of it before, but wow, it's a very useful tool.

My roses did shut down in August and September, and though I thought I was watering them a lot, I think now I wasn't, and they suffered for it. Hindsight is wonderful! And I didn't have sufficient mulch all summer long - double whammy! My best heat roses were LeVesuve and Monsieur Tillier, and they didn't go into the ground until May and March! Until they are really established, I would baby your roses in your sun and heat, but I'm sure they'll do well.

I personally don't think a little relief from the late afternoon sun is a bad thing for Teas and Chinas. Liking heat is one thing, but liking an oven is another deal altogether. But that's another subject.

Sherry

Don't know what teas you have, but for me (in Texas) the ones that I have that are in full (all day) sun are the ones doing the best.....Monsieur Tillier, Safrano, M. Dudley Cross, Mrs. B.R. Cant and Duchess de Brabant. The ones that get morning sun and some afternoon shade bloom less....Lafter and Gilbert Nabonnand.
Molly

With sufficient water during the establishment stage, your teas will do excellent in full sun. They prefer full sun, and will bloom best, stay better foliated, and stay more disease resistant if planted in full sun. Some roses will tolerate late afternoon shade. Be sure to mulch well, (it moderates soil temperatures, and helps retain moisture), but keep pine bark, etc., from touching the base of the plant.

The Antique Rose Emporium, located in Texas, says to plant in full sun. They are an excellent resource for any rose questions you may have.

Molly has excellent tea rose suggestions. Those do well for me, also. Madame Antoine Mari is excellent, and you should plant a Mutabilis. Mutabilis looks very pretty planted with teas. If you plant Gilbert Nabonnand in full sun, he'll truly shine and be a bloom machine. He looks nice near Mutabilis.

Sandy

Here is my list of tea roses. I lost a very small Mon. Tillier this year- it was in partial sun, well cared for, but just drifted away. Most of these are small and presently in pots except Rosette Delizy, Clotilde Soupert and Louis Philllipe - they get sun most of the day and my horse barn protects them from the really hot late afternoon sun. The fence I am thinking of putting them in front of has sun all day - but I have a water spigot nearby and will keep them well watered and mulched. Because they are still relatively small plants, I am wondering if I should upgrade their pots and grow them that way another year before planting them out. Any thoughts on this, or would they be OK planted out this spring? Anyone grow any of these?
Judith

Mme. Charles  TEA
Lady Hillingdon  T
Georgetown Tea  T
Mme. Joseph Schwartz  T
Souvenir de Threse Levet  T
Comtesse de Noghera  T
Clotilde Soupert  T
Etoile de Lyon  T
Freiherr von Marschall  T
KrishnaÂs Peach  T
Louis Phillipe  T
Miss Atwood  T/found
Mutablis  T
Pleasant Hill Cemetary  T
Puerto Rico  T
Rosette Delizy  T
Won Fang Yon - T

"...Liking heat is one thing, but liking an oven is another deal altogether..."

I kind of agree with Sherry. It's an oven here during the summer. I have Mrs Dudley Cross & G. Nabonnand planted in half day sun and they bloom like maniacs, especially G. Nabonnand. I've found that six hours of full Texas sun is enough to make a tea rose very happy. But less than that would probably have a negative effect.

Randy

I live inland in Orange County...and I don't know how this climate stacks up to yours. We have weeks in the 90s and 100s (especially in recent years). I have had July days here go up to 113 a couple of years ago. The teas are mulched and watered. In that kind of heat, blooms crisp immediately, but the bushes thrive. All are in full, blast-furnace sun. They are great roses. Maybe Texas is hotter, but here, they do well in full sun.

Jerome

Get Quietness, Katy Road Pink,Apple Jack, April Moon, Aunt Honey, Paloma Blanca. Oh, wait. Those are Buck's. My bad. Just thinking about great remontant roses and carefree foliage.

Because they are still relatively small plants, I am wondering if I should upgrade their pots and grow them that way another year before planting them out. Any thoughts on this, or would they be OK planted out this spring? Anyone grow any of these?

*** How small is "relatively small"??

In real hot weather, roses in smallish pots are somewhat vulnerable.
We're getting screaming, dry, Santa Ana winds just now, and our little 1-Gals really need daily water. (No, this is NOT "normal" in January.)

Out here in SoCal, I like to see roots peeking out the bottom on a pot before I pot up to the next size, or plant in the ground.

Jeri

Judith,

With a large expanse of fenceline, why not consider some of the climbing Teas, and the Tea-Noisettes (Crepuscule, Jaune Desprez, Reve d'Or, Maman Cochet, E. Veyrat Hermanos, Lamarque, William Allen Richardson, Gloire de Dijon, etc) to train horizontally along the fence? Plant the big Teas in front of the fence at intervals. Connie has done something similar along one of her fencelines. She is using the French hybrid wichurana ramblers on the fence and has the old Teas in front. It is going to be unbearably gorgeous.

Robert

The question about whether to pot small roses up for a while until they develop a fairly good size root system before planting out can depend on the rose in question. For example, I think Monsieur Tillier and Mrs. B.R. Cant would take off no matter what.

I found that potting roses up until they have reached a full 3 or 5 gallon root system guarantees more success. I'm not sure why, but they seem to take off better. Potted plants do require more careful attention to watering. In addition, I found that by putting some Mills Magic Mix slow release food on top of the soil in the pot seems to keep them well fed and happy. Liquid fertilizer would also work, but I found I was too lazy to deal with it all the time. No food equals unhappy roses!

However, if you don't want to care for potted plants, or your enthusiasm abbout potted plants runs out during the heat of the summer, your roses may be better off in the ground. Sometimes I reach that point, but again, some of the roses sat there and did much better after being re-potted until larger. They then seemed willing to take off once in the ground.

I had a long discussion about this with Pat Henry (one of the owners of Roses Unlimited), and she feels that roses usually do better by potting them up for awhile, and shared what she added to her potting soil. I should have written it down!

Sandy

We usually plant roses in the fall about a year after taking the cutting. So they're quite small, but they have at least half a year to grow before they have to deal with summer heat. Most of these roses are in full sun and full wind; but we have heavy, water-retentive soil, and keep a thick mulch on them. In these conditions most roses make it, particularly our own cutting-grown plants, which have always lived outdoor in the ground (I have a propagating bed). The drawback of pots is that the roses have to be watered very regularly, or they die. My experience in my conditions is that young roses are usually safer in the ground.

Melissa

Robert, your suggestion is great about the climbers in back of the teas. I have an area behind this fence that needs to be covered up anyway - I had to put alot of broken concrete on the other side of the fence as there was a bad wash there that was making a riverbed when it rained. Roses like Crepuscule [and I have one on the front fence that needs more room to sprawl - now is perfect time to replant it] and when I make my spring trip to the Antique Rose Emporium and Chamblees......I can get more climber/ramblers. I have William A. Richardson as a small band now. That is a super idea and I thank you!!
Judith