I have a rugosa and a Barcelona rose in containers. I used to have about 30 roses in the ground and after a couple of disasters I got mad and moved them all over in a tantrum...oh stupid stupid me!!!! Anyway, Last year I got the bug again and just bought the two for pots. They did very well in my hot VA summer and through the winter. I am heading for the farmers market in Raleigh this coming weekend and I know my weakness for roses so started looking for big containers. I found huge 10 gallon (at least!) plastic pots at Dollar General for $7 each! I got the only two in tera cota color they had and will be checking out every DG between here and Raleigh for more! I am going to "whitewash" the plastic pots--a look I really like. I use horse manure compost for all of my pots and haven't had anything not like it so far.

I've been doing this for several years now. For me in zone 4 it basically means growing roses as annuals, but it lets me grow tender HTs without having to tip them in the fall.

Good article. I am glad to see more articles on growing roses in containers. I have to agree with junbojimmy in not to use self watering containers. I have over 40 roses that I grow in containers and they range from minis to shrub roses. for shrub roses I look for roses that will stay 3 to 4ft. The roses I have that are on the larger side I do remove from their pots every 3 years or so and root prune them. I am lucky that I can overwinter my roses right where they sit. The only ones I place in a cold frame are the babies that are still in 1 or 2 gal containers. Even last year, when we had longer times of freezing temps and more snow the roses were fine. Liz

I've grown roses in containers for years. Some are in huge black pots, others are in huge terra cotta pots. One thing I've learned is, roses need regular deep watering. I grow some in the ground too, I've lost some in both the ground and pots. To me the best are the old garden varieties. One of the roses in a huge terra cotta pot is "Love" with the reverse coloring on petals. I've had it for about 7 years now. Two others in terra cotta are Kathleen and Cocktail, both maybe 12 years or so. I love roses and just bought Fragrant Cloud, and hope I didn't make a mistake there. Some people say they get no BS and I don't use sprays. I'm going to start a post here asking if anyone grows this and what there experience is. Below is a link of a post on my blog which has some of the roses I am growing at this time. Someone once told me that roses DO NOT GROW in FL, well, I'm happy to report I've had them for over 20 years. Here is a link that might be useful: Roses growing on Valentine's day 2012