IF the pot is big enough, and IF it is watered daily in hot weather, it could probably grow in a container.
I would strongly consider the use of water-retaining polymers, particularly if (as I recall) you are in an area of very hot summers.

Jeri

You can grow every HT in a pot. 5 gallons is fine. It will never grow as well as it will planted in good soil, but you will get flowers from it just fine. I have 17 roses in pots that all did pretty well until they contracted root gall somehow. I have cut that out and treated it (described in another thread) and now they are all back in their pots.

It gets fairly hot, probably 20-25 days over 100 on average. I was going to buy miracle gro moisture control potting mix. Do you think I need to add polymers to that, I was hoping not to as I suspect they are expensive.

I would get a larger pot. That is going to dry out too fast with that heat and being on cement. Unless you are going to soak it twice a day.

I had a beautiful pair of double delights in half barrels all planted with strawberries and alyssum. 5 gallons is too small unless these are own root starts that you are growing on. The plants drying out repeatedly will stress them and interrupt the blooming. Also, sun strikes the side of the pot and kills off roots in the summer when its hot. If you go for smaller than a 15 gallon pot, be sure to shield the side of the pot from direct sun.

I will find out how big the pot is & buy a larger one if need be.
Thanks

If the container is to be the plant's permanent home, don't consider anything smaller than an 18-inch pot. As mentioned by others, daily attention to watering is absolutely essential. Attention to drainage is another essential. The pot probably won't drain adequately if it sets directly on a concrete surface, so elevate the pot slightly.

Glazed ceramic and plastic pots retain moisture longer than unglazed clay pots, but they also tend to collect and retain more heat -- especially if you select dark-colored (ie, less reflective) containers. Regardless of the type of pot you select frequent watering will be necessary in your climate.

I love growing roses in pots. I suggest the larger ones because you get more roses. Try some big pots when the plants get large and see if you don't agree. More roots = more flowers.

particentral - 35 roses in containers. That's amazing! I only have 12 because they seem to be a lot of work.
Do you have problems with mites? I ended up pulling out all the leaves because I can't stand the look of mites on roses.

..back to the original question. I agree you can grow roses in containers.

Bigger pot = bigger, bushier plant and lots of flowers.
Smaller pot = less flowers and less bushy.

Its will be on cement ground & get pretty hot in that location.

You will have spider mite problems during summer time. Make sure you hose the leaves underneath..they breed rapidly.

Beacuse water is so expensive here and we're on water restriction, I ended up pulling all the leaves twice.

I have not had mite problems at all. At some points this past year my roses had so many flowers on them you could smell them across the street inside the other businesses. My newly planted Easy Does It had over 75 blooms on it at one time....my roses never stopped. Had 25 blooms on a Peace that was two leaves and one cane when I got it in 2009. Not the first one was under 6 inches across either......I am so excited about my drip watering system this year though! ALL of my roses are putting on leaves currently and I am so happy! We had lots and lots of cold weather this year so they all lost most of their leaves, making it easier to prune than last year. This year the leaves were dead, last year they were still green...hard to cut those off!

What I have found is - that in my moderate climate - most roses will grow very well in reasonable sized containers (15-30 liter) - provided that the container is filled with feeding roots, rather than just coiled up tap roots. Root pruning at an early stage is the key - so that the roots develop lots of branches and feeding roots just below the union instead of just one or two long tap roots.

Planted in the ground, roses will immediately send out long tap roots to anchor itself and search for moisture and nutrients. In a container it will try to do the same 'even though it does not need to'. Fairly drastic root pruning will adjust it to its new situation.

In containers roses will need a medium which is never dry - but even more importantly- will NEVER be waterlogged. An extremely free draining gritty medium which requires lots of watering (daily?) and lots of fertilizer works very well and roses will bloom their heads off.

What is interesting is that of the 17 potted roses I dug up not a single one had any signs of a tap root. There were the large roots they had when I bought them as bareroots and lots and lot of feeder lots (as well as the root gall). They did not appear terribly potbound even after so many years.

Tap root?

Roses have those large anchor roots.
And lots of fibrous feeder roots.

But -- TAP root????

Jeri

I have always assumed that 'tap' root and 'anchor' root were much the same thing.

But I could be wrong ????

I went to repot three this year, thinking they would need larger pots having been in the same one for two years and they are #1 not root bound, and #2 lots of feeder roots and #3 no anchor or tap roots. I always trim the roots before planting. I don't know why this is the case with mine, but it is.

The Gritty mix is fantastic for pots. Watering drip systems help as well.

I have my roses in 15 gallon nursery pots. A tip I got on this forum has really helped in watering in a hot climate, and it is to put saucers under each pot. You know how the water just runs right out of the holes if the potting mix gets too dry? The saucer catches the water and lets it soak into the potting soil. Use a deep saucer, about 4" deep. I use black rubber feeding dishes from the horse feed store, because they don't break like the plastic saucers.

Also, I didn't like the Miracle Gro moisture control mix.
- Becky

FROM WIKIPEDIA: "A taproot is an enlarged, somewhat straight to tapering plant root that grows vertically downward. It forms a center from which other roots sprout laterally.[1]
The taproot of Carrots.
Plants with taproots are difficult to transplant. The presence of a taproot is why dandelions are hard to uproot�the top is pulled, but the long taproot stays in the ground, and resprouts.
The taproot system contrasts with the fibrous root system with many branched roots."

A rosebush, by contrast, has many branched roots.
As noted above -- think of a Carrot.
That's a taproot.
Roses don't do that.

Jeri
Coastal Ventura Co., SoCal

My experience with Dr. H was that it forms a tap like long and deep root. Transplanting mature grafted roses have always been a nightmare and often unsuccessful for me because I could never get the entire root out. I was under the impression that grafted roses did better in my garden because the "tap root" would go down and far in search of water where ever it was.

FJ

Particentral, can you please explain what you mean by "Gritty Mix?"

On the Container Gardening Forum, there is a formula for a mix called Tapla's Gritty Mix and it is fantastic for growing potted plants in. That forum is great for learning about how to fertilize and water container plants and this mix is fantastic. he also has another mix that is listed there called a 5-1-1 (I think) just search for Tapla's Mix in the search box and lots of information comes up.